Thailand is a diver's bargain.... Whale shark season is usually from March through May, with Richelieu Rock providing an excellent chance of encounters.... Trips to the Burma Banks were stopped for political reasons, but this area has been reopened along with some other new areas; check before departure....

Dive Asia, Choksomboon, March 1998, Georgina Wiersma, The Netherlands. No facilities, just one small rinsing tank for all. Charging batteries possible during daytime. Boat basic, no a/c in cabins (one small, noisy fan), good service, good divemasters, diving well organized. Cabins very small. Good food. Friendly staff. Bargain at $975/week. Water F.O.C., soft drinks and beer e at low rates. Dove at Richelieu Rock, which is very crowded, corals damaged in comparison with 3 years ago. Two whales sharks, but viz approx. 10 ft. Very strong currents. Water: 24-28 Celsius. Dive restrictions: depth limit 40 meters, max. dive time 1 hr. Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Similan still offer good diving (saw manta ray, frog fish, great shrimps and small critters, schooling barracudas and the usual reef stuff). New dive sites Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are great: very large marbled rays, many, many leopard sharks, grey reef sharks, abundant soft corals. (Ph: 011-66-76-330598,

Fax: 011-66-76-284033,

e-mail: info@diveasia.com,

Website: diveasia.com)

Fantasea, November 1997, Steve Nelson, Danville, CA. Mark Strickland top photo and dive guide. Went to Mergue in Burma and usual Thai locations. Thai islands very good, but Richelieu Rock fantastic. Bleech Rock and Western Rocky in Burma as good as Richelieu. Big marble rays, nurse sharks, leopard sharks, variety of rays including 4-6 ft. diameter marble rays sleeping, hordes of lobsters, scorpion fish everywhere, wonderful cuttlefish, reef lobster, shovel nose ray, bell sharks. Had ocean to ourselves in Burma and at the rocks. Vis: 50-85 ft., water: 78-82 degrees. Lots of morays in rocks, nudis in the shallows. Huge schools of trevally, snapper and others. Reef life in great abundance. A few mean up and down currents and abrupt thermoclines. (Ph: 011-66-76-340088 or 011-66-76-295511, Fax: 66-76-340309,

e-mail:info@fantasea.net,

Website: fantasea.net)

Fantasea, January 1998, Allan and Barbara Jones, Anaheim, CA. 14 days of diving in Thailand, with a side trip to Burma. Take a wet suit and hood if you expect to stay warm. Water 80 degrees at the surface, 70 and below at 75'; when current swept through, it briefly got colder. Visibility varied from 20' to 50', sometimes at 85' it improved to 75' to 80'. Diving is around islands, pinnacles that just break the surface and open water (Burma Banks is 60 miles from any land). Currents are common and can be strong. Entry is from both live boat and moorings. An inflatable is always available for pick ups. The boat issues a water weenie to everyone. You can dive with a staff member or go it alone. For the experienced only; as one of the staff stated, 200 dives at Bonaire won't do it here. We concur. . . . Diving is unlimited, but is structured around two dives in the morning and two in the afternoon. The boat usually moves for each dive. Three to four night dives are available, but due to the remote locations, these are done at the night moorings and were nonproductive for photography. Long distance traveling is done in the evening and night so as not to interfere with the diving schedule. . . . Marine life exceptionally good for schooling and reef fish (equal to Cocos for non sharks), and substandard to KBR/PNG/Solomons for macro stuff. Shark sightings above average for white/silver/black tips, nurse, leopard and whale (2). Soft corals were plentiful and healthy. . . . Fantasea is clean, functional, well managed and well run. Not as luxurious as some newer live-aboards. Cruise Director Mark and Divemaster Rob know their business, take care of the customers and any special requests. E-6 available when minimum number of rolls available. Eight crew aboard, plus Mark and Rob. . . . Recommend bunkroom #1A, two singles with maximum storage/walk around area, emergency port can be opened (critical as there were fuel fumes in the bunk area for two days when the tanks were topped off.) Second choice would be room #2. Spent one day at Burma Banks and one day at locations in the Mergui Islands. Banks have been closed for the past four years and diving was good for an open water location. Mergui area not appreciably different from other sites in Thailand. $85 surcharge to enter Burma. . . . Fantasea office arranged airport pick ups and reserved hotels in the Patong area. You board the boat at 7:30 pm, but if you arrive early, you can leave gear at the office. Heavy tourist area, so lots of tee shirts and $10 Rolexes. Did two weeks back to back and had to leave the boat in between trips. Used the Sandy Beach Hotel as a day room, $18 U.S. Spotless, basic room with A/C and a TV. At the end of our trip we stayed at Duangjitt Resort, $68, a three star hotel before flying home via Bangkok. Well staffed has two swimming pools, ran out of towels, no hot water for two days, drain in the bathroom was plugged. Stay away from this one, maybe try the Holiday Inn or the Sandy Beach. Booked through Marc Bernardi at Aquatic Encounters (800-757-1365). He did a good job for us.

Fantasea, February 1998, Matt and Ellen Tate, Kokomo, IN. Good boat. Great crew. Diving could have been good, but water temp 10 degrees cooler than expected (69/70 degrees) and vis substantially reduced (30-40 ft.) from normal.

