AIDC - Andaman International Dive Center

Special trip

2011-04-26T18:43:00.000-07:00

7 days / 7 nights around Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock
8 Swiss and 1 Danish on board of MV ThaiSea promised to be an interesting week and a lot of fun.
Some of the girls haven't been diving for quite some time, so they took it easy and slowly with their divemaster, exploring some spots around the islands, where the others went for the current and the pinnacles.
But once the girls were back on track and could finally see what s going on around them – 40 batfishes on one spot, funny looking nudibranches like the Sea Hare, hunting Jackfish bigger than anything we have seen before, friendly Napoleons, the very sick looking Barracuda, still sleeping Seahorses, giant grouper and so on – and I have to say (not only because I was their divemaster) they made a huge step from the beginning of the trip until the end!! I am very proud and happy, well done „chicken run“!
Beside the 27 dives we had a lot of time to do other things, but most of us – or do I have to say most of the boys – were „litnoi“ addicted to a game called angry birds on Tabos Ipad.....but the real Angry Bird on the boat was once again Gaeo, the parrot.
Of course we went to the beach, did some snorkelling, played other games (real social ones) had some drinks in the evening, discussed world problems without solving them or simply enjoyed the beauty of nature on the sea.
At the end, all divers had around 8 dives only at Richelieu and therefore it was no problem to let them dive alone on the very last dive. Like this the divecrew – Preben, Mischa and Carmen - could make their last dive together just on their own. Last dive, maybe not for Preben this season, but for sure for Mischa and Carmen, they are off to the Philippines for a new adventure.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for a great season:
• all our guests and friends joining us on the trips
• the most fantastic crew on the world, Pong, M, Tui and our Captain
• Preben
Maybe again next season?! You never know, take care.

Carmen and Mischa
www.weiterreisen.ch

Burma 14.3.2011

2011-03-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

14.3.-19.2.2011
Burma for another 5 days
You know us, we are honest, last Monday it was not sure until the last second if we can fix the problem with the engine on time and make it through the immigration in the late afternoon, that we can start the trip as scheduled....our customers were very patient and so were the immigration. Lucky enough we did it, Monday evening around 19:30 everything was done and we started the trip as normal towards High Rock.
Everybody was hoping for better weather and better visibility. No rain on the way out, so far so good and on the first dive we were able to see the bottom around the rock for the first time :-) Please, let it stay like this.
Diving in 3 groups:
• Gerd the dolphin with Susan the older Bambi: Carmen as their guide
• Sven, Roman and Patric, the 3 ladies: their guide was Preben
• and finally the German Gang, Markus, Katharina, Marcel, Uli and Hans-Martin: Mischa with his funny way to use his fins in the pole position
The first day we tried to let the German Gang to jump first, but pretty fast everybody decided to put them at the end of the queue....you are asking why: simple answer: we have never had a group which needed more time to gear up than this one ;-)
We saw amazing stuff on the dives, like a hunting grey reef shark, harlequins were you thought there are four of them, but indeed it was only the reflection in your air bubble, leopard shark passing by, many special nudis, spanish dancer on the night dive, seahorses at Shark Cave, ghostpipefish on the second last dive, shaded batfish and and and.
Due to the weather situation, which was of course changing at some point, we had to seek for shelter around the island after diving Seafan Forest. Diving with high waves was fun for the customers, the dive site has now a new name „Roller-coaster“, but safety comes first and therefore we had to change the route just slightly.
As usual we ended the trip around the volcano island and did the last dive on a new spot, which showed up to be very nice. Here I am told to mention, that Preben finally found his personal two seahorses ;-)
Some short notes:
- Katharina: be careful where you put your finger when you come out of the bathroom
- Uli and Marcel: your pics were really amazing, I hope one day mine are as good as yours
- Carmen: throwing cornflakes into the sea doesn't work against the wind
- Hans-Martin (or was it Uli or Marcel?): sending up the safety sausage is a great idea at the end of the dive, even better if you attach the line to the buoy
- Gerd: please fix your regulator or what ever it was
- Markus: if you go next time on a liveaboard, let them now in advance how much you eat!
- Roman, Patric and Sven: there is always the option to ask for a new guide :-)

- Susan: hmmmm...I have to think hard but finally here it comes: don't take a scarf with you if you leave it in the office before the bus ride
Great dives, great trip, great people!!!! Hope everybody had a safe travel back home or to the next place and we will see each other: somewhere, sometime, somehow! Take care buddies!

Burma 6.3.2011

2011-03-13T19:27:00.000-07:00

Burma 6.3.-12.3.2011
Now with Lars and his friends on-board, again with Eva's group and some new faces - Dani and Vera from Austria (some people call Vera "Miss Coco Channel") and Georg and Luize from Germany/Romania - we headed out for the adventure. And it should start indeed as an adventure, since we had to turn around after leaving the Burmese immigration and get the engine fixed. It took longer than expected and we stayed almost a day back in Khao Thong. Time for some shopping and temple tour, time for sunbathing (when there was no rain) and just have some good chats.
Because of this delay, we extended the trip for one day, like this everybody got what he was coming for and we could sail the route like we have planned it:
- High Rock: check dive, getting used to Burmese water
- Stuart Island: swimthroughs, a lot of things for the macro lens
- Shark Cave (2 dives): Caves and tunnels, spanish dancer
- North Twin Pinnacle (2 dives): Manta on the first dive, hunting barracudas on the second
- South Twin (2 dives): after two deeper dives time for some relaxed cruising and simply enjoying
- Seafan Forest (2 dives): the dive site name tells you everything
- Western Rocky (2-3 dives): tunnel through the whole island, looking for the harlequins without success but having an excellent night dive
Here the plan had to be changed again, this time the weather didn't play the way we were expecting it, so we had to head to a quiet place closer to the mainland.
- Glashouse Island (2 dives): close encounters with a blotched stingray and I can tell you: IT WAS BIG!
- Shila Rock: playing with octopus and moray eel
- Spur Island: the first dive on the last day, things are moving not as fast as in the beginning
- Cooks Island: to end the trip some of us had a blacktip, others a turtle and the last have seen a shaded batfish
Having fixed the engine for the last time, we are now on our way back.
There are no Beng Beng left, no more cookies, no more Coke, no more tea and almost no chips. But there are some very good memories left and some great hours under water we could log.
--> That's what I thought after the last dive (around 12:00 o'clock) but reality was, that the problem with the enigine was more serious than expected and at the end we were towed back to Khao Thong and finally reached Thailand this morning around 09:00 o'clock....we don't call it without reason "Adventure Trip from 3-7 days in Burma" ;-)
Thanks to everybody for your understanding and your patience! And thanks to Kim, Tine and Gitte for cooking the perfect last dish on the trip with what was left!
It is always great to have people more than on time on the boat. Doesn't matter if they come back after one year or if they do two trips in a row. But of course we enjoy the new faces on our trips as much! We hope you felt like home and had a good time.
Thanks, Danke, Tak!
P.S. Some good tips for you:
- never come on a liveaboard if you can't change your outfit every evening
- always be careful who is standing behind you, maybe it's Per with a bucket full of salt water

