Below the Phi Phi Islands

I love being wrong because that means in that instant, I learned something new that day.

~Neil deGrasse Tyson

“Oh jeez, this boat is huge,” I murmured to Vince as we stepped aboard the Mandarin Queen 7. We followed our divemaster, Arju from Thailand Divers, who was currently searching for space for us to sit down. This was no easy task because the boat’s three decks were already filled with divers and snorkelers, since all of the dive shops around Phuket cooperate to share space on large boats that are specifically outfitted for SCUBA diving. As we climbed the stairway to the upper deck, I had a sudden premonition of dozens of fins and arms flailing around underwater. There was simply no way, in my mind, that this crowd of people wouldn’t affect the quality of the three dives we had scheduled for the day.

Just when I thought there would be no space for us to stow our bags and sit down, Arju and another divemaster ushered us into a small, empty room lined with cushioned benches. They closed the door behind us to keep in the AC, then told us that it was perfectly safe to leave our bags in here. They handed out bright orange life vests (we’d have to wear them until the boat left port) before setting us free to enjoy a morning tea and coffee bar that the crew had already set up.

I poured myself a cup of tea and sipped it as the boat pulled away from Phuket’s Chalong Pier, bound for the emerald waters of the Phi Phi Islands. The crew brought out a buffet breakfast once we’d officially left port, and everyone shed their life jackets before lining up for food. I wasn’t hungry yet, so I skipped the meal and instead went up to the sundeck to check out the views.

Today’s crossing would take longer than the previous day’s speedboat tour had. This left me and Vince with plenty of time to soak up some sun and watch the giant jellyfish that were floating in the deep waters around the boat. When we finally neared the Phi Phi Islands, Arju rounded us up to give us a briefing on our first dive, which would be at Koh Bida Nok. This small island is little more than a pinnacle rising from the sea, but it would provide the best chance of seeing sharks out of the three dive sites we’d visit that day.

Before the Mandarin Queen even came to a stop, Arju ushered us down to the dive deck to gear up. We were among the first divers to start doing our buddy checks, but soon the deck was so crowded that it was difficult to move. Every inch of space was taken up by divers jostling to get their heavy gear on. It was honestly overwhelming, and my nerves were on edge as I walked over to the dive platform at the stern.

I found myself staring at a wall of sheer, vertical rock.  The water in between the ship and the pinnacle was dimpled with the splashes of divers entering the water.  Arjun was ready to get in, so I dropped my fins onto the wet deck and wiggled my feet into them.  On Arju’s signal, I took one long stride off the end of the boat, plunging into the warm water. Vince was close behind me, and the three of us briefly regrouped on the surface before starting our descent into the depths.

Down at the bottom, Arju signalled for us to follow her, and then she shot off over the reef, swimming fast. This left me with no time to calm my nerves, and as I tried my best to keep up with her powerful kicks, I watched the pressure in my cylinder inch lower at a somewhat faster rate than I’m used to.  Of course, that didn’t help calm me down either (although my tank was nowhere near running out).  It wasn’t until Arju signed for us to stop that I began to calm down and get my breathing under control.

I looked around at the shallow, rocky area where we’d stopped. Something seemed off, and it took me a moment to realize that there were no other divers in sight. Arju had managed to lead us to a secluded spot away from the crowd.  Moments later, Arju excitedly pointed towards the shallows underneath the island, where a blacktip reef shark glided into view.

We hovered in place for several minutes as more blacktips gracefully swam around us. I stopped counting after five sharks, and just enjoyed their presence, until a school of tiny squids eeked towards us, which diverted my attention away from the sharks.

By now, I’d calmed down completely, my breathing had evened out, and I’d switched into fun mode. Vince and I followed Arju a bit deeper where we explored a reef that was fringed with lacy gorgonian fans. Every so often a school of fish would engulf the reef and surround us in their fold.  Their scales caught the light of the sun that filtered through the water, which sent glittery flashes of light dancing around us.

While peering into little crevasses in the reef, we encountered a seahorse, and a large lobster, which warned us to back off by waving its antennae around.

Taking the hint, we swam over to a sandy area to see what we could find. Sandy bottoms may not seem like they’d be the most interesting place to dive, but in my experience, they never disappoint, and this one was no exception.  I hovered over a flounder as its weird eyes looked up at me from its flat, asymmetrical body. Flounders look to me like a fish that was stepped on, that decided to just keep living anyway, flat and mangled. They’re awesome.

We also came upon a porcupine puffer, who wore a dopey expression with its globular eyes and upturned mouth. Nearby, Arju spotted a scorpionfish, which looked more rock-like than any other scorpionfish I’ve ever seen (that’s saying something). I think scorpionfish are cool when I’m aware that they’re there. Unfortunately their camouflage is so good, that they’re also quite disconcerting, because the spines on their dorsal fins contain very potent venom. It’s easy to avoid them if you can see them, you just can’t always see them.

The highlight of the dive for me was a blue spotted stingray that we found near the scorpionfish. I lowered down so that I was just above the sandy bottom, and watched it eating from the ocean floor.

After that, we spent the rest of the dive back on the reef, where we saw a few different kinds of anemonefish, and a few different kinds of anemones to go with them. We also found the first of many eels we’d see on our trip.

At the end of the dive, I found myself fascinated with a large bubble coral, whose balloon-like tentacles bounced with the current. Bubble coral is amazing because it increases its surface area during the day time, which helps it absorb sunlight to feed its symbiotic zooxanthellea algea. Then at night time, the bubbles contract, so the coral itself can extend its tentacles to feed on things like shrimp and krill.

When we eventually ended the dive and climbed back aboard the Mandarin Queen, all of my stress about over-crowding on the boat was assuaged. I now had full confidence in Arju’s ability to turn a busy dive into a private experience. We shed all of our gear, and climbed back to the upper deck, where lunch was already set out at the buffet bar.  Now I was hungry, so I filled a bowl with Pad Thai, and ate it on the sundeck as the boat pulled up to Maya Bay.

Vince and I had just visited Maya Bay the day before, but we’d seen it from the beach instead of the water.  It was also later in the day than our first visit, and the water that filled the bay was a glorious turquoise color that’s only this vivid when the sun is high.

It was a beautiful place to spend our hour-long surface interval, and Arju found us for a dive briefing after we finished eating our lunch. She said the next dive site was right around the corner, and was called Turtle Rock. It’s called Turtle Rock because hawksbill sea turtles frequent its waters. This may seem obvious, however the last dive of the day would be at shark point, where we were warned to not expect any sharks.

Now that I knew the drill, gearing up was a lot less stressful. The three of us went down to the dive deck and got ready while the boat was still moving over to Turtle Rock. By the time everyone else showed up, we were already standing on the platform, ready to jump in. We were the first group in the water this time, and after descending to the bottom, we followed Arju through a few swims-throughs underneath rock formations. There were a handful of interesting creatures under the rock piles, including a black spot nudibranch, and a juvenile harlequin sweetlips. The baby fish wiggled its feathery, spotted fins like a flamenco dancer flouncing her skirt. We also found another eel tucked under a rock, but our real goal on this dive was to find a turtle.

It didn’t take long to realize that goal. Shortly after leaving the maze of rocks, we cam upon a clearing scattered with broken pieces of dead coral. A hawskbill turtle sat right in the center of the clearing, chomping down on bits of coral as dust billowed in the water around its beak.

I approached it slowly because I didn’t want to startle it, but quickly realized that it was far to absorbed with eating coral to care about a few divers (It was just the three of us because Arju had once again managed to get some time with this turtle without another dive group in the vicinity). We all settled down near the bottom, where we got to stay and watch the turtle for several minutes.

A short while later, a pufferfish swam up and started eating the coral debris that the turtle was churning up. It was so neat to get to see this symbiotic relationship play out in front of us.  I even took a few minutes to just enjoy the time with the turtle without filming or taking pictures. But the other divers eventually caught up to us. The peaceful moment was shattered, but we did stay and watch the turtle surface for a fresh breath of air before we moved on.

After leaving the turtle, the rest of the dive was full of more swim-throughs, colorful soft corals, and huge schools of snappers that ebbed and flowed around us.

We ended the dive with one of the most fun safety stops we’ve ever had. Instead of floating in the the open water at five meters, we slowly ascended inside of a cavern. All three of us turned on our dive lights so we could see as we made our way deeper into the sea cave. We surfaced inside of the cavern once our computers gave us the go ahead, and then we turned onto our backs and finned towards the open sea while looking up at the patterned cave formations above us.

The boat was waiting for us, and one other straggling group right outside of the cavern, and when we climbed onboard, we found that the crew had set out a snack bar with ice cream, fruits, and cookies. I gladly helped myself to a bowl of ice cream, thinking that this was the most well-provisioned dive day ever. Vince and I ate our snack at the bow of the ship as it motored towards Shark Point, which was on the way back to Phuket. Along the way, we ended up striking up a conversation with another dive master, who told us that there used to be sharks at Shark Point, but it’s not within the protected national park waters, so the sharks moved out due to fishing.

Arju gathered us to get ready even earlier this time, and as we stood on the dive deck, we watched a flock of sea birds swooping above the surface of the water. I was pumped to jump back in for one more dive, but upon entering the water, we found that the visibility had taken a murky turn. It was hard to see much of anything throughout the dive, but the reef was covered in huge barrel sponges, so I made a game of looking to see if anything was hiding inside of each one I swam over. A few of them did contain fish, but not much to write home about.

The saving graces for this dive were a colorful peacock mantis shrimp that Arju pointed out, and a large school of barracuda that we ended up seeing just before our safety stop. This was cool enough to make up for the bad visibility in my opinion.

Back on the Mandarin Queen, the crew served fettuccine alfredo and garlic bread for dinner as we made our way back to Phuket. The meal was delicious, and as I ate it, I reflected on how wrong my initial misgivings about the Mandarin Queen had been. I was very impressed with how efficiently the boat operated, and how hard the crew worked to make sure that everyone was well-fed and comfortable throughout the journey. I was also impressed with Arju’s guiding throughout the day. This was a situation where I was completely happy to be proven wrong. It had been such a fun day, and now I felt even more excited to continue diving later on in the trip. For the time being though, Vince and I watched a golden sunset as the Mandarin Queen arrived back at Chalong Pier. It had been a full day of adventure, and we were excited for the fun to continue on another boat tour the next day.

You can see more details of this amazing destination on my YouTube channel!