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Learn to dive in Koh Tao!
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Wanna learn to dive in Koh Tao? Cheapest price anywhere. Come dive with us: Scandinavian Dive Team |
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Zeamonkey wins silvermedal
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Zeamonkey photographer Soren Egeberg wins Silvermedal in 2007 photo competition.
See entry in contest!
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Zeamonkey Dive Travel
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Our new dive travel site is online. Check our exciting dive safaris! Dive Trips! |
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Divereport Koh Lanta!
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Check for the latest reports on Koh Lanta dive conditions - dive sites in the Andaman Sea! Divereport |
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:: KOH LANTA DIVE CONDITIONS 2007
From October to April we are diving the sites of the Andaman Sea regularly including Similan Islands. During this time we will post divereports on this site. If you need any specific information, you are welcome to contact us by mail any time. Enjoy!
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Koh Lanta dive report: 13.10.07
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Nice day at Koh Haa with great visibility and BLUE water - typical pre-season conditions. The not so nice news is that the lagoon between 2, 3 and 4 has been fished very effectively by thai fishermen and big fish are far in between. Hopefully the fishstock will recuperate along with the coral from last season's red tide damage. Koh Haa 1 is still gorgeous and an amazing dive with beautiful caverns and great light!
Visibility: 20-30 m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: Sunny day and surface calm
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Koh Lanta dive report: 22.09.07
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First dives of the Andaman season was wicked! Lovely blue water, great viz and few people on Koh Bida made it a great opening day. Coral growth is back and lots of tiny softcorals are on their way, looks very promising after last seasons weird conditions. Sightings on dives: 2 leaopardsharks, 4 Blacktips, 2 turtles, Mantis shrimp, Reef Octopus and Banded seasnake. No current but heavy surge that was felt down to 20m depth.
Visibility: 15-20 m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: Sunny day and surface calm
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Sipadan - Mabul dive report: 25.08.07
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This is a general report for the last few weeks in Sipadan. First of all surface conditions have become more mellow again, with only minor surface chop, a bit of wind, but nothing dramatic. All sites are diveable and visibility is improving again. Travel time to Sipadan from Mabul is back to 20 - 30 min. Yesterday and today have seen calm seas and we hope this will continue. The roughest part of the season should be behind us by now.
Visibility: 10-15 m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: small surface chop, cloudy, bit of rain, sun
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Sipadan - Mabul dive report: 12.08.07
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This is a general report for the last few weeks in Sipadan. First of all surface conditions have been rather extreme, with huge waves and visibility close to zero. Few sheltered sites have been diveable and travel times have been rather dramatic. From Mabul 1 - 1.30 hours have been the norm, from Semporna up to 3 hours or not possible to go at all. Yesterday and today have seen calm seas and we hope this will continue for a bit. We have still managed to dive at Sipadan every day, but still suffered under rather unusual conditions under water.
Visibility: 5-15 m
Water temp: 26-28 celsius
Surface: big waves, cloudy and rain
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Sipadan dive report: 05.07.07
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Viz is back but surface conditions have been really rough lately with big waves and travel times from Semporna are up to 3 hours! We are not frequent divers on sipadan at the moment. Water temp. is up a bit in the deep water, so searches for hammerheads has been fruitless unfortunately, giving us one hour dives in the blue. Barracuda Point are still in great form when you hit it on an outgoing tide close to low tide. Mabul and macro has been awesome lately, with Ble Ring Octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, freckeled frogfish and lots of other cool stuff. Not a bad tradeoff!
Visibility: 10 m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: big waves, cloudy and rain
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Sipadan dive report: 01.07.07
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The marginal viz is still haunting the water around Sipadan and rough seas and bad weather hasnt improved things. We did two dives on Barracuda Point in strong outgoing currents and saw green water in the top 10 m, which improved a bit further down. Spread out school of barracudas, the jacks and a leopardshark lying on the plateau. Nothing mindblowing by sip standards but never the less a couple of nice dives on a rainy day.
Visibility: 10 m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: cloudy and rain
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Sipadan - Mabul dive report: 21 - 25.07.07
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Unfortunately both weather and visibility underwater has deteriorated dramatically in the last week and no major sightings have been possible. if there were hammerheads, they could have passed us by were close without us noticing.
