January 24, 2010 – Day 395 – Koh Tao, Thailand

Saben packed in two dives today before lunch! Starting out at around 6:30 am he was loading gear and heading out on the Big Blue boat. First dive spot of the day was splendid chompron pinnacle. A place famous for its sharks! (Due to Saben’s lack of underwater camera the following photos are brought to you via flickr. Bull shark via user cliffandally.)

Bull Shark via cliffandally

He was rewarded for his early rise by not one, not two but 4 sharks! Bulls and Grey reef sharks were trolling the deep waters off the pinnacle looking for an easy meal. The waters here are beautiful, visibility is decent at around 15-20 meters. The reefs are not a colorful as other dives but this only makes the bright oddity that much brighter. (Giant clam crawling out of its shell via user rling)

Giant clam crawling out of its shell via rling

Giant sea anemone and giant clams breakup the reef in bright fluorescent blues and greens. Damsel fish fly by like blue and yellow streaks. An amazing sight. (Stingray photo via flickr user EpF.)

Blue Spotted Stingray by EpF

Dive number two was at Twins. Much the same attractions as at chompron, trigger fish, angel fish, moon rasse, butterfly fish, ect. No sharks this time but something maybe better. We found two blue spotted stingrays and a ton of fluorescent sea slugs (Sabens favorite sea creature after the Narwhal). The stingrays were hiding from the mid day sun so the only way to see them is to float head down and hover inches above the sand looking under ledges. Good thing he has his buoyancy down. (Sea slug photo via user torvaanser.)

Sea Slug via

After lunch we headed back out to the beach for some leisure time swimming and sunning ourselves on the beautiful shores in the Gulf of Thailand. Besides that, not much else to tell except that the weather is perfect, just hot enough to make the ocean inviting but not too hot to be overwhelming. The view is spectacular, the food is great, there are plenty of fun people and silly tourists around too. A lovely place indeed!