Surin 2.3.2011

2011-03-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

Combi Trip Surin and Burma
Surin 2.3.-5.3.2011
There should have been a lot more Danes on the boat than there were at the end, but the group with Gitte, Tine, Kim, Mick and Lars didn't arrive on time so they had to stay in Phuket and wait for the second half of the combi trip: Burma.
But we cant complain about not having Danes, there were Eva, Ole, Gerlos and Per as a group, Stefano and Brigitte as a couple, then we had Alex as a last minute customer and Claudia from Switzerland as an Open Water Student.
The trip started again with rain, but know we know, this is a good sign: on the way out we spotted two dolphins and the trip itself had some more highlights for everybody:
- turtle on dive #1
- hunting jacks and trevallies on dive #2
- Napoleon on dive #3
- loads of fish on dive #4
- beautiful cowries on dive #8
- 2 seahorses and 1 ghost pipefish AND a manta on dive #9
- barracudas on dive #10
- again the manta on dive #11
The weather was on our side and we were back in time to send Alex to his own Burma trip and to have a rest for one night and one morning before we started the second part of the combi trip.

Burma 21.2.2011

2011-02-27T19:23:00.001-08:00

21.2.-26.2.2011

While we had the thai immigration on the boat in Ranong it was raining cats and dogs. Pong had to sit in the car for several minutes and the immigration officer could not go off the boat without risking to be washed away. It could only get better from now on :-)

Diving the first time as usual on High Rock we found an interesting place for the second dive; we call it Pollock Reef. The current was coming from everywhere, but once you where behind the rock everything was ok. Not all of us managed to hide behind the rock.....

Then it was Shark Cave time, like in the past we could enjoy the macro life in all its variations. The second day some of us had a Manta, I will not mention ho missed it...grrrrrrrr! But like always in life, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not. Only two dives later the person who missed the big one found the small one: first frogfish of the trip.

Diving Seafan Forest is always a happening. Even if you don't see anything special, only the scenery itself is amazing. This time it was even more special. Just when we where about to go to the deeper part this cloud came towards us and we felt the cold water around us. Within seconds the whole rock was hidden in a huge cloud of dust, you could barely see your buddy. And as fast as it came it was gone on the other side. Scary! But during the whole dive we were sure to hear dolphins singing.
And by the time we surfaced the crew told us that they have seen many of them playing around.
Maybe we are lucky and they show up, so we went for a second dive. Again we could hear them, but they didn't want to be seen. Coming up, the crew had even better news (well, not for us), beside the dolphins they even saw an eagle ray jumping. We thought about quitting diving.

But again, sometimes you are lucky and sometimes not. This time the crew had more luck than we, but only half an hour later our captain spotted the dolphins again and we approached slowly with the boat. Realising that there must be more than 30 in several groups in front of us. Then one of them swam directly next to the boat and we realised, these are not dolphins. It's fake killer whales!!!! At one point we had a group that close that nothing could stop me from jumping into the water only with my fins and the snorkel. And what I experienced then was one of the best moments in my life! Snorkelling with 6-8 fake killer whales around me, sometimes that close that I could touch them. You could hear them singing, even from the boat. Since they were not shy at all we decided to give it a try and dive with them. But I guess, that was too much, only for a few seconds we had them in front of us and then they were gone.
This time all of us were lucky.

It should not be enough for today...Night dives at Western Rocky are known to be the best ever. As well today, many nudi branchs, 3 frogfishes (why do they always hide in almost unreachable places?) and last but not least our beloved Harlequin Shrimps. We tried to stick to our announced 40 minutes but it was impossible. Coming up to the surface looking to the stars and keep on smiling. Now it's Leo time :-)

After spending the whole next day around this amazing rock, after doing 4 more dives, after we had seen much more than we expected we started our journey towards the mainland.

Last but not least we found a shark on the last dive, ok we only saw the tail and it was crawling deeper under the rock than we could manage but it was there. And the baby Kuhl's stingray will stay in our memories for a long time...sleeping under the sand, not letting him bother by anything for a long time and suddenly escaping like a rocket and almost crashing into Melanie :-) Maybe see you next time little fellow, as well as Lisa, Rob and Melanie.
It was a great time with you guys, hope you enjoyed it like we did and spread the word.
AIDC Dive Team

P.S. I almost forgot to mention who was the unluckiest and luckiest of us at the same time: ROB! Why? He lost his camera but Pong found it on the surface. He lost his torch but Melanie found it on the ground. After this, we attached the torch to the camera and everything was fine. Exept the last dive: He lost his mask but his wife dived after it before he even realised :-)

Surin 14.2.2011

2011-02-20T18:52:00.001-08:00

14.2.-17.2.2011
Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock

3 divers, 3 snorkellers, 1 student
1 Instrcutor, 1 divemaster, 1 divemaster trainee and 4 crew who did an extremely good job

Maybe you are wondering why there is no blog from the 3 day Surintrip last week....it is quite simple: the blog writer didn't join the trip, she was on vacation in Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. But what the others told her is basically said in one word: current!!!!!

This time I was again on board and was more than looking forward to spend 3 days on the boat and do some diving together with Melanie, Andreas and Henning. Mischa was supposed to teach Kati the diving but ended up with teaching Tine. Congratulations to be an Open Water Diver.
Kati and Mischas parents enjoyed the trip with snorkelling, eating and sleeping.

But what about the diving? Current? Bad Vis? Anything to see? NO - NO AND YEEEEEEEEES!
We started out in Surin where we had relaxed diving around Koh Chi, Yellow Rock and Hin Kong. The second day, everybody in big expectations of the Mantas, we did 2 dives on Koh Bon, the first dive with a lot of fish but no Manta and the second dive again, with a lot of fish and a Manta. Luckily all the groups, even Tine as still not certified diver, saw the impressive animal and came up with a big smile.

