Clean up Day!

November 8th, 2009

On 6th November, Castaway Divers helped do our bit in cleaning up the dive sites and beaches of Tarutao marine park. In a c0-ordinated effort involving all the dive shops from Koh Lipe we encouraged our customers to get involved with discounted diving.

We made two dives taking any plastic and loose netting we found and cleaned two beaches on the west coast of Koh Adang. Underwater we were rewarded for our efforts with the unexpected finding of a large Tigertail Seahorse and on the beaches the results of the cleanup were immediately visible.

Thanks to all involved for an enjoyable and rewarding day!

Night Diving, Sunrise Beach

July 25th, 2009

We have recently rediscovered huge variety of amazing marine life that remains hidden by day, but comes out when the sun goes down.

During the last week we have made 4 muck dives at night on our very own, sunrise beach. We’ve all, guests and staff alike, been surprised and delighted by the huge variety of weird and wonderful nocturnal creatures living on our doorstep.

The biggest favourite is the decorator crab; looking almost like a tarantula, but so heavily encrusted in algae, these can often not be spotted unless they are moving. Also popular are the anemone hermit crabs; scurrying around carrying live anemones on their backs. We’ve also seen many other crabs; molluscs, shrimps and eels out hunting, parrotfish sleeping in their protective balloons, and the occasional curious octopus. A number of different alien looking worm-like creatures have confused us all, we’ll let you know as soon as we figure out what they are!

All of this has been found within 200m of our dive shop, in less than 4m of water. This all makes for an exciting dive without any of the common anxieties associated with diving at night.

www.kohlipedivers.com

Are All Sea Horses Shy?

March 25th, 2009

Sea Horse on JabangThis year we’ve encountered several sea horses and there is one on Jabang which we have seen regularly. We’ve tried many times to photograph it, but it seems to be very shy. Every time we tried to photograph it, it would turn away and we would get a picture of his back.

Finally we have a good picture of our favourite sea horse. It was finally captured by Matthijs Krom who was diving with us this week. Although he won’t admit it, Tony is a little bit jealous and no doubt will be trying again very soon to get a good shot of our little friend.

Top Dive Site: Stonehenge

March 25th, 2009

Recently at half moon, when the currents were weak, we made a dive on Stonehenge where we encountered our newest discovery on this site: a seahorse.

This year we have seen ornate ghost pipe fish, whale sharks, leopard sharks, barracudas, frog fish and now a seahorse all on the one site. Stonehenge is only 3 minutes away from our dive shop and it wins the top spot as best dive site for the year!

February - 8 Mile Rock

March 16th, 2009

Our last trip to 8 mile Rock was one of those perfect days. The water was calm and the sun was shining and some dolphins were swimming along with the boat. As we started the dive we were joined by a whale shark at the surface, and then as we got deeper we spotted a pair of leopard sharks. It just doesn’t bet better than that. All in all a great day out.