Fantasea, February 1998, Robin Dyleski, Marina Del Rey, CA. Excellent care of cameras. Large camera table on dive deck. rinse tanks for camera/video only. Inside camera tables with excellent space for all gear. Both 220 and 110V charging stations. E6 processing, $10/roll. Diving in the Andaman sea is fantastic, with great coral, reef fish and pelagics. 8 whale sharks encounters (only rule do not touch them), leopard sharks, 9' nurse sharks, grey, reef, whitetip and silver-tip sharks, 5 kinds of rays, two sea snakes, bunches of cuttlefish, pipefish, schooling barracuda, jacks, lionfish, squid, stonefish, seahorses. Nine day trip offered 37 dives, including night dives. Mark Strickland and Rob the divemaster gave detailed briefings. On nearly every dive, the two of them were in the water and shooting still and video. Excellent guiding the dives and pointing out critters. Shark dive great at Burma Banks. Close up action with silvertips. Richelieu Rock lived up to reputation. Marine life both small and large (whale sharks, etc) too good for words. Rob and Mark made sure everyone had a good experience. All diving takes place from either swimstep or Zodiac. Almost all drift dives, even if no current. Vis: 50-100 ft. Water: 77-82 degrees; comfortable in 3mm full suit, but had a few chills in thermoclines down to 70 degrees. No dive restrictions except return to surface after one hour bottom time. Pick up wherever you surfaced. Easy and wonderful diving. Boat is nice but not luxury; comfortable and stable. Majority of travel is done at night, to maximize dive time. All cabins are downstairs, with portholes, and are small. All heads and showers are on main deck. Salon is nice with TV, video, stereo, and library. Dining area is on the upper/sun deck is covered. Food plentiful by an excellent Thai chef. Thai crew was always around to assist but were never underfoot. Flight to Thailand from Los Angeles was 18 hours of flying time, plus one stop for fuel. Worth the extra $$ to go in Business class. Spend extra time in Thailand away from Phuket's main beach Patong, the country is beautiful and people lovely.

Fantasea, March 1998, Bruce Cratty, Gilberts, FL. Best diving ever. Plenty of fish, small and large. Six types of sharks, two mantas, sea snakes. Thai crew friendly and helpful. Food outstanding and always enough. Corals outstanding. Boat excellent for underwater photography. Mark Strickland always helpful in any way pointing out various creatures or helping with photography. Rob Jacobs also there whenever someone needed advice or instruction. Dive deck well set up, plenty of room for all gear. Marc Bernardi of Aquatic Encounters did a great job putting the trip together. Kept us well informed on any last minute information we might need.

Fantasea, April 1998, Betty and Placida Dos Santos, Green Valley, AZ. Ten day trip included 4 days in Burma, the highlight. Dove the Burma Banks, Western Rockies and Black Rock. Each was special in its own way. Great experiences with many mantas at Black Rock and leopard sharks, gray reef sharks, white tips, and spinner sharks. Burma Banks featured pristine hard corals, great viz (100'), and outstanding photo opportunities of silvertip sharks. Western Rockies featured a magnificent soft coral wall that rivaled Fiji's best. Macro life in swim throughs and caves was amazing. Trip included lots of rare life-ghost pipefish, seahorses, harlequin shrimp, true stonefish, numerous varieties of nudibranch, clownfish, frogfish, etc. Poor viz (20-40') precluded whale shark viewing opportunities. Whale shark spotted by 3 divers at Richelieu Rocks. Large school of blue spotted rays, horse-eyed jacks, barracudas sighted here along with guitarfish. Witnessed dynamite fishing and shark finning at Burmese dive sites. Continued infusion of divers tourist dollars, coupled with petitions and pleas to Burmese Tourist Ministry may be the area's only hope for salvation in the long term. . . . DM/Photo Pro Mark Strickland and the crew were first class. Only for the experienced. Currents can be strong and unpredictable, often changing several times mid-dive. Thai crew's surface pickup skills put us at ease. . . . Huge numbers of live-aboards ply Thai dive sites in Similans and Richelieu Rocks. Fantasea professional and safety conscious. Accommodations onboard were very nice but diesel fuel smell was intolerable on the first night and after refueling in Burma. Boat has a design flaw that desperately needs to be fixed. Some passengers slept outdoors due to fuel vapors in salon and cabin. Boat is not up to Peter Hughes or Aggressor standards. Nevertheless, food and service were excellent! . . . Had a DCS incident during the trip. Crew handled the situation professionally and was well prepared. However, evacuation by land from Burma's border to chamber in Phuket was plagued by disorganization and delays. DAN and the Chamber did not live up to assurances previously given to the dive operation. Fantasea's large oxygen supply bought enough time for the diver who fully recovered after 4 recompression treatments. . . . With Burma addition, trip is great for photographers but do not expect high-viz blue waters. Water temps varied from 76 degrees to mid 80's. Some divers needed full 7mm suits. Most OK in 3 or 5 mm full suits. Ocean was flat as glass for entire period. Monsoon season starts in late April to May. Overall, an excellent trip with much diversity, and enjoyment.