Then we moved north to Koh Tachai where - at least Henning with his guide - had one of the best dives in his careers ever. Even the guide said so. The pinnacle was surrounded with fish, big tunas, barracudas, jacks...all hunting for the thousands of small fish, a turtle sleeping in a small cave, lobsters, amazing seafans and corals.....and then while they were on the plateau on 12 meters suddenly 10 huge black mackerels approached, escorting the feeding biiiiig Manta! Henning took his regulator out of his mouth and kept on smiling. Hanging on the rope during the safety stop, they were in hundreds of blue fusiliers and yellow stripped snappers.

The last day - once again - Richelieu Rock. Some where jumping early, others skipped the first dive and enjoyed only two until one o clock.
But everybody was more than happy, great vis, almost no current and so much fish, sometimes you had trouble to see the rock.

Beside the diving we learned how the bubbles in a Leo beer are build, some of us couldn't believe how beautiful life can be once you are out on the sea, others were eating all the time, some where sick and had to sleep a lot and others recovered from being sick and had a great trip!

Thanks to everybody it was a awesome time! Hope to see you again, travel safe and have fun!

Video from Burma 31.1.2011

2011-02-07T02:18:00.000-08:00

Burma 31.1.2011

2011-02-06T00:04:00.001-08:00

5 days in Burma

31.1.-5.2.2011

People come with different expectations on a trip; some are into Macro, want to take a lot of pictures, others only want to see big stuff like Mantas and Sharks and then there are some who want to dive as relaxed as possible without current, not too deep and they want to enjoy coral reefs with lots of fish.

Burma is different...you get a lot of Macro, you can be lucky and have big stuff but you have to be aware, that the diving can be challenging and the conditions can be rougher than in other places you have been before. There are many pinnacles, sometimes the top is on 16 meters, there can be current or strong surge, that means sometimes you have to do something to see something. But if you are up for this challenge, you will have great diving, this is something we can promise.

We have done 19 dives (not everybody was doing all the dives besides
Point) in 5 days and I dare to say, that the divers who were aware of the difference in Burma, got what they were coming for. Ok, Point would have loved to see Whalesharks on every dive, but we all know this is not possible. So he had to live with Black Tips, an Eagle Ray, Nurse Sharks and lots of Blotched and Marbled Rays. The ones who came for the small stuff like Seahorses, Nudis, Ghostpipefish and Cowries had enough to look at. Especially the night dives @ Shark Cave and Western Rocky are every time a highlight. It's hard to stick to the announced 45 minutes and because it is so fascinating most of us forget how cold it is ;-)

The returning customers are showing us that we are doing a good job! We dive with passion, all the time and we are challenging ourselves every dive to find even more special things for you! Come along and you will see yourself.

Surin 20.1.2011

2011-01-23T22:41:00.000-08:00

3 days 20.1.-23.1.2011 Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock

The trip promised to be interesting even before it started. When we scheduled it to the 20.1.2011 we had 4 customers for sure and suddenly more were showing up from everywhere.
Andreas and Babett already had their luggage in the bus and the ticket in their hands to go to Koraburi and from there take a ferry over to Surin. But Andreas wanted to do some diving so they decided to join us at least for the first day, and then probably jump off to Surin and do some Island days.
We were all pretty sure, this will not happen...and....well if you really think I tell you every time after the trip all the details, describe how good the dives have been and what funny things happened beside the water activities....you are wrong!

If you wanna have such a good time, don't waste an other second with reading this blog, go on the booking page and safe your spot on the next trip. I promise you, you will never regret this decision.

Ok, I can give you a few stories, but I will never tell you if Andreas and Babett left the boat or not :-)

The dives around Koh Bon and Koh Tachai - unfortunately without our big friends the mantas - were extremely relaxed. The underwater scenery, the visibility and the fact that there was almost no current lead to 3 very nice dives. In the evening on the second day we had to choose where we will do the night dive....thanks for Christoph we decided, the first time ever, to go down on Koh Tachai Pinnacle. There was already a boat fixed on the buoy over the rock when we approached the place. No problem, we jumped off the boat, were swimming to the buoy to go down the line and this is the moment I will remember for a long time: the impression on the faces of all the divers from the other boat! "What are they doing!?!" We were having an incredible good night dive at a great site. And by the time we came up there was smoke in the kitchen :-) Preben was about to make the BBQ ready and this was probably the second time they were wondering on the other boat....this is how it works with AIDC, we are different in any way. In any good way.

Spending as usual the last day for 3 dives at Richelieu, we discovered a second seahorse and had a chat with the ghostpipefishes. Thanks god we started at 06:17, like this we were alone and could enjoy every moment.

If you are on a liveaboard, it doesn't matter how many people, doesn't matter from where they come from, it is an intense time. You spend the entire day together, every meal, every beer, every coffee. Most of the time you meet interesting, funny and nice people. You have a good chat about this and that, sometimes there are even friendships growing after the trip.

We try to make every trip a unique experience for every of our customers.
We are already looking forward to the next trip!

Burma 31.12.2010

2011-01-18T01:53:00.000-08:00

Burma 30.12.2010

2011-01-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

There is a good reason why this time the blog will be in german:
Manfred! He hardly understands any english...so if you want to know what happened during those 7 days in Burma use google translator :-)

Datum:
30.12.2010-06.01.2011

Teilnehmer:
Markus alias Bischi-Schnecke, Martin alias Sigi, Manfred, Nicole alias Hase und nicht zu vergessen unser VIP Gast Geo der Papagei

Route:
Von Ranong nach Kaw Thoung, von High Rock alles hoch zu Black Rock um langsam aber stetig wieder südlich bis nach Ranong zu kommen. Dazwischen lagen Shark Cave, North Twin, Western Rocky und viele weitere Tauchplätze.

