Dive Review of
The Junk in
Thailand

 Egypt, Sudan, Palau, Yap, Truuk, Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, Cuba,
Bahamas, Galapagos, Yucatan, British Columbia, Maledives, Bali, Sulawesi,
Tioman, California, Florida, Tenerife, Malta 

Dive Conditions

5 min safety stop, try not to go into decompression, tell in advance if you
plan to stay longer than 60 min, come back with 20 bar in tank  

rinse tank, DVD player, TL, computer (dive guide has one) is there.
Professional videographer on board, dive guides very very knowledgeable
about UWP and very helpful  

Overall Rating

Diving on The JUNK (www.thejunk.com) is something very special. It is an
old Chinese junk (1962) which has even been used in a James Bond movie (the
man with the golden colt) and was redesigned several times. We were in
cabin with 3 beds (but used it for 2), but there are 2 double 2 triple and
4 bed cabins. All cabins have an air condition and private toilet shower.
The space is limited but worked for two in the 3 bed cabin perfect. The
food is always very plentiful and on average very good. Water, tea and
coffee are for free, while other drinks (including beer and wine) have to
be purchased (mark your drinks and pay at the end-in cash or credit card).
The crew is extreme friendly and helpful, and I almost never touched my
equipment. The dive guides are very guide and quite relaxed (if you have
experience...the check also on the fist dive). You can follow the guides or
also do your stuff with your buddy (just follow the general rules-see
above). The dive briefings very very good and detailed, including what to
look for, and the guides are extreme good in finding small critters (and
also larger). We were 15 people on board (Thai, German, Swiss, South
African, Dutch, Japanese) and used 3 dinghies for diving (each dingy with
one guide). It was never really crowded when we suited up, and the BCDs
stayed with the tanks which were filled immediately after each dive. There
is also some spare equipment on board, but bring your own except weight
belts, lead, and tanks.
The diving was always done from the dinghies, with a backroll into the
water, and coming back with the help of the driver (if needed) over the
side (after handing up all equipment).
I did 18 dives (out of 19) in 5 diving days (including 2 night dives). The
dive sites are all quite well and it was very difficult to say whether we
saw damage from the Tsunami 9at Surin). We dove the Similan islands (6
dives on the ay up and 3 on the way back), Koh Bon, Richelieu Rock, and
Surin Islands. We saw in principle everything which I hoped for, i.e.
Harlequin Ghost Pipe Fish (Similan and Richelieu), seahorses (Tigertail in
yellow or black at Richelieu Rock), frog fish (Richelieu), harlequin crab,
mantis shrimp, blue and black ribbon eels (Similan and RR), Jan’s Pipefish
an Schultze’s Pipefish (Surin), porcupine ray (Surin), leopard sharks
(Similan at sharkfin reef), mantas (at Koh Bon, staying for almost 50 min
with us), only 2 reef sharks (one white and one blacktip), and a lot of
small crabs (ghost and some which were one a few mm), many types of
scorpion fish and lion fish, morays (white eye and ..), octopus, turtles
(green and hawksbill) cuttle fish laying eggs, and many types of
nudibranches (the specialty of Kay and Jay, Thai-Swiss diveguide couple).
Overall many things to see….my only complain is that at almost each place
there were many other live-aboards (up to 10 and I heard that this is now a
low number because of the Tsunami), and sometimes too many divers were in
the water for my expectation on a live-aboard.
 

Questions?
Send an email to the author of this report

What others have to say about Undercurrent
And get immediate access to ALL 56 dive reviews of Thailand
and all other dive destinations immediately!