ChefDude

hope you all had a good easter!

http://www.z3romass.com/usr/kohtao/

Funkii Munkii

There are some great pictures there

Gav

Looks great mate

zilch

Looks good, in particular the underwater snaps, what is the diving like, i am looking for somewhere for xmas, got to meet some mates halfway between Sydney and Wycombe, all Scuba nuts, so it will take up a fair part of the selection criteria.

Cheers

Jim

Crazy Chick

Those underwater pics are absolutely fantastic.

ChefDude

the diving's pretty good although not as good as bonaire or the red sea.

it was 30 degrees in the water, so i baked in my 5mil longy!

we dived with www.scuba-junction.com and they were really great - the dive masters knew the scenery well and if you've met trigger fish before, you want good DMs!!! triggers are everywhere on koh tao.

zilch

Anything or anywhere in particular to compare to the Red Sea, i have dived (Southern Hurghada), and to be honest vis was far better than the Barrier Reef in places, reefs slightly more patchy, but still abundant fish life. I just found the red sea to be a wee bit crowded (up to 10-15 big dive boats per site). what would be your rating out of 10, not sure to look at Koh or maybe Phuket/Phi Phi Island for next crimbo

Cheers

Jim

by all means drop me a PM on it

miss*scoobygav555*

Those underwater pictures are amazing!! The other pics look fab too!!

Carla..

ChefDude

there were a few busy areas, chumpon for instance where i did a 3' 5m stop with abut 30+ other divers! worth it tho.

viz was never more than 15-20m. on our ssi rescue course, we did the confined dives in less than 3m viz! no currents either!

most of the time there weren't more than 2 boats at a site.

mostly small fish, but did see a reef shark (1.5m long), jenkins ray and turtles.

we'd go back - it is a great island, with good dive sites - just not quite as colourful as ras mohammad in the red sea.

speye91

Cracking pics ahh the Land Of Smiles, i would be there now if i never bought the scoob, but going back again on the 27th december for a month.......cant wait

zilch

Aghh SSI (as moi) far better and posher than those PADI types , on the serious side, thanks, look likes i may be looking at KS for next crimbo. Never done the Sharm area, if you are ever down under, give us a buzz

Cheers

Jim

edited by just noticed the trigger fish bit, OUCH, nasty buggers who's bite is far worse than their non-existent bark

Brendan Hughes

Bet my advice to you was pretty close to utterly useless! (Assuming you got it...) You certainly saw a different part of the island than us!

I should have asked you to look for my wedding ring, it's still there under the silt I guess

Triggers - we were told they have a notorious rep on Koh Tao. I was attacked by one while training, but not touched, instructor waved it off.

p1mark

Nice pics!

Im really jealous as i was diving off Swanage on the south coast over easter

i feel you may have had better weather/vis than me!

What underwater camera set up are you using?

ChefDude

Brendan, both of us read the stuff you sent - we were quite cautious where ever we went and all worked out ok. be prepared! that's why i asked for advice ahead of time

trevor's the local trigger fish to koh tao. some people have been killing them as there are so many around!


p1mark
diving off swanage... Brrrrr!
i don't take pics underwater - i'm tend to hang around, generally upside down blowing air bubble rings.

my gf uses a fuji F810 with one of these

with one of these strobes

Brendan Hughes

Glad it was of some use.

Trevor - that was the one! I was told I didn't meet him, he was bigger than the one we saw, but Trevor had a reputation of taking a bite out of one DM's ear, IIRC.

ChefDude

i didn't see trev, but i did see one of his teeth embedded in a DM's fin - his lucky charm

p1mark

water temp was around 6 deg all weekend, and im a tight git and dive in a 6mm semi dry suit. Everyone else was in drys. ok underwater but hanging around on the boat after a dive was not particularly pleasant

pics are great, been meaning to get into photography and will have to get a decent strobe as thats what makes the piccies IMHO.

ChefDude

in 30 degrees Celcius water i dove in a 5mm longy wetsuit! you're clearly nuts

Alas

Excellent underwater pictures . Not dived there so a good few fish I've not seen before. Pictures of the Barracuda gave me a shiver as I lost a large chunk out of my knee to one off Tobago. Ouch