So instead we have focused on finding critters on the sites around Mabul. That on the other hand has paid off nicely! Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Ornate Ghostpipefish, six different types of Frogfish, Diamond Filefish, Fingered Dragonets, Seamoth, tons of nudis and lots more, mainly found on Paradise 1 + 2. HOWEVER, there seems to be a quite a traffic of excotic marinelife, suddenly moving from Mabul to Kapalai and back... Local sources told us that the guides from the big resorts like to "steal" marinelife from their local habitat and move it to their housereef. If you dive with the big resorts on Mabul/Kapalai, please ask about this traffic. STOP IT!
Visibility: 5-10m
Water temp: 24-28 celsius
Surface: cloudy and rain
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Sipadan dive report: 19.07.07
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Before we went out this morning we were wondering, if we were seing a pattern with the Hammerheads? Unfortunately we got to our spot 15 minutes later than yesterday, so timing was off by a bit. Never the less, the beauties appeared right out of the blue, but this time a lot closer than before. Spread out between 40-60m they passed us at close range, making our hearts jump in our throats. A local guide had joined our tight group and was equally impressed with the predictability of the beasts. Can hardly wait to see if our luck continues, untill then stay tuned. Reports will be in every 5-7 days untill our internet connection on the island is up and running.
Visibility: 15-20m
Water temp: 24-28 celsius
Surface: cloudy and rain
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Sipadan dive report: 17.07.07
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Ha ha...who would have thought? Inspired by our luck the previous day, we didnt deviate from our diveplan and dropped in at precisely the same time, down to the second. It was almost too good to be true, but again the massive school of Hammerheads appeared out of the blue, a few minutes later than yesterday. This time I had my video with me, but the low light early in the day made focus impossible. Our fourth diver in the group had his hopes up, joining us just for the possibility of seing the hammers. He was not dissapointed! Second dive at Barracuda Point was a sweet drift in warmer temperatures, with lots of Barracudas swirling in the blue and the sharks was unusually interessted as well, maybe due to our plastic bottle humming... Another wicked dawn dive.
Visibility: 15-20m
Water temp: 25-28 celsius
Surface: sunny with a few clouds
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Sipadan dive report: 16.07.07
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Again sorry for delay in reports, We have relocated to Mabul and internet is far away. BUT moving to Mabul has its advantages like DAWN dives. Today was our first and we were rewarded plenty. Dropping to 50m+ at South Point at a ”special” spot, at a ”special” time in the blue finally paid off. After hanging for 8 minutes we looked up and a school of 40-50 Hammerhead came drifting by around 40m. The three of us were screaming in our regs and it was very hard to keep our cool... ... (although it was freezing at depth) What a sight!!! My first time with a school, couldnt belieive it finally happened, but it did. 17 minutes of deco was a tiny price to pay for the experience. What a day!
Visibility: 15-20m
Water temp: 23-28 celsius
Surface: sunny with a few clouds
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Sipadan dive report: 07.06.07
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Sorry for delay in reports, we will be back on track very soon. A stormsystem passed Sipadan in the morning but was not apparent until we were underwater at South Point. Even down at 15m you could hear the rain hammering on the surface. First I was checking if my 1st stage was hissing, but looked up to see big waves rolling in over the reef and lightning blitzing above. Quite a surreal feeling on a dive, never the less, very exciting! Viz was great despite the low light and currents mild. Marinelife was not as plentifull as usual, which was also the case on the following dives at Coral Garden and Barracuda Point. The great viz invited to just swim in the blue of the wall and enjoy the panaorama. At Barracuda Point the current had picked up a bit on the outgoing tide and we had lots of sharks swirling, but no school of barracudas or jacks, just a small group of massive Pickhandles haging in the current. Everyone had a great day despite the cold rainy conditions above the surface. Very soon we will relocate, and reports will be more frequent. Also divereports will get their own subdomain and will be upgraded with more information. Stand by fellow divers!
Visibility: 25-35m
Water temp: 29-30 celsius
Surface: overcast with heavy rain storms
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Sipadan dive report: 29.05.07
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Unusual day on the island with strong currents everywhere. Blue and amazingly clear water dominated the fast drift dives at both South Point and Barracuda Point. Afternoon dive at Barracuda Point was a mess, fish everywhere, school of Batfish when we dropped and right after that the massive school of Jacks were hanging in the current in the blue, almost stiched seamless with a nice school of Barracudas. Sharks and turtles everywhere for the quiet moments, if there were any. Top day in Sipadan, more like this please!
