Khao Lak

I liked

Sea Dragon Dive Centre - We stayed at Ramada Khao Lak - and did not have time to book diving before we arrived. THere are so many choices nearby that it seemed even more difficult at first glance. You are right, there is not a dive centre within the resort - but consider this an advantage - with so many places so close, you can easily book something that is well suited to your objectives. And easily. Walking distance from the Ramada. Plus they have free and abundant internet, so you can do a little research first. We were in Khao Lak for the first week of January, 2011 - and it was a last minute trip. So I sent a number of emails to several dive centres just before I left and followed up when I arrived. Clearly there are a large number of operators and it is almost overwhelming to sort out who actually has boats and who is a booking agency. And secondly, whose objectives are to fill boats and whose are to encourage the dive experience. And truthfully, I think we all know this to be true. I spoke to about six shops - and in the end I found two polar opposites. Manta Point Divers - which I gather there is a centre by the same name in Krabi - was just incredibly rude. I had asked if - seeing as I was not terribly budget constricted - and was a PADI dive professional, if I could find a nice day trip and also dive without being in a big group. More divers know that you can frequently be restricted in a group by the weakest diver (which is perfectly fine - we all are constantly improving). However, when you fly for 30 hours for five days, you want to remove that potential for limitation. And perhaps the opposite view of that is if you have not been diving for some time, it can be more comfortable to be in a large group where the speed and scope of the dive might be unnerving. Mike Herz at Manta Point sent me a few emails back telling me basically that I was an idiot to be travelling so far during high season for diving and that it was illegal to dive without the group; I was lucky to be able to dive at all and he offered me two spots he could find on a day trip with a group. It just sounded wrong - plus I never knew in my seventeen years as an instructor that it was against PADI rules to buddy dive (he referred me to PADI. That was the low end of the experience! He was incredibly unpleasant and from the other shops I spoke to, I gather that is his reputation. But there were some great dive centres. I came across Sea Dragon Dive Centre - just by driving by on the scooter - and gave them a call. Well, talk about the polar opposite experience. They acknowledged, as most places in Khao Lak did, that it was busy but actually less busy than normal across Khao Lak and they would be delighted to have us on board. And that it was a Similan National Park rule that there be a dive master with divers. So, we paid a nominal fee (1,000 bhat or $30cdn) and had a private divemaster with us so that we could buddy dive as was our objective. Sea Dragon owns their boats, was incredibly well organized, allowed us to dive our own profile as requested and to top it off, we were amongst four prancing mantas on our first dive. They picked us up at the Ramada right on time, drove practically directly to the pier and we were on the water almost immediately. None of this hanging around waiting for people. And on our return, our taxi from Sea Dragon was waiting for us and took us straight back to the Ramada. It was fantastic and trouble free. We went from frustrated at being treated so disrespectfully to elated by knowing that within the dive community there are dive centers that exist largely for the love of diving and the development of the sport. This is further demonstrated by Sea Dragon participating in the Manta Project which identifies mantas in the area and tracks whether they migrate or stay within the area. At the end of the dive they collected shots from divers to see if any of the four mantas were new to the cleaning station. To Se

I liked

I enjoyed Khao Lak - but it was the Similan Islands that really rocked my world! I went with Wicked Diving and they were so great, service and showed us marine life like we'd never seen before.