The renovations of the Wicked Diving shop are going well, so Ricky and Diego organised a trip to Khao Sok as a treat for us, and a little break from the painting and hammering etc! 
Khao Sok is a national park pretty close to Khao Lak, in Suratthani province – it was established in December 1980, and it’s got some of the oldest rainforest in the world.
The national park’s about 2 hours drive from Khao Lak, and when you’re nearing the park, it’s a beautifully scenic drive through jungle and massive limestone karst formations. Within Khao Sok, the Ratchaprapa Dam was created in 1982, by closing off the Pasaeng River, resulting in the formation of a 165 square km lake. The dam was built as a hydroelectric source for the surrounding area, so obviously it’s extremely useful and helpful to the economy to provide sustainable energy in this way, but it’s also an awesome place to go visit for a daytrip!
There are some scuba divers who head to the lake in Khao Sok for full-on cave diving and technical courses, but we were after a slightly more restful day, so recreational diving all the way! Keep it fun, easy and interesting.
There’s something really fun about diving from a longtail in a lake surrounded by pristine jungle and limestone cliffs... the Thai captain cruises through the maze of limestone mountains, and we’re the only ones at the dive site, it’s so peaceful. Jump in, the surface is a bit hazy, but then you descend down into clear water, with a funky green light, the torch lights sparkle purple instead of the yellow you’re used to. 
The lake is about 80 metres deep, although the level of the reservoir has fallen by 10 or 15 metres in the last year, so the bottom’s a wee bit closer now, but because of the trip back over the hills we kept the diving nicely conservative, with a max depth of 20 metres. The topography’s stunning. We’re used to diving on limestone dive sites north of the Similan Islands at Koh Bon and Koh Tachai, and on the islands there you can see the rock formations, but Khao Sok takes it to another level – the stalactites and rock strata make the dive into a fairy grotto – very cool. 
The sun came out in time for lunch on the longtail, listening to the birds and monkeys in the surrounding trees, then we had a wander (and a bit of a swim!) around the floating rafthouses on the lake before heading back to the longtail for another dive at Par Daeng – lots more fish at this dive site, and even bigger stalactites and trees around us during the dive. Loads to see on the dives: the underwater forest - huge trees covered when the lake was created, plenty of catfish, some up to a metre long, little shoals of glassfish, teeny shrimps and lots of other varieties of smaller freshwater fish that we need to look up in the fish books! The aquatic life isn’t as varied as diving in the Similans, but it’s more about experiencing diving in a new and totally different underwater environment than seeing colourful fishes.
With 4 tired people in the taxi on the way back, persuading P’Toy to stop the taxi for Thai pre-dinner munchies on the way back through Takuapa, we decided it was a fantastic day off - votes all round for another trip to Khao Sok soon!
We are offering these Khao Sok diving trips to all of our guests as either one day trips - or stay overnight ON the lake in floating houses. you do not need technical or cave diving background to join our trips as we are simply there to enjoy the scenery and unique setting. All these trips are in addition to our 3 day Similan Liveaboard and 5 day Similan Liveaboard trips
No comments:
Post a Comment