Thailand as a Diving Location

Thailand:

Thailand is a country located at the centre of the Indochina Peninsula in South East Asia and is in fact the 21st most populous country in the world with over 64 million people crammed into its small area of 513,000km².
Tourism is currently one of the countries largest economical sectors with many tourist destinations including the capital Bangkok, it is also well known for its the locations and quality of its SCUBA diving sites.
I have in fact, had a small glimpse of the capital and the countryside through a plane window as i visited the airport on my way to Sydney, Bangkok is very industrialised whereas the country side consists mainly of rice fields.

Thailand (Centre-left) from Google Earth.

Mnay of the best diving opportunities in Thailand are found in the Andaman Sea just North-West of Phuket Island, the Sea features dramatic underwater topography and an abundance of marine life.
It is a ~14 hour flight from the UK to Thailand, although my flight to Australia managed to get to Bangkok in about 11.5 hours, so i guess it varies, either way from personal experience I can say this is a pretty short flight considering the distance!
Water temperatures are generally between 24°C and 28°C, so very pleasant indeed, with temperatures like these you will not feel cold at any point during your dive, which is a massive plus when enjoying the amazing marine life the Andaman Sea has to offer.
Generally, divers head to the Similan and Surin Islands or reefs off Phuket and Krabi Island.
Just off Phuket Island there is a reef called 'Anemone Reef', this is a very popular dive site with marine sanctuary status, it is also a great site for new divers (like myself haha).
The Similan and Surin islands are a must for divers visiting Thailand, they host a great variety of marine life and contain over 500 species of soft and hard corals set into gullies and granite boulders creating an amazing underwater world for divers to explore. Large schools of oriental sweet lips and yellow snappers patrol the reefs and leopard sharks and guitar rays are often found at the reef drop offs.

Here are some images of the great things you can see whilst diving Thailand:

An image of the infamous yellow snapper fish that patrol the reefs of the Smilan Islands.

Original picture source.

An image of two leopard sharks just off Phuket Island.

Original picture source.

An image of the weird and wonderful guitar ray.

Original picture source.

An image of various soft and hard corals at Anemone reef just off Phuket Island.

Original picture source.

An image of yet another species of the amazing sweet Anemone fish.

Original picture source.

The legendary lionfish returns!

Original picture source.

An image of the beautiful green turtle on Phuket Island reef.

Original picture source.

An image of Similan reef.

Original picture source.

These images only begin to scratch the surface of the underwater diversity available to divers in Thailand, not only are there reefs such as Anemone reef for beginners but there are also a wide variety of liveaboard boats for more experiencd divers. Thailand also has the advantage of being fairly priced and even cheap in some respects, travel to Thailand is often more expensive than decent accommodation.



Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the rights to any of the images used in this blog post, links to the original image sources have been given where necessary.

The Galapagos Islands as a Diving Location

The Galapagos Islands

The Galapagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands located around the equator in the Pacific Ocean approximately 525 miles off the coast of Ecuador, they were created by a volcanic hotspot and are considered to be geologically young. The islands are a biological marine reserve and an Ecuadorian national park due to their vast number of endemic species and richness of other wildlife, they are famous for being studied by the British naturalist Charles Darwin.

The Galapagos Islands from Google Earth.

Because the wildlife of these islands is so rich they are considered to be an excellent diving location featuring many species of shark and temperate and tropical fish species.

The flight time to the islands from the UK is ~18 hours, this is quite a long flight though still shorter than to Australia, the unique biodiversity is great enough to make the flight time more than worth it.

Diving is also pleasant due to the ocean temperatures which are generally 15°C to 26°C, while 15 degrees is a little cool and will require a proper wetsuit, 26 degrees is much warmer and very pleasant to dive in.

There are many highlights to be experienced at this location including: whale sharks, hammerheads, rays, various species of turtle, endemic marine iguanas, seals and even penguins! The islands can certainly be considered a top class, unique diving location, although unfortunately it does come with a large price tag.

Here are some great photos of some of the diving sites:

 

An image of the amazing hammerhead sharks that swim in the archipelagos waters.

Original picture source.