Ein paar Zahlen:
- wir verbrachten um die 172 Stunden gemeinsam auf und unter dem Boot
- einige von uns haben 26 Tauchgänge gemacht, andere mehr als 26 Bier getrunken
- es wurde an etwa 20 verschiedenen Plätzen getaucht
- 3 Personen haben ihren Gewichtsgurt vergesse anzulegen
- 1 Taucher hat beim Sprung ins Nasse seine Taucherbrille verloren

Ein paar Geschichten:
Bischi und Sigi, die beiden sind alles andere als 08-15 Gäste, haben uns von morgens früh, bis abends spät mit ihren Sprüchen und Kommentaren daran gehindert unsere Bauchmuskulatur zu entspannen, danke an dieser Stelle und nicht vergessen: Johnny Cash lebt, wo auch immer! Wir waren sehr dankbar, dass wir schönes Wetter hatten, denn dadurch waren uns ein paar Stunden Pause pro Tag gegönnt, wenn die beiden sich in der Sonne braten liessen.
Vielleicht war es für Bischi ein wenig zu viel des Guten, denn irgendwann gelang ihm das Stehen auf der Tauchplattform nicht mehr und er zog es vor, verfrüht ins Wasser zu fallen....das erste und bisher einzige Mal seit 3 Jahren wo wir "man over board" schreien mussten!
Manfred kostete jede Sekunde des Trips aus, sei es beim Kajak fahren rund um die Insel, sei es durch das intensive Tauchen oder sei es durch das Trinken des stärksten Biers gewesen... am Ende des Trips hat er es dann aber noch auf seinen Bus nach Chumphon geschafft und wir wünschen ihm auf diesem Weg noch viele tolle Erlebnisse auf seiner Reise.
Nicole war am Entdecken ihrer ganz eignen Welt, der Kurs, mehr können wir aus Datenschutztechnischen Gründen leider nicht verraten; eines ist aber sicher: an der Geschichte mit den Nachttauchgängen musst du dran bleiben, Übung macht den Meister.

Ja und dann hatten wir ja noch den VIP Gast an Bord: Geo der Papagei.
Bis heute sind wir uns nicht sicher, ob er sich wohl gefühlt hat oder seine Pfeif-Arien Ausdruck von Ärger und Unwohlsein waren, eine Erfahrung war es aber definitiv für ihn. Schon alleine das Treffen (wenn auch auf Distanz) mit dem Seeadlerpaar bei Western Rocky wird sie (ja, Geo ist eine Dame) sicherlich so schnell nicht wieder vergessen.Was sie aber geritten hat, im Auto auf der Fahrt zurück zum Tauchcenter dann noch aus ihrem Domizil auszubrechen und Preben, dem Fahrer, einen halben Herzinfarkt zu bescheren, das wird für immer ihr Geheimnis bleiben.

Eckdaten zu den Tauchgängen:
Wir kämpften leider öfter mit mittelmässiger Sichtweite, doch es kam jeder der 4 Gäste und 3 Divemaster auf seine Kosten. Dem einen gefallen halt Felsen mehr als Seepferdchen und der anderen bereiten Anglerfische grössere Freude als Haie. Augen auf und man sieht mehr als man denkt!

Fazit:
Kommen die Schweizer Jungs wieder, das wäre dann in der Geschichte von AIDC bereits das dritte Mal, muss definitiv mehr Bier an Bord oder eine Nachttauchgangs-Zwangsverordnung!

Tipp:
Wenn ihr wissen wollt, wer auf unserem nächsten Trip der VIP Gast sein
wird: am besten gleich jetzt buchen :-)

Nachträglich einen guten Start ins neue Jahr!
AIDC Dive Team

Surin Island 25,12,2010

2011-01-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

3 days -11 dives -9 customers -3 divemaster - 4 crew

All in all this counts up to 30...let's see if I can list 30 things we
saw during the dives to make you wanna spend a trip with us:

- Eagle rays
- Jenkins whipray
- Leopard shark
- Napoleon
- Seahorse
- Ghost pipefish
- Mantis shrimps
- Turtles
- Barracudas
- Batfish
- Sweetlips
- Seasnake
- Tiger cowries
- Scorpion fish
- Lionfish
- Lobsters
- Hermit crabs
- Anemone crabs
- Schulz pipefish
- Squat shrimps
- Trevallies
- Moray eels
- Clown triggerfish
- Banded boxer shrimps
- Sailfish
- Halgerda tesselata
- Blue spotted sting rays
- Wart slugs
- Porzelan crabs
- Pong - a diver without BCD :-)

You have to imagine that this all has been seen on only 11 dives during
3 days!
Our international customers - coming from Denmark, Malaysia, Germany and
Switzerland certainly had nothing to complain at the end, spending
Christmas on a very cosy boat, having BBQ dinner on the open sea,
enjoying diving in very small groups; what do you expect more from a
dive trip!?

It is our passion to make you as happy as ever possible and one more
time this mission came to a successful end. Thank you for joining and
making it possible. Thanks to the crew which did one more time an
amazing job in helping where ever a hand was needed and now there is
only one thing left to say:
We wish you a good start in the new year, some great dives during the
next 365 days and all the best for you and your families!

AIDC, Preben, Mischa and Carmen

Surin Island 6.12.2010

2010-12-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

3 days and 3 nights around Surin, Koh Tachai and Richelieu

Probably the first trip in AIDC's history with 2 Swiss couples and all working in the health department.
It was not easy for Preben to survive all the swiss german chatting but he did a good job :-)
Barbara and Johannes, pretty new in the dive world, went down with Mischa and Claudia and Tony had 11 dives with Preben and Carmen.
Everybody could dive on his level and had 11 different moments underwater. Sometimes for 40 minutes, sometimes for almost an hour.
No doubt, one of the best dives - ok opinions are different - was the one at Yellow Rock, where we had a blacktip, 2 eagle rays and a very friendly napoleon in one dive. Beside loads of sweetlips, some lobsters and other cool things.
Then there was the night dive at Richelieu, for the 5th time in total, we stayed the night at the famous pinnacle and went in the water shortly before seven in the evening. What is expecting you down there is hard to describe with words. Tony and Claudia, both with almost 300 dives, simply stated: it was the best night dive we ever made! And because of this the announce 30 minutes turned easily in almost 50. Exploring the rock for 3 more dives on the last day was a good way to end the trip. Of course the main business with us on board is diving but you should never forget to eat in between, that's why we have Tui our chef. Once again he was doing a great job but please, Tui, never again make the dressing for the potato salad with strawberry yoghurt. It really doesn't fit together :-)
Thank you for making this trip the way it was, we had a great time and would love to see you again, maybe in Burma!?

New Flight to Ranong

2010-07-31T21:44:00.000-07:00

Happy Air is announcing a new route Bangkok-Ranong, departing from Suvarnabhumi International Airport at 1.30 pm. and from Ranong at 3.30 pm. Flights will be operating two times a week, Friday and Sunday, 2,800 THB each way.
Happy Airways works in cooperation with Thai Airways and is based in Phuket, Thailand. It will open the new route on August 8, 2010 with a fare of 2,800 THB which includes tax. The flight will be about an hour and a half in duration.
The new airline will use the Sweden SAAB-340A turboprop aircraft capable of carrying 33 passengers, and has been touted as one of the world’s top airlines in terms of quality and security.

6.4.-10.4.2010 Surin and Richelieu Rock

2010-05-13T02:33:00.001-07:00

Jimmy... Undskyld forsinkelsen, men bedre sent end aldrig....

