I am in Khao Lak, which is the first place that comes to mind when Phang Nga region of Thailand is mentioned.. This town, which is popular because of the national parks nearby, was hit by a tsunami in 2004, penetrating 4 km into the town and taking 4,225 lives according to official records.
The number of people who died along the coast of Southern Thailand was recorded as 5395. Although tourists started to come to this popular place again in 2007/08 and after, it never reached the number of visits before the tsunami.
Khao Lak is located 60 km from Phuket, the popular touristic island of Thailand. located in the north. Most of the tourists are from Scandinavian countries and Germany.. I bought my ticket from Phuket Old Town bus terminal (100THB, 5,7TL) and jumped on the bus, 2 hours later I was in Khao Lak.
I rented a bed in a 3-person dorm room at a hostel called SeeWeed (250THB) and was right next door Sea Dragon Diving School. Established in 1993, this school is the oldest in town.. Owners Swedish Uwi and British Sara. Not only do they teach diving, they also organize daily or overnight boat tours to nearby Similan, Surin, Kh Bon, Koh Tachai.
Open Water PADI 9.800THB, Advanced PADI 7800THB. I paid an additional 2800THB because I wanted to do two of the 5 compulsory dives on Similan Island.. If you only want to dive to Smilan Island 2 times, the fee you have to pay is 4500THB.. From another point of view, I saved 1700THB, 97TL by taking a diving course.. Since the area where Similan Island is located is a national park, you have to pay 600THB entrance fee.
I actually had the intention to dive in Smilan in Kha Lok.. When I learned the prices, I changed my mind and decided to take the advanced PADI course.. Good thing I did.
My first encounter with diving was in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, which has a wonderful underwater world, where I went on vacation in July 2004.. I did it as an adventure dive without any diving certification. It was the first step into a fascinating world.
I was fortunate in Indonesia to dive again 7 years after this first dive.. 7 months ago, in July 2011, I got my first certificate by taking the PADI Open Water Diver training, which was my first diving course, in Amed, Bali, which has incredible coral reefs and sunken ships. I made 6 dives in Mabul and Siamil Islands, which are famous diving spots.. Again, two on Coron Island, Philippines.. I dived 3 times, including sunken ships from World War II.. Actually, these dives in Coron were 28 meters deep and I had to be at the Advanced level to be able to do these dives.
I am in Khao Lak, which is said to be a world famous diving spot in Thailand.. Although it is said that the corals and underwater life were badly damaged after the tsunami, I chose this place (10.500THB, 610TL).
I registered for the PADI Advanced Open Water Diver course today and I will start taking my course tomorrow.. After this course, I will both improve my diving skills and dive up to 30 meters.
The course consists of a total of five adventure dives.. Deep diving and navigation diving are mandatory.. I’m considering taking the other three dives as night dive, excellent level buoyancy and current dive.. I can discuss these with my diving instructor tomorrow and make other diving preferences.
I don’t know what my next step will be.. I’m thinking of diving in every country I go to. The next course, PADI Rescue Diver, is waiting for me. If I had a budget, I would like to go as far as the PADI Master Scuba Diver course.. (Day 541: Thailand:30, Khao Lak, January 26, 2012)
Khao Lak Town
The whole town is almost built on tourism economy. There are many luxury resorts around its golden sandy beaches stretching for kilometers.. The town center is built around the main highway that runs through the city.. There are restaurants, bars and many other shops on the way to European standards.. It can be said that the prices are a bit expensive when I compare them with other parts of Thailand.
The next day, after going to the main diving school and watching a video for theoretical training, I completed some of the compulsory training by going to a diving spot near the mainland and doing 3 dives.. I was lucky that no one applied to the advanced course other than me.
I can say that there were no fish except for a few liofish in the place where we dived.. Coral was something that never existed.. If those who come here for diving do not want to be disappointed, it is recommended to dive in Similan and Surin Islands.
Day 542: Thailand:31, Khao Lak, 27 January 2012