An image of the breath-taking whale shark, the largest fish in the world.

Original picture source.

An image of a Spotted Eagle Ray just off the coast of Wolf Island.

Original picture source.

An image of fish swimming over a large boulder coral.

Original picture source.

An image of a SCUBA diver in a school of fish.

Original picture source.

An image of playing sealions in the waters of the archipelago.

Original picture source.

An image of a green turtle, one of the many turtles that inhabit the island's waters.

Original picture source.

An image of a Goldrimmed surgeon fish.

Original picture source.

The summer months of the Northern hemipsphere are considered to be the best months to visit the Galapagos Islands, particularly to see whale sharks, melon-headed pilot whales and humpback whales as well as many other plankon feeders.

Overall, a visit to the Galapagos islands may but a dent in your bank account but it will provide you with an absolutely unforgettable experience!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the rights to any of the images used in this blog post, links to the original image sources have been given where necessary.

The Maldives as a Diving Location

So, from having a bit of a nose-around of good dive locations, i decided the Maldives, Galapagos Islands and Thailand are all absolutely brilliant for diving, especially if you haven't been doing it that long! I'll be blogging about the Galapagos Islands and Thailand in my next two posts, my previous post explores the Red Sea.
I've tried to summarise the main points of what I've found out about these locations, so this post isn't majorly in depth, however, if you want to find out more then there are plenty websites out there that can help you :)

The Maldives:

The Maldives are a chain of ~1,200 islands located in the Indian Ocean just South-West of the Indian sub-continent. The nation is well known for its abundant marine life and sandy beaches and so to many it is known as a tropical paradise.

The location of the Maldive Islands (on the left) from Google Earth.

The flight time to the Maldives from the UK is about 10.5 hours, not as short a flight as to the Red Sea, but still much shorter than a flight to Fiji! The islands themselves are known as a world class diving destination and so you will certainly not be disappointed by what they have to offer.
With an average water temperature of 24-28 degrees Celcius, you will not need anything more than a 'shorty' wetsuit at the lower end and perhaps just a swim suit at the higher end depending on your preferences.
The diversity of the diving available in the Maldives is one of the main features that make it such a popular diving destination, in fact, new dive sites are being discovered all the time and there's nothing quite like a practically untouched reef.
Some of the most spectacular marine life includes game fish, many types of shark, manta rays and even the biggest fish in the world - the whale shark!

Here are a few amazing photos of just a handful of dive sites:

Oh look, there's that legendary lionfish again, I love these little guys!

Original picture source.

The amazing whale shark, what I'd give for the chance to swim wth one of these guys!

Original picture source.

The breathtaking manta ray, these guys can grow to HUGE sizes wild and captive.

Original picture source.

Anemone fish, there's a different kind of Nemo for nearly every dive location in existence!

Original picture source.

The characteristic Maldivian fish.

Original picture source.

Typical soft coral and marine life.

Original picture source.

The legendary green sea turtle.

Original picture source.

As well as sheltered reefs ideal for new divers, there are also some incredible drift dive locations for more experienced divers that are absolutely packed with wildlife, there are also many live aboard boat options for more confident divers.

The Maldives are certainly a must see for any diver travelling to Asia, 10.5 hours is much closer than you would think!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the rights to any of the images used in this blog post, links to the original image sources have been given where necessary.

Being a Newly Certified SCUBA Diver and the Red Sea

Okay, so i did technically become 'Open Water' certified back in September, but unfortunately there's a bit of a lack of dive sites in the UK, I would say curse this boring country, but i like Yorkshire Tea too much :)
As an SSI 'Open Water' certified diver, I can pretty much go diving anywhere up to 18m (30m is recreational maximum, Advanced Open Water is required), the oceans are my oyster as some would say. But unfortunately there's the small snag of not living near any amazing SCUBA sites, okay so there are some interesting sounding wrecks up in the Farne Islands etc. but as they aren't main stream SCUBA locations, dive gear is probably not available.
So my options are to either buy my own dive gear (not until I'm on my 21k+ salary haha) or to go abroad and hire some dive gear (potential with a bit of cash). So as i have already dived the Great Barrier Reef and some small (but AWESOME) reefs in Fiji, i thought i would investigate some other dive locations and holidays.
There are really two options for this, go to a resort with SCUBA diving facilities where you can hire gear, be taken out to dive sites and be paired with a dive 'buddy', or you can go out on a live aboard boat. As cool as the live aboard boat sounds, it is recommended that you have at least 10 logged dives before attempting it and I only have 6, though I would probably still give it a go if the location was right!

