When you contact Dive The World you know you will be communicating with an experienced diver who knows not only about diving but also about the various destinations and operators we recommend. We make sure our guys get to see these places first hand. However the rest of the time they are chained by the ankles to their desks 24 hours a day to make sure you get the timely responses you need.
Recently we let them out for a family daytrip in Phuket. Below our very own Noon give us an account of a Phuket daytrip in low season…….
Who says low season is rainy and miserable? Here the Dive The World team proves that phrase wrong because this is us…on our holiday! (May 2007).
It was a really good day from the start. Bright sunshine lit all our faces with smiles and everybody was excited to go swimming, snorkeling and diving at Racha Noi island – one of the best known spots in Phuket diving.
The daytrip was not only a holiday for the staff but also for our families, so we can actually call it the “Dive The World family day”. Also it was the first day for some of us who never been in the water before. We learned to take their breath underwater for the first time! It was also a good opportunity for some of us who haven’t dived for a long time to catch up with their scuba skills as well.
We arrived at Racha Noi about 11am. We were welcomed with crystal clear water. We split the group in to 3 groups: experienced divers, beginner divers and non-diver.
So the experienced divers jumped in at the South Tip Point considered by many to be the most beautiful dive site of Racha Noi and also one where there is the chance to see manta rays. So all the experienced divers were very excited. As soon as we jumped in we were so lucky! Diego spotted a green turtle trying to swim against the current to the surface. Then Noon saw a blacktip reef shark cruise by. Even though we are not that lucky to see manta but we saw lots of other stuff such as octopus, lionfish, lovely nudibranchs and all the lovely soft coral which makes this dive unforgettable. Just before we decided to go up we had a big school of barracuda come to say goodbye to us as well.
While the experienced group had a great dive, the beginners also enjoyed their first breath underwater including Boom – one of our office staff. She seemed to enjoy her first taste of diving more than we actually expected!
During our lunch break we let the majority of the group who were snorkelling enjoy themselves in the water. The kids seemed to be having the greatest time ever! The warm blue water was so inviting we all ended up jumping in and playing and splashing as the kids laughed and screamed with joy.
After 2 hours of surface interval finally is the time to go in the water for the second dive this time we jumped in the easy sloping reef in Racha Noi called “Banana Bay”. Banana Bay never fails to impress us with beautiful hard coral reef and lots of beautiful reef fish. The visibility was so good that we could see so far as 30 metres!
After the second dive everyone was so tired that most of our members fell asleep as soon as the boat left the island but our kind captain didn’t forget to cruise past Racha Yai on the way back to Phuket so that those not sleeping could take in the beautiful views.
So at the end of the day everyone was very happy and had enjoyed such a lovely day out that we were thinking to ourselves “We can’t wait until next low season comes around again!”
For more on the dive sites see here
To look into the full range of daytrips you can do from Phuket see here:
Phuket daytrips