Visibility: 25-35m
Water temp: 28-29 celsius
Surface: sun with mixed clouds, few showers
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Sipadan dive report: 24.05.07
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A drop in the blue on this beautyfull clear day at South Point, rewarded us with a nice big Eagle Ray that seems to have found a permanent spot around 50m close to Staghorn Crest. Current was gentle but pushing down quite a bit. Midreef was equally blue and clear but only little current and nothing but the usual supply of Whitetips and turtles. Barracuda Point was a rather cloudy off the wall so we stayed on the reef. The Barracudas was absent, but nice schools of Batfish and Snappers were plentyfull in bigger schools than usual.
Visibility: 15-25m
Water temp: 26-28 celsius
Surface: sun with mixed clouds, windy
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Sipadan dive report: 18.05.07
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Visibility has been suffering a bit lately as the sea has been a bit more rough than usual, but as the typhoon season in PI is approaching, this is normal. However, dropping deep for Hammerheads makes less sence at the moment, nothing wiothin sight when we dropped in the blue at South Point. A big Tuna came by but nothing else, much better action on the reef. Our dives around Barracuda Point was milky with blurry thermoclines and bigger particles in the water. The Yellowmargin Triggers are really aggressive at the moment so watch out above 5-10m and make your safetystops off the reef, if you dont wanna fight them off.
Visibility: 10-15m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: sun with mixed clouds, very HOT
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Sipadan dive report: 14.05.07
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Visibility was down a bit today, but not enough to stop another hunt for schooling Hammerheads. Dropped to 50m on South Point off the wall, sucked up the deco, but only reward was a nice Eagle Ray hovering in the blue. Sat out on second dive where others went off to explore Turtle Tomb, to off gas a bit before the another deep plunge at Barracuda Point. With no current and deteriorating visibility, it was a rather eventless dive.
Visibility: 15-20m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: sunny day with a few clouds around
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Sipadan dive report: 13.05.07
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There were smiles all around when one of our groups returned from third dive on Barracuda Point: Huge school of Hammerheads off the point! Unfortunately for me, who was doing shallow dives with people who loves turtles. Great conditions all around the island, but no smile for me, just frustration over missing out... only one mission tomorrow!
Visibility: 20-30m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: sunny day with a few clouds around
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Sipadan dive report: 12.05.07
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Wicked diveday at Sipadan, with perfect blue water, super viz and hardly any current on any dives. At Barracuda Point we dropped to 50m where the school of Chevrons were hanging out with a few Grey Reefs and a smaller school of Jacks. South Point east was rather uneventfull, but a beautiful dive. Another group saw school of Hammerheads near the cleaning station on the point around 50m. Drop Off was clear as gin and the Jacks was moving around as usual for great entertainment. Happy days on the island!
Visibility: 25-30m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: sunny day with a few clouds around
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Sipadan dive report: 08.05.07
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After a number of days at Mabul, Kapalai and Mantabuan with wicked diving, we made it back to Sipadan. Today was a windy day with small surface chop, but great diving. Turtle Patch was rather quiet, but great visibility. Second dive on Barracuda Point had a slight current, but no barracudas on this day. Last dive on South Point was more interesting, with beautifull vis in the low light and lots of sharks. 10-15 whitetips and a few grey reefs kept circling us as we drifted along and provided great entertainment for everyone. Nice end to an otherwise quiet day at Sipadan.
Visibility: 15-30m
Water temp: 27-28 celsius
Surface: sunny day with a few clouds around
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Sipadan dive report: 02.05.07
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Glassy surface, blinding visibility and sunshine brought a magic day at Sipadan today. Morning dive at Barracuda Point with slight current and all players on the field: schools of barracudas, batfish and parrot humpheads, more turtles than could be counted along with a few grey reef sharks and lots of whitetips. Turtle Patch and South Point had same fabuluos conditions, but not the same abundance of marinelife. All in all, an amazing hot day in the Sulu Sea.
Visibility: 25-30m
Water temp: 29-30 celsius
Surface: sunny day with a few clouds around
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Sipadan dive report: 01.05.07
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Hardly any current on Turtle Patch on first dive so very little going on. Second dive on Barracuda Point had a slight current, which brought the big school of Barracudas out in the blue almost from the surface to 30m. One diver dropped deep to 60m and reported school of Grey Reef sharks in the dark. Last dive on South Point was rather uneventfull, but still very nice in the great vis. Triggerfish are exceptional agressive at the moment everywhere, so take care.
Visibility: 25-30m
Water temp: 28 celsius
Surface: cloudy with few showers in morning, later mix of sun and clouds
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