3/11/09

Ko Lipe

So I got to Ko Lipe where I will do a divemaster course.

Straight away I got a nice sun burn...

Testing my new underwater photography skills with this juvenile Batfish

Nemo as you now is a Clownfish or Anemonefish: to the Symbiosis freaks ;-)

I met Kevin and Daria which work on Dolphins and other marine mammals in Scottland, Slowenia and soon also in Thailand

Hin Song, one of the postcard pictures to show around.

Hey it's Christmas! The colours of the hard and soft corals are stunning

A beautiful Sea fan in the current


The powder blue surgeon fish dance

My favorite: the pufferfish

Look if you find the intruder in these Sea urchins... It's a Lionfish!

This is the day the Princess of Thailand came for a very short (less than 24 hrs) visit on the island. Unfortunately, the Thais had cleaned the beachfront she shall come and a heavy rain made that beach look like the worst on Ko Lipe... This is to show how sustainable their build and keep their nature... Most fishes are gone due to fishing along the coast, ankering and the sewage which flows directly into the sea, in front of each bungalow. It's always nice to know what is in the water before you say "this is paradise"...

These are the first three divers on this island: Barry (my dive instructor), and two German tourist which came together for the first time to Ko Lipe coincidently 11 years ago... and a Chao Ley ("people of the sea") skipper handling the boat.

A Moray Eel checking out what I am doing looking at it all the time

Short stop on a small island on the way to the mainland where I have to get a visa extension and go to the doctor as I got an Otitis media. No more diving for the next 5 days...

out...

and back again for 15 days!

A scorpionfish right a the sandy beach front! That might hurt pretty much if someone would accidentally step on it!

What a fantastic place!

That's my "little" hut I lived for 6 weeks in (with an awesome sea view).

A last one... Of my favorite beach spot Viewpoint on Lipe.