So here are some of the all important dive locations I checked out (Not including Fiji and Australia):

Some of the best places were in the Red Sea, Indonesia, Borneo, Thailand, the Maldives, Galapagos Islands, the Carribean and the Azores, i have tried to narrow this list down to my faves, but there are just so many to choose from!

The Red Sea:

The Red Sea is a pretty great place to dive for various reasons, the first being that it is only a 5 hour flight from the UK! A much quicker journey than the one i took back from Nandi to Wolverhampton (flight times + waiting and other travel totaled about 40 hours :O), the short flight time also means that the flights will be much cheaper than a cheeky trip to Queensland, Australia!

The Red Sea's location from Google Earth.

There are LOADS of diving schools in the Red Sea area and many are even award winning!
The marine life is supposed to be spectacular with many different types of hard and soft coral aswell as many spectacular fish species, even the water temperature is great at 22-30 degrees Centigrade. After SCUBA diving in Fiji at water temperatures of around 27 degrees Centigrade, I can happily say that warmer is better, I didn't even have to wear a wet suit (much more comfortable with all your gear on, especially the BCD/Tank).
From what i understand, the two best underwater highlights in the Red Sea are the Thistlegorm Wreck and Elphinstone Reef.

Thistlegorm Wreck.

Original picture source.

Inside the wreck.

Original picture source.

Another snap of the inside.

Original picture source.

S.S Thistlegorm was a British armed merchant navy ship, its original port was in Glasgow, Scotland and was sunk in the Red sea on October 6th 1941. The ship had been heading for Alexandria in Egypt, but it was sunk by bombers acting upon German intelligence.

The wreck site is now a very popular dive site, wildlife such as tuna, baracuda, batfish, morey eel, lionfish, stonefish, crocodile fish, scorpion fish and sea turtles can be seen at the wreck.

Elphinstone reef, soft corals and fish.

Original picture source.

A diver exploring part of the reef.

Original picture source.

A white tip shark on the reef, they ar often found around coral reefs but are uncommonly seen as they tend to shy away from humans, so getting the chance to see one is a great experience!

Original picture source.

Elphinstone Reef is one of the Red Sea's best reefs, three different species of shark can be found on the reef (hammerhead, grey and white tip), sharks are quite often hard to spot on reefs as they are generally scared of humans and often swim away.

There are also underwater caves to explore, these are great fun as long as you're not claustrophobic and you're prepared for the possibility of coral scratches!

One of the best things about this reef is that sea turtles are common, these animals are often quite shy, but they are definately worth seeing and swimming with in the wild.

I'll be checking out some more dive locations and posting about them soon!

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the rights to any of the images used in this blog post, links to the original image sources have been given where necessary.

Revision Time

So, as a geography student, i have been spending my entire christmas holidays revising ¬¬
Luckily I only have two exams in January (the first 2 days of the exam period), Reading the Ice Age Record  (RTIAR) and Catchment Systems.
The RTIAR exam consists of two essays that are worth 75% of the overall mark, the other 25% was an exam we did during term time. The module was pretty interesting so the exam should go quite well, however, the catchment systems module was pretty awful :(
I guess 'rivers' is a subject that just isn't for me, I'm in awe of people who manage to dedicate their lives to it because other than channel patterns and planforms and environmental management, it's a pretty dull subject. Can't wait until that exam is OVER.
Anyway, the main point of this post was something i found that cheered me up :)

Just imagine you're there, or better yet, go ;) FIJI FTW.

http://phoebettmh.blogspot.com/2011/05/fiji-islands-come-to-paradise.html

The prospect of planning our up and coming trip to New Zealand is also cheering me up :D We'll be leaving sometime at the end of March and coming back near the end of April....EXCITED.  