When Tonny, Thomas, Jimmy and Koy arrived at the office, Thomas was a certified diver, Tonny wanted to take an open water course, Jimmy was thinking about it and Koy couldn't even swim.
Now, 4 days later, all of them are certified divers and behave like a fish! Congratulations to everybody!
Maybe you think this was a walk in the park....I can tell you it wasn't:
“Honeeeeeeey I can nooooooot” was an often heard sentence when Koy was reading her book and answering all the questions, but suddenly she was swimming on her on, jumping from the boatdeck and diving, just like this is something she is doing every day since she was born.
Maybe you think the diving with Thomas must have been great, since he was the only customer the divemaster had....I can tell you it wasn't:
Waiting for hours until he was ready on the surface, waiting for hours during the dive until he has taken his 765 pictures, trying not to get killed by a titan triggerfish, explaining him after the dive that there were 2 Harlequin Shrimps and not only one....hard time!
But once we got used to all those circumstances we had a very relaxed and enjoyable trip! Thank you very much for joining us BUT if you do come back, make sure you take enough cigarettes with you!
Koy was writing almost a diary when she was logging her dives, maybe the honeeeys decide to write down what they saw, once they are back in Denmark. So here we go:
Clown Frogfish, White Tip Reef Shark, Napoleon Wrasse, Potatoe Grouper, Giant Moray Eels, Barracudas, Ghost Pipefish, Seahorse, Harlequin Shrimps, Pufferfish, Yellow and Blue Spotted Boxfish, Nudi Branches, Cleaner and Banded Pipefish, Spider Crab, Orang Utan Crab, Hermit Crab, Batfish, Juvenile Shaded Batfish, Blue Spotted and Kuhls Stingray, Peackok Mantis Shrimp, Travellies, Tunas, Trumpetfish, Scribbled Filefish, Sweetlips, Scorpionfish, Lionfish....
For our Instructor and Guide it was the last Trip of this season: Thanks a lot Preben and everybody working for AIDC, once again we had 6 crazy but great months with you! See you soon!

Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock

2010-04-05T00:17:00.000-07:00

21.3.-24.3.2010

The ABC of the last trip:

A-ll of us were very excited to go on the boat.
B-ut not everybody was a certified diver by this time.
C-handon and
D-ario,
E-ven his
F-riend, ok his
G-irlfriend...
H-er name is Magalie...
I-nvested some time the day before to start their open water course.
J-acket, Regulator, Wetsuit, Mask and Fins were ready and so where the divers to jump in the water at the first dive site named
K-oh Chi.
L-aying in the water and enyoing the aquatic life is the best way to start in a
M-onday.
N-ew place, differnet things to see:
O-n the second dive we spotted a slender ghost
P-ipefish and tried
Q-uickly to clean the rock from a net....unfortunately without success, it was one more time too big.
R-egarding our 3 students:
S-ome of them had some
T-rouble whit their ears or masks...nothing to worry about, it takes some time to get
U-sed to all those new feelings and skills.
V-ery important to say is: they managed at the end everything and we ha 3 new certified open
W-ater students on this planet.
X-OXO (hugs and kisses) to all of
Y-ou!
Z-ero defect, someone else would say "perfect" describes this trip in my opinion best. Relaxed diving, fun on/with the Kajak, delicious food, beautiful beaches, simply a good time!

Burma Adventure 5.3.-10.3.2010

2010-04-04T20:34:00.000-07:00

About the diving:

Unfortunately during the entire trip we had pretty bad visibility and the water temperature was quite cold. Therefore we had to wear more wetsuits than normal and take a closer look to see, what was swimming around us --> MantaS, Leopard Sharks, Blotched Stingrays, Jenkins Whiprays, Seahorses, Frogfishes, Nurse Sharks, Pipefishes, Black - and Whitetip Sharks, Eagle Rays, Barracudas (it was in fact getting dark when they circled above us), different kind of nudi branches, Ghost Pipefishes, Seasnakes, many Moray Eels, Lion- and Scorpionfishes and much more. This trip wasn't only about enjoying; on the second day during the first dive, everybody was "NETWORKING". We discovered a huge fishing net the evening before and decided to bring it up. It took us a lot of effort and left some cuts and bruises, but after 30 minutes we were able to pull it away from the divesite; some of it we had to drop in the open sea, and the rest is still hanging on one side of MV Thai Sea. It was covering more than 50% of the divespot and destroyed a lot of marine and coral life...a very sad scene!! But I think everybody can be proud for saving at least a little part of our beloved ocean. Thanks again buddies!

About the customers:

Stefan(ie) and Manuel(a) made their way back from Koh Tao to join us again, Pauliina and her 4 finish divers almost missed the morning ferry from Koh Tao, but lucky for everybody they made it in time; Alex and Tatiana from Russia were already in Ranong and the last to walkings, Jackie from France and Arnold - well known from last year -from the Netherlands jumped on the boat on the last moment. It was a good mixture, so there were serious/interesting conversations beside a lot of jokes and funny moments - especially with the dolphin :-)

Some breakdowns:

- Arnold looking for his torch before entering the cave, which was still attached to his tank and stucked in the BCD..... - Stefan(ie) ending up with markings after nearly every dive (maybe on the next trip we have to protect his/her body with a long wetsuit and some pillows...) - funny Arnold trying to inflate the safety sausage with a very special technique... - without naming the person, of course someone forgot to open his tank properly.... - some of us were searching for their dive group on almost every dive...no names of course..... BUT at the end of the trip, everybody recieved their passport back and startet to new adventures somewhere on this continent.
Take care, travel safe and always have fun!

Surin Island 25.02.2010

2010-03-03T00:29:00.000-08:00

25.2.-1.3.2010 Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock.

Ben was again on board and after our divemasters realized in Chumphon while fundiving, that he lost his brand new divecomputer after only one dive, we were aware of everything! With his new toy he enjoyed 12 nice dives, ok he was one of the guys who missed the Manta at Koh Bon, but never mind, he had the chance to see many interesting creatures!
Point and Noon were spending on nearly every dive more than 65 minutes down in the paradise, maybe that's why this group was the only one seeing the Manta...you were smelling him Noon, great :-)
Ben didn't loose more than a mask and some of his skin on this trip, Stefan and Manuel will probably join us for the next Burma Adventure on the 5th of March and hopefully everybody was satisfied at the end!?

