John and Jane in Thailand

I have been hoarding underwater photographs that I have been taking for the last five months to give you a tour of what we see as we dive “our islands”.  When the weather permits, we dive at least once a week.  “How can they afford that?” you say; scuba diving isn’t exactly a cheap sport.   To put it succinctly, the boat club.  A fellow expat, Nigel, owns a Thai long-tail boat which was sunk some time ago.  The cost of pulling it out of the water, repairs, then ongoing maintenance was too much for one man and so the idea for a club was born.  Eight of us, three couples and two singles, jumped at the chance to have a boat at our beck and call.  Five of the eight are divers.  Nigel and his wife make an even ten members.  We each put in a chunk of money, had meetings about how we would operate, worked on the boat in dry dock, and Nigel named the boat and club ‘The Blue Lagoon’.  Nigel found a Thai captain who not only takes us out, but in exchange for using the boat himself (probably squid fishing), takes care of the boat.  Kai moors it in the Saplee River which is about a 4 minute drive from our house.  We really like Kai and I know he finds us amusing.  He speaks no English, but we’ve learned enough Thai and hand gestures to get along just fine.  This is truly an international enterprise; our members hail from Britain, Germany, Norway, Thailand, and of course America.  We primarily dive two islands off of our beach (Ngam Yai and Ngam Noi) and the navy boat wreck that was sunk specifically for divers about a year and a half ago.  A third island, Crocodile, is too shallow for good diving but makes a terrific snorkeling area.  I will narrate the photos as they go along.  Have fun.