Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Pattaya offers multiple wrecks for different scuba divers

By Ben Reeves


Thailand is actually well-known as a very popular place to go for scuba diving. The islands inside the south of the