The first (and hopefully not the last) SMN dive trip

[rubber chicken]

Much as I'd love to meet you all in the 'flesh', unless my future includes a major lottery win, I can't see me getting to the US any time soon.
However, if you do arrange a trip to somewhere within a couple of time zones of West Australia, ( Thailand, Malaysia, Phillipines, Indonesia etc), then I am certainly interested.
It also goes without saying that if any of you ever find yourselves on the Aussie West Coast then get in touch and I'd be happy to buddy up for a dive or ten!
Of course, in the spirit of singing the praises of our own localities, can I put a suggestion in for Ningaloo reef ? Warm water, pristine corals, more macro/micro photo opportunities than you can shake a strobe at and the possibility of Whale Sharks, ( in season).

[Quero]

Quero,
<snip> to maintain some semblance of manliness via the equipment nut tactic, I usually dive with the rebreather, lol.

Aha! Some guys take trophy wives; you get trophy gear, LOL

What we would probably try to do is if we book a group trip somewhere other than Thailand at any point, our goal would be to do it when it is not your high season as you mentioned, that way you would at least be available.

Very considerate of you! And much appreciated.

Since you're the Thailand expert, is there a way to dive off places like Phuket, but still be more or less land based? I know a live aboard can go further, but land based activities unrelated to diving are fun diversions, and it allows members to bring non-divers. I personally enjoy diving 3-4 dives a day, then go out about the area walking/driving around, checking out different eateries, etc. so I could use some info.

Sure, we could do land-based. And it would even be possible to organize a mini-safari by changing land bases. Here's one way to do it:

We could start out at Khao Lak to do daytrip diving via speedboat at the wonderful northern sites of Richelieu Rock, Koh Tachai and Koh Bon, as well as Elephant Head Rock and the Similans. It won't be as comfortable or exciting for the divers as a four-day LOB, but it is certainly possible to do these dives this way. Typically, these are two-tank trips (for logistics of customer transfers to far away hotels) but if we are taking up the whole speedboat, we should be able to negotiate the trips to our liking and do three-dive days.

After a few days, we can transfer down to Phuket Island proper and do some daytrips from there, giving everybody who wants to experience the party mode in Patong to do so. Of course we would dive my favorite local sites and get in two, three or four dives a day. There are many interesting things to do on the island, in particular sea kayaking and muay thai matches.

Next we can transfer down to the idyllic Koh Lanta and use it as a base to dive the spectacular seamounts Hin Daeng and Hin Muang as well as other nice sites nearby such as Koh Ha.

How does that sound? If it raises more questions than it answers, keep asking--I left out a lot of details in the interest of (relative) brevity.

[lottie]

Quero, that sounds fantastic.

The other question that springs to mind is how long should this trip be? One week? two weeks? ten days?

[Diverdaniel]

I would say 3-5 days for starters?
easier on all that have work
and a busy life.

[The Publisher]

Most trips are in the 5-7 day range. Places like the Carribean can be done in the 4-5 day range.

I know Europe is big on 14 day trips, but that is just not popular in the U.S.

When I sit down and talk at DEMA with the 4 or so big tropical trip travel agencies, I sill talk to them and see how it would work out for those that want to do only 5 days as far as airfare....it would be cut and dried for the resort/dive portion.

[acelockco]

That is the other thing. If we are going to have to pay for an expensive flight (for many of us it will be an expensive flight) then I would be really upset to only stay for 4-5 days. I am thinking 7-10 days would be a good duration.

[The Publisher]

If it is a really good dive destination with lots to see, videotape and do, I am up for being there 7 days.

[lars2923]

Where are we talking about?

[The Publisher]

Lars, we're talking about how time is correlated into groupings, and in this case, grouping 24 hours into seven consecutive sessions, hence the "7 days" designation.

Ok, now that I am done being silly, we're talking about a ScubaMagazine.net Group Trip...and members are expressing their different ideas as to locations, length of time, extracurricular excursions, boat based, land based, etc.

[lars2923]

I see....
Anywhere in the world? That's a tough one.
I agree travel time and cost dictate length of stay.
Personally, the more time and cost it takes me to get to a destination,
the longer I prefer to stay. As for activities, when I go on a dive trip,
I dive dive dive.. 4 or more a day..
If there is a group going along and as long as the majority of time is
spent diving, where perhaps on the fourth day, after a couple of dives in
the morning, the group took a tour somewhere to see the site, that would be
OK. As long as we're diving again the next day... etc...
Get the picture?

Thanks for the quick reply...
BTW, what do you get with you combine 24x7?