Whale Sharks At Hin Muang, Koh Lanta, Thailand: The Best Christmas Present Ever

Rob: Happy New Year!!!

It’s been crazy busy on Koh Lanta over Christmas and New Year. Suddenly overnight it becomes the busiest time of the dive season as people want to be on holiday for Christmas. All the dive boats are full and the sailing boat is cruising everyday. If you don’t like the masses and the extra expense of flights and accommodation then December is not for you - but if you want to meet plenty of people for diving and partying, it’s great!

Christmas Visa Run Fun - Not!
It wasn’t the best time for me over the 24th and 25th. My visa had expired on the 24th and I had to go to the Malaysia border to renew it. Normally you can do it in one day, but not this time. After travelling to the border I had to queue for over 2 hours to leave Thailand. Very unusual but obviously many people are going home for the holidays. Then I had to queue again for over 2 hours to return into Thailand. The last ferry departs at 10pm to Koh Lanta so I had to stay the night in Trang. Great! Xmas eve alone and travelling on the 25th also bummer as I missed my first year diving with my friends. Lesson learned for next year!

Amazing Whale Sharks at Hin Muang
All that was forgotten next day because something truly amazing happened - Amazing Lanta indeed! It was the best Christmas present ever - we saw two Whale Sharks at Hin Muang on the 26th. I do say lucky as I have only seen 2 in all my life and I know people who have dived 15 / 20 years and never experienced the pure adrenalin felt when witnessing these magnificent animals. Although quite small for whale sharks at only around 6 metres long (a mere 6 metres… 3 times bigger than a person) they are still an impressive sight. The two videos were shot by the lovely DD, a French instructor working with me at Go Dive. Big thanks to her for letting us putting them on this blog.

The first clip is quite short and shows the sheer size of the whale shark next to a diver. The second clip is awesome, a couple of minutes long as DD follows the whale shark as it moves around the pinnacle and goes to check out the divers and their bubbles. It is just beautiful.

Tsunami Anniversary
26th December was also the anniversary of the Tsunami. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. I was one of the lucky ones, far out at sea on the dive boat. I saw nothing of what happened when the tsunami struck, only the destruction when we arrived back on land. Koh Lanta was not too badly damaged by the tsunami, unlike poor Koh Phi Phi, and now looking around the island you would never even know the tsunami happened. But we should never forget those who lost relatives and friends - our hearts are still with you. A lot of rememberance ceremonies were held all over Thailand. I placed a flower in the water and gave a minute’s silence before my boat departed from Hin Muang.

New Year’s Eve on Koh Lanta
New Year came with a bang. We all met up at Ozone bar on Long Beach. It has a great vibe and always has a great party every Thursday and it’s where you will find most of the dive community. Fireworks where going of everywhere and in Thailand we have these candles. They stand maybe a meter high and when the candle is lit inside it gives off an amazing glow. When it’s finally warmed the inside air up you can let it go and watch it rise steadily into the night air. When you see hundreds of these going up it’s an impressive sight.

From Chris and Rob we would like to wish you all a Happy New Year 2008! Or, according to the Thai Buddhist calendar, 2551. We hope you all stay safe with your Diving adventures and hope we’ll see you this year diving in Thailand.