We enjoyed the diving once again and say “Thank You” to: Stefan(ie), Manuel(a), Ute, Ben, Klaus, Birgit, Werner, the Manta, the Seahorse, the Harlequin Shrimps, the Leopard Sharks, the Cowries, the Ghost Pipefishes, the Barracudas, the Napoleon Wrasses, the big Groupers, the Tunas, the Nudi Branches, the Spanish Dancer, the Spider and Sponge Crabs, the Orang-Utan Crabs and everybody else!

P.S. Congratulations to: - Manuel for finishing his Advanced Course and - Ben for surviving his Rescue Cours. Well done sisters :-)

P.P.S. New entertainment offer on board – but it's only a man thing: - are you bored or unhappy: KICK THE TIRE!

Adventure, diving & fun trip with 16 Danes in Burma 13.2.2010-17.2.2010

2010-02-21T06:02:00.000-08:00

12 adults, 4 girls, 3 guides, and 4 crew members went on their way up to Burma. 7 out of 12 were already certified divers, 3 did their open water course and the rest was snorkelling, kayaking, swimming, jumping from the boat, exploring the most beautiful beaches and did discover scuba dives.

Up or down? Left or right? Go or stay? Sunset or night dive? Eating or drinking? There was a lot to discuss, a lot to decide and many plans which got changed second by second. No doubt, it was a VERY funny group and we had a great time all together.

Due to different dive levels, we organised the dives as individual as possible and I guess we can say, at the end of each day, everbody had a smile on his/her face ;-)

Some numbers for the logbook:

- all together we were 860 years old

- the deepest dive was on 37 meters

- the shortest dive was 23 minutes

- in total we were travelling around 180 miles

- the longest dive was around 70 minutes

Some names for the logbook:

green turtle, ghost pipefish, sea snake, different rays, scorpionfish, different moray eels, barracudas, snappers, cuttle fish, bullshit shark, white tip shark, nemo, all kind of shrimps, guitar shark, black ribbon eel, harlequin shrimps, cleaner pipefish....

Congratulations to:

- Kristien for his second CMAS star!

- Soren, Kirsten and Dion for their open water certification!

- Annemette for her try dive!

Thanks to all of you for 5 unforgettable days! See you soon!

Similan, Surin, Bon, Tachai & Richelieu 6.2.-11.2.2010

2010-02-17T23:07:00.000-08:00

On this trip everybody had his personal "This is the first (time)" experience:

- Maybe first time first time on the Westcoast Thaumoctopus Mimicus (Mimic Octopus).....

- the first time diving in the open sea > Christien on her Open Water Course

- the first Night Dive > Christien, Hakan and Goenuel

- the first (clown) frogfish > @ Koh Chi

- the first turtle on a night dive > @ Hin Kong and again @ Similan

- the first ghost pipfefish > @ Hin Kong

- the first time seeing a hunting blotched faintail ray > @ Hin Kong

- the first time observing "popping" flatworms

- the first time diving with a napoleon wrasse > @ Yellow Rock

- the first time seeing a scribbled filefish shitting > @ Hin Kong

- the first time MantaS > @ Koh Bon

- the first leopard shark > @ Koh Tachai

- the first time having an eagle ray circling around us for many minutes > @ Koh Tachai

- the first time harlequin shrimps > @ Richelieu Rock

It was a very nice trip, with very nice customers and excellent diving! Thanks to everybody for the time!

Burma is Special !!!!!

2010-02-02T02:33:00.000-08:00

Burma Adventure from the 12th - 17th January 2010

2010-01-24T02:41:00.000-08:00

Exploring Burma from the 12th - 17th of January 2010

2010-01-19T18:12:00.000-08:00

Already on our way to High Rock, the first dive spot, we had to turn around and go back to Kaw Thaung...let's put it like this: John forgot the batterie for his dive computer :-), so no unscheduled night dive on the first day but the dolphins, jumping next to the boat, made up for it after the first dive on the 13th. A moment after, our smiling faces turned into sad ones...a floating dead turtle passed by.

But not even this could stop us from diving, so we enjoyed 3 dives @ Shark Cave - this time unfortunately only with a baby nurse shark - but for some of us even better: with a baby sea horse! On the 15th we could admire at a distance an eagle ray but still...nothing bigger to see, not even our fish experiment helped.

By now really everybody was ready for mantas or a whale shark...but no, neither on North Twin they showed up. Again eagle rays, big tunas and a lot of barracudas, but that wasn't what we were up for.

On the 16th the dolphins had their time after lunch and we headed on to South Twin for more dives. Nudi branch paradise, so we decided to stay for a night dive, which was, without doubt, incredible good. Creatures we hardly never saw before, therefore Pong - our Dinghi driver - had to wait a long time for us to surface.

Without knowing it's gonna be the last day, we did one dive @ Sefan Forest and one on Western Rocky Pinnacle on the 17th, where we had a close encounter with an eagle ray floating under and next to us.

It was a perfect dive to end the trip earlier than planed, since suddenly our engine made very strange noises...the crew did an amazing job in fixing the problem temporarly but unfortunately, we had to head home to Ranong. Just to make sure its not getting worse.

Thanks to MV Jazz at this point for their support.

There is only one thing left to say; Susanne, John, Collin and Ben: we hope you had a good time, sorry for the unexpected change of plan and we hope to see you again!

BURMA ADVENTURE 27.12.2009-3.1.2010

2010-01-04T04:25:00.000-08:00

27.12.09

Some of us could not wait to get into the water, that's why we made a night dive on the way out and spotted straight away a frog fish.

Fact: The people on board are coming from France, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Thailand, Burma, USA, England and Mauritius!

Highlight: Preben has to dive with two 5mm wet suits...

28.12.09

Diving the same spot again with day light, there was not only one frog fish, no there were 3 sitting and waiting for us.

Fact: Jeff's Dive Computer was still screaming at him, so we decided to put it into the fridge.

Highlight: Shark cave was once again just amazing. I can't say it different: we saw a FUCKING BIG NURSE SHARK and a lot more.

29.12.09

Starting with an eagle ray in the morning and finishing the day with a chromodois gemina, it was one more time a good day of diving.

Fact: We are waiting for Kathi....still....

Highlight: Kati managed to be ready on time!

30.12.09

It's not a rumor: Mobulas are existing. We were diving with 6 pygmy manta rays and during the dive, some of us counted up to 6 black tip sharks. And before we were heading down south to North Twin, we finally found 3 ghost pipe fishes.

Fact: Jean Michel's Memory Card told him ERROR, he would have been happy if it would be possible to turn back the time, so he could take all his pictures once again.

Highlight: With the sunset, the sea was getting calmer and the dolphins started to jump next to the boat.

31.12.09

The last day of the year 2009 shouldn't be less good than the other days, spending almost 60 minutes on a confusing night dive with hunting moray eels and blotched sting rays we were ready for the party on the boat.

Fact: After what time do we celebrate New Year's Eve?! Thai or Burmese?! Doesn't matter, the crew did an amazing job with fireworks they were shooting in the sky from the island. Thanks!

Highlight: Congratulations to our 2 new certified Advanced Divers Carol and Tim. Well done buddies!

1.1.2010

A new year, new adventures: Harlequin shrimps and again a frog fish isn't a bad start I would say.

Fact: Virginie, her soap and her wet suit are a good team, especially if they meet 10 minutes before everybody else is getting ready.

2.1.2010

Everybody was ready to dive at Western Rocky to see, if the guitar shark is still there...he was, and with him, his 5 friends!!!!

Fact: No Manfred, there won't be a Nudi BBQ this evening!

Highlight: The Harlequin Shrimps we find, are getting smaller and smaller!

3.1.2010

A little bit later than normal we started for our two last dives. Drifting along Glasshouse Island in a strong current and diving through the hole to the lake, everybody is now happy but tired back on the boat.

Fact: 27 great dives in 7 days is a lot, but it was more than worth it!

Highlight: We still have enough fuel to go back to Ranong!

Surin, Koh Tachai and Richelieu 13.12.2009

2009-12-17T00:50:00.000-08:00

Getting customers for this trip was a funny story: Pascale and Ueli recognized our divemaster on the street, because she was working with his mother in Switzerland. Alex and Hemma were involved in a battery discussion at the guesthouse next to the office the day before we left and Anders was supposed to travel down to Khao Lak when he saw us waiting to go the boat and decided more than spontaneous to join us!

People from 6 different countries finally met on board and discovered Andaman's underwater world.

Everybody was waiting for Richelieu Rock, so we decided not only to make 3 dives there, we did all in all 5 dives around the famous rock including an amazing night. On the last day our timing was perfect!

Since we started at 5:30 in the morning, we were the first ones in the water and had our surface interval while all divers from the 10 other boats were down, to actually see almost more divers than fishes.

Some facts from this trip:

- 3 people lost their hair

- the word of the trip is definitely "Meeega"

- we spent incredible 604 minutes underwater

- we had one broken toe

- there were two nearly certified non-smokers with us

- it was the first time our chef miscalculated the amount of food --> no panic, nobody was starving, there is always a solution with AIDC, for nearly everything

The trip ended as special as it began: Anders showed us one more time how fast he is, in making decisions and jumped off the boat on Koh Payam with the rest of the group, even though he hasn't booked or planned anything ahead. But after a few phone calls and some brain work, everything was organized and now they are probably all lying on the beach and recall the past few days with interesting conversations, great dives and funny happenings on the boat.

See you soon friends, we enjoyed the time with you!

Surin 30.11.2009

2009-12-06T16:18:00.000-08:00

Surin Islands, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock

With only 3 customers some people could think, it´s gonna be 5 boring days...could be...but not with AIDC-customers. From the beginning we all had a lot to laugh about - sorry, can´t tell you the details :-) - and of course diving in such a private group can´t be bad.

We had different missions to fulfill:

- finding a leopard shark, to proove Gareth, that they exist --> done

- seeing a manta, to show Jamie how big they are --> ok, it was a baby, but it was doing loopings on the surface while we were snorkelling

- translating all fish names into German, that Marc could fill out his logbook --> lucky he had this book with him

- not ending up with 10kg weights on the belt, because chef was cooking more than ever --> some of us almost failed

- not stranding on a island, because the navigation system didn´t work--> simple, just don´t use it anymore

- not talking to Gareth before the first dive --> we got used to his grumpy face in the morning

- making sure, that Jamie is not falling over board --> well, he dislocated his shoulder but he is still with us

- finding a diplomatic way to tell our boss that we found HARLEQUIN SHRIMPS on Richelieu Rock --> there is no diplomatic way: WE FOUND THEM!!!!

- enjoying every moment, underwater and on the surface --> there is nothing more easier than this!

Thanks buddies, it was a great trip and excellent diving!!!!

"Similan" 19.11.2009

2009-11-25T00:54:00.000-08:00

5 days / 5 nights to Surin, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock

We started the trip with a cold beer on Koh Phayam where we picked up our customer and 3 last minute divers. After dinner, gearing up, some of the customers realized, that they forgot their wetsuits on Koh Tao :-) no problem since AIDC has all the time enough spare equipment.

The weather conditions have been pretty bad, so we had to decide where we gonna dive next from hour to hour.

But this gave us the chance to start with a Manta crusing over our heads at Koh Bon Reef on the third day.

The weather god was not on our side, the waves didnt want to get smaller, the wind didnt want to get less, so we were exploring new divesites around Koh Tachai instead of crusing to the Similans. We think, nobody mind this, since we saw a lot of good stuff: ¨a¨ like anemone shrimp, ¨b¨ like barracuda, ¨c¨ like cone shell, ¨d¨ like dragonet ... ¨m¨ like mantis shrimps, ¨n¨ like napoleon wrasse, ¨o¨ like octopus (mating), ¨p¨ like pipefish ... ¨r¨ like red fire goby, ¨s¨ like shark, ¨t¨ like tiger cowrie ... ¨y¨ like yellow cube boxfish, ¨z¨ like zebra moray eel.

As always, we spent the last 3 dives around Richelieu Rock, where we saw more fish live than ever, mating cuttlefish, mating octopae, schools of barracudas and so much more to find and take a close look at. With a big smile we started the journey back home, which has taken us a little bit longer than normal, because of this fishing net in front of Koh Payam...last but not least we were falling in our beds and are still dreaming from great dives!

Surin 20.10.2009

2009-10-24T17:36:00.000-07:00

Being back around Surin Islands was more than a good feeling. Black tip and a big jenkins whipray at Koh Torinla, leopard shark and heaps of fishes around Koh Bon (without any other boat) and at the same time certifying our first Open Water and Advanced student of the season - Rob and Marc - was great fun.
Congratulations to both of you! Spending the last night at Koh Tachai with a fantastic BBQ, we were heading towards to the last dive site: Richelieu Rock on the last day. Unfortunately the visibility was not that good, but the customers and all crew members enjoyed the 3 dives more than anything else.
To swim in the fish soup, observing mating octopae and last but not least finding our beloved ghostpipefish is a good way to finish a trip!
We will be back soon, hopefully with you!!!!!!!!

AIDC, Preben, Mischa, Carmen, and all the Crew

New Season

2009-09-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

New Season:
We look forward to start the new season, and we will have the first trip on the 19th of October.
Right now we are about to make our boat MV Thai Sea ready and we have made a lot of changes like new cabins, new toilets, bigger water tank, painting, decoration, Nitrox, and a lot more….

Trips:
We will have 4 different trips to offer this season.
TS1: 3 day / 3 night to Surin Island, Koh Tachai, Koh Bon and Richelieu Rock.
TS2: 5 day / 5 night to Surin Island, Koh Tachai, Koh Bon, Similan Island and Richelieu Rock.
TS3: 5 day / 5 night to South Burma.
TS4: 7 day / 7 night to North/South Burma.

Nitrox:
Now we have Nitrox on board. If you don’t have the course you can take it on board.
We will only charge 100,-tb per filling.

Look forward to see you and great diving

Preben Jensen
AIDC

Video from our Burma trip on 02.03.2009

2009-03-10T23:57:00.000-07:00

At last Preben got his Bowmouth Guitarfish........
For more info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowmouth_guitarfish

Video from our trip on 9.2.2009

2009-02-18T02:29:00.000-08:00

It's not only Manta festival!

We have so many Ghost Pipefish now that we stop to count them.

We also got a BABY on Richelieu........

Special 5 day trip

2009-02-14T15:39:00.000-08:00

We will make a special 5 day/5 night trip to Similan, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, Surin Island and Richelieu Rock.
Departure on Monday the 23th 4 p.m. and will be back on the 28th 9 p.m..
Price only 22.800,- tb. + National park fee 1.800,-tb.

Our trip on 26.01.2009

2009-01-30T19:48:00.000-08:00

Video from our last trip on the 26th of January to Surin Island, Koh Bon and Richelieu Rock.

Manta festival startet

2009-01-09T19:55:00.000-08:00

Now you have the chance to dive with this amazing and gracefull animal.
Pictures from our last trip to Koh Bon.
You can find more info about the Manta Ray on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manta_ray

Big waves

2009-01-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

A storm is coming up, so we will not go out before the 14th of January.
Next trip 2 day/2 night to Surin Island and Richelieu Rock on the 14th to 16th of January.

Article from Scandasia December Magazine

2008-12-12T19:31:00.000-08:00

The way to the Burma Banks

Pristine scuba diving at virtually virgin dive sites surrounded by 800 uninhabited islands, does it sound too good to be true? This is diving at the Burma Banks. Only * hours in a domestic flight from Bangkok and you will arrive to the sleepy fishing port of Ranong in the Ranong province, Thailand, situated right on the border with Burma. This little quiet town that sits right between beautiful mountains covered in green rainforest is the home of the Danish divemaster Preben Jensen, who operates his dive company, AIDC, from here and has been doing so for the past nine years. He has been spending a lot of time in the recent past few years to discover diving in Burmese waters, to be more exact in the Mergui Archipelago in the Andaman Sea, situated northwest of the Thai province of Ranong.
This entire area has been closed off to the outside world for more than 50 years. Now the gates are finally open to this pristine and untouched deep blue sea world. Thanks to Preben Jensen and others, who has been active in making this heavenly getaway open to divers from all over the World by trying to find a way through the bureaucratic Burmese desktop jungle.

Into the unknown

The rediscovery of these countless uninhabited islands, entirely virgin beaches, lakes and waterfalls all began in 1996 when the Burmese military Junta allowed the first visitors to enter the virginity of the Mergui Archipelago. Preben Jensen saw the possibility of scuba diving in the Archipelago witch consists of more than 800 tropical islands, covering an area of over 10,000 square miles. Due to the virtual isolation, the islands and surrounding seas are alive with an amazing diversity of wildlife.
“You will find all the known species, which you normally would encounter in Thai national marine parks, but in the Mergui Archipelago the marine life is bigger and you’ll see a greater diversity of species. The “big” includes giant groupers, all sorts of grouping fish, various species of sharks, regular sightings of large numbers of manta rays. To couple that, really beautiful macro life is present too. Sea horses, ghost pipefish and a lot more are amongst the archipelago’s rare inhabitants.
“There are creatures here found no-where else and even the chance to find and photograph yet to be described species. I have not been diving anywhere else with the same kind of diversity”, says Preben Jensen - And this comes from a man with over 2000 logged dives in the Andaman Sea.
Living for the past nine years in the coast town of Ranong, Preben Jensen has through his dive company, AIDC – “Andaman International Dive Center”, been developing sports diving in the Andaman Sea and has brought hundreds and hundreds of enthusiastic divers from all over the world to discover the magnificent dive sites in the Similan and Surin Thai national marine parks. These islands were among the famous French underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau’s favorites dive sites in Thailand.

The way into Burmese waters

The resent years has seen Preben Jensen fully engaged in exploring the Mergui Archipelago in Burma together with his professional staff and costumers. But the way into Burmese waters has been anything but easy. Before the adventures could begin, the AIDC dive company had to go through a long a costly lane through Burmese bureaucratic counters.
“To enter Burma on a live-aboard diving vessel we have to obtain a license from Rangoon, which costs 3000 USD. The administration officials in Rangoon expect you to come and collect the license in person. Further more every participant also has to get the proper licenses to enter Burmese waters”, explains Preben Jensen. This of course is quite a time consuming affair, but with all the proper papers in order and in the right pockets the adventurous divers can commence on their journey to explore the magnificent Burmese dive sites.

Departure from Ranong

So far so good, but before reaching The Mergui Archipelago the costumers in Thailand and Burma has to be visited and once again precious papers are shown, controlled and hopefully approved.
In Kaw Thong a Burmese fishing town ten minutes sailing away from Ranong, a small man wearing dark sunglasses and a gangster attitude accompanied by three uniformed men enters the ship. It’s Mojo he is in charge of collecting US dollars - in new bills only and passports.
“A Burmese guide is left onboard the diving vessel and stays for the remaining dive trip. His job description is not completely clear to us, but he’s for sure not with us to get a fun ride”, says Preben Jensen.
Now the door is finally open to the Mergui Archipelago with its extremely rare and extraordinary dive opportunities. This year AIDC offers its costumers three different dive packages in Burma – one five days trips in the southern part of the Archipelago and a seven days trip that takes you all the way through and back The Mergui.
Diving in Burma is more expensive than other dive options in the area, but it’s a very rare opportunity that should not be missed by any dive enthusiast with some time to spare for an adventure not seen since Jacques Cousteau passed through these waters in the 1950’s.