12 days of the trip will be based on field work on glaciers/rivers on South Island, we are then planning to spend the rest of the time travelling back up to North Island from there.

No idea exactly what we're doing yet, but it should involve bungee jumping and potentially some SCUBA diving for me! :)

Rainbow warrior wreck, NZ.

http://www.dailyscubadiving.com/wreck-of-the-rainbow-warrior/



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The Effect of Holocene Climate Change Upon the World's Oceans

Some interesting stuff about the world's oceans:

The world's oceans are an absolutely vital part of the existence of life on Earth, many people underestimate their importance to us and many other forms of life.
There are considered to be five oceans, the Indian, Pacific, Atlantic, Southern and Arctic, together they cover ~362,000,000km² which is equivalent to ~71% of the Earth's surface.
Unsuprisingly, they contain 97% of the planet's water and 99% of the Earth's living space, the majority of which is part of the deep ocean known as the abyss, more than 90% of existing marine life lives or depends on coral reefs. There is even a different kind of life found as hydrothermal vents that are dependent on chemical energy rather than light energy, there is a theory that these vents are actually the origin of life on Earth, although this is not proven as of yet!
It is therefore suprising that less than 10%  of the oceans have actually been explored by man, but as a species we are negatively impacting the oceans at an alarming rate. ... Hello mass extinction.

Here are a few examples:

- Fish is the greatest percentage of protein consumed by man and so most of the world's major fisheries are being fished above their maximum sustainable levels. North Atlantic cod and LEDC reef fish are good examples of overfished species.
- We input a huge amount of plastic waste into the oceans every day, this waste kills up to 1 million sea birds, 100,000 sea mammals (including turtles) and countless fish every year. It is a major problem as plastic stays in marine ecosystems for many years.



- In the past decade, an average of 600,000 barrels of oil has been spilt accidently from ships/oil tankers, this oil has a devastating impact on local marine life and sea birds, the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which President Obama was slow to respond to, is a good documented example.
- Nearly 60% of the world's remaining reefs are at significant risk of being lost within the next three decades, and as ~90% of marine life either lives or is directly dependent on coral reefs, this loss would be devastating to marine biodiversity.
- There are 50-75 shark attacks on humans each year (Less than the amount of people killed by elephants, bees, crocodiles and lightning annually), we kill 20,000,000-100,000,000 sharks each year through fishing activities. Collection of shark fins for shark fin soup is a major killer of sharks every year, many have their fins cut off in the water and are then left to die.
- 10,000 years ago at around the start of the Holocene epoch, ocean levels were 110m lower than they are today, Holocene climate change is therefore having a profound effect upon the world's oceans.

Some background on current Holocene climate change:

- Atmospheric C02 concentration is expected to exceed 50 parts per million (ppm) combined with a global temperature rise of 2°C by 2050-2100.
- The concentration of atmosphere C02 currently exceeds 380ppm which is more than 80ppm above the maximum value of the last 740,000 years.
- Currently, approximately 25% of the C02 emitted from all anthropogenic sources enters the world's oceans.

- Some predictions include higher C02 increases of 600-1000ppm and global temperature increases of 3-6°C, any change on this scale would almost certainly be devatstaing.
- The effects of Holocene climate change have been so widespread and complex that some scientists are calling for the start of a new geological epoch known as the 'anthropocene'.

Climate change and the ocean:

There are five main effects that climate change has upon the oceans: (a) warming oceans, (b) melting of the poles, (c) rising sea levels, (d) changes to current systems and (e) ocean acidification.

(a) Warmer oceans are caused by the fact that ~80% of the heat added to Earth's system by climate change has been absorbed by the oceans. This has had many negative effects upon marine life:
- Many species are forced to migrate so that they can maintain the temperature conditions they need to feed and reproduce, species that can't migrate may therefore become extinct.
- Temperature alteration can also directly impact development, age of sexual maturity, timing of spawning and growth. Each of these factors is vitally important in the survival of a species.
- Warmer waters also mean that there will be a decreased upwelling of nutrients from lower in the water column to the surface waters, many marine ecosystems depend on these nutrients, including the Galapagos Islands.

This image demonstrates how the nutrients are mixed normally, the original source of this image can be found here.

(b) Melting of the poles is caused by greenhouse gases increasing atmospheric warming which is one of the factors responsible for the melting of polar ice. This also has many negative effects upon marine life:
- Algae production in polar marine environments is dependent upon the presence of sea ice. Algae are at the base of most of the Arctic food web and support many important species such as Arctic cod. A decrease in one species generally leads to a decrease in another that is dependent, especially in such delicate ecosystems.
- Less sea ice results in the loss of vital habitat for polar marine species and polar mammals such as seals, walruses, polar bears, penguins, whales and other megafauna.
- Sea ice is a vital habitat for Antarctic krill, which is an important source of food for many Southern Ocean seabirds and mammals. A decrease in krill and thus dependent species has already occurred in recent years.

Melting of the poles is already happening at an alarming rate, the original source of this image can be found here.

(c) Rising sea levels are caused by the expansion of ocean water due to warming and by the melting of glaciers and polar ice. Habitats, marine life and humans are affected by this:
- Vital habitats such as coral reefs, mangroves and sea grasses depend on their ability to move into shallower waters, with waters getting deeper slow moving species will be most at risk of extinction.
- Many coastal habitats are lost as sea levels rise, such as turtle nesting beaches, manmade structures such as sea walls and coastal developments, often prevent them from migrating inland.
- Only 2% of the world's land lies at or below 10m of elevation, however, 10% (634 million) of the world's population are directly threatened by rising ocean levels. Pacific island nations such as Kiribati are most at risk, half the population lies within 3m of sea level and two of the islands have already disappeared.

The rising sea levels of Kiribati, the original source of this image can be found here.

(d) Changes to oceanic current systems are caused by changes in ocean temperatures and wind patterns (climate change), these changes affect and alter currents. This effect causes problems for animals, plants and humans:
- The migration patterns of many animals rely on ocean currents, as the currents change so will their migration pattterns, rapid change may cause seriosu problems for individual species.
- Some species depend on ocean currents for nutrients and reproduction, these will also be largely affected and potentially face extinction if they don't adapt or migrate.
- Ocean currents maintain some of Earth's current climates, and so alteration may lead to variations in rainfall and temperature which will in turn affect plants and animals as well as humans. The Gulf Stream is a good example of such a current, it allows the UK to experience a much warmer and wetter climate that than experienced on the same latitiude across the pond, where polar bears can survive.

The world's current thermohaline circulation, red indicates a warm current and blue a cold one, the original source of this image can be found here.

(e) Ocean acidification is caused by the introduction of carbonic acid to the ocean system, this in turn reduces the availability of carbonate to biological systems.
- Availability of calcium carbonate is reduced and thus calcification of organisms such as corals is also reduced causing coral bleaching which ultimately kills the coral.
- It directly harms many ocean plants and animals including: tropical reef building corals, cold water corals, many crustaceans and some plankton that make up the foundation of much of the ocean's food web. Many species in turn are dependent upon such organisms, these become threatened and may face extinction.
- Humans are also affected as many rely on tropical reef fish for food, a decrease in reef coral will lead to a decrease in reef coral feeding fish, disintegration of coral reefs may also lead to a decrease in tourism and sea defence.

This is an example of healthy coral.

Whereas, this is an example of bleached coral, the original source of this image can be found here.

The many effects that climate change has upon the ocean are rapidly changing it from an extremely biodiverse and important resource to the complete opposite. The effects of climate change are unlikely to change or be altered as global warming is not going to stop anytime soon, so i recommend you go out and see these places while you still can!
However, some effects we have upon the oceans can be changed or reduced, such as plastic input, next time you're thinking of dropping plastic onto the beach, buying a plastic bottle when a glass one is available or choosing non bio-degradable products instead of bio-degradable ones, don't! One less plastic bag in the ocean could save many marine animal's lives.

Disclaimer: I do not claim to own the rights to any of the images used in this blog post(except for the last image), links to the original image sources have been given where necessary.