Day 2 of our Surin Island liveaboard with Wicked Diving was all about Richelieu Rock. Discovered (well, as a diving site) by Jacques Cousteau, the site is a standalone rock/reef in the middle of the open ocean. We were lucky since our dive boat reached the mooring site first, so we had prime access to the dive site all day. Good thing, too, because it was beautiful and we were happy to have time to explore it thoroughly.
A cresent-shaped limestone pinnacle, Richelieu Rock is gorgeous: absolutely covered in purple soft corals and more anemone waving in the currents than you can imagine. Plus, since it's in the middle of nowhere, it's got some currents roiling around, bringing the big fish in, too.
Our first dive was pretty early morning, so the lighting in the first few minutes was a bit dark. It quickly brightened up to show the pretty purple hues.
Highlights of the video:
Some of those pretty purple anemones I described, complete with skunk anemone fish
This past weekend Tim and I decided to get the hell out of Dodge (well, Bangkok) during Thailand's recent elections and do some scuba diving. We'd heard that Thailand's scuba diving is generally only so-so compared to that of Indonesia, with the exception of the Surin and Similan islands, two small groups of islands in the Andaman Sea off Thailand's west coast, north of Phuket and close to the Burmese border. At Scuba Steve's urging, we decided to book a 3-day liveaboard to the Surins and Richelieu Rock with Wicked Diving. Good thing, too, as both the diving and the folks at Wicked were lovely. I'm planning my next trip back already (well, not reeeeeally, but if any friends/family visit Thailand and insist on a liveaboard, I could be very easily convinced).
So here's the video, photos and description of the first day of our trip with Wicked (you can read Wicked's trip report here, too)... Friday night we boarded the boat, ate a great meal, got our equipment ready for the next day's early morning dive, and tried to settle in our cabins as the boat lurched (oy, seas were rough that night!) towards the Surin Islands.
Early Saturday morning we got up and headed out on our first dive, joined by divemaster Dan (you'll see him rocking the yellow
snorkel in the videos), fellow diver Jun (blue fins and a camera). Dive #1, Ao Pakkad, which was relaxing, pretty, and full of schools of sparkly little glass fish. Sometimes they covered the reef like a blanket and you had to basically sweep them aside to see the other critters! Also: very curious/friendly tall-fin batfish that alternated between zipping around, sneaking up on you from behind and generally hanging about.
Highlights of the below video:
glass fish, glass fish and more glass fish
one of the many tall-fin batfish stalking fellow diver Jun at 0:18
lots of lionfish (at 0:46, 4:10)
Tim reluctantly waving (1:22)
scorpionfish, master of disguise... see if you can spot him at 1:26
Dive #2, Torinla Pinnacle, is a big, submerged pile of granite, including some major boulders.
The currents were strong when we dove, so we had to descend while holding onto the boat's mooring line. You can see in the video below, as we descended, we caught site of something pretty awesome: 5 absolutely enormous (like I think they for sure outweighed me and were at least 5 feet long, probably more) and endangered (and therefore rare) napoleon (also called humphead) wrasse!! You can see them coming out of the blue over the rocks in the video at 0:13.
bubble, bubbles, so many bubbles surrounding us as we ascended to the surface since the current was pushing all our fellow divers' exhaled bubbles up towards us
Located on the top of a mountain overlooking Chiang Mai, Doi Suthep was founded in the 1300s, when, as legend says, a white elephant carrying a relic (a piece of one of the Buddha's shoulder bones)was released into the jungle, it climbed Doi Suthep mountain and died at the top. As a result of this sign, the temple was built at the spot atop the mountain. Here's a replica of the white elephant:
After driving most of the way up the mountain, you have to climb a cool set of 309 stairs for the last bit up to the temple... stairs guarded by two nagas:
At the top, the golden stupa is quite pretty, as are the many Buddha statues surrounding it:
There were lots of people making offerings and praying, circling the stupa clockwise and pouring oil over these lamps:
While at Doi Suthep, I got photos of these temple dogs lounging on the steps... it was cold (down into the 50s at night) while we were in Chiang Mai, and it seemed that all of the stray dogs, whether living at a temple or on the street, were suddenly clothed in sweaters and t-shirts to keep them warm!:
Our favorite part of Wat Chedi Luang, though, was their Monk Chat program, advertised below. As part of the program, you can chat with monks in pursuit of cultural exchange and better English skills. Suggested topics of conversation, according to the sign, include:
Buddhism and Thai culture.
The life of Monks.
The traditions of your country.
Charity work.
Anything. (this one was our favorite)
Another common sign in the wats of Chiang Mai... not sure what "sprinter property of you" is (besides a strange translation):
We also went to Wat Phra Singh, where this guy greeted us... inexplicably:
These pretty buildings also greeted us:
Pretty door:
At this wat, people were praying in front of a stupa, but also using this pulley system to elevate what I assume is holy/blessed water in a metal tube up the side of the stupa and splash it down the stupa. People were lined up to use this contraption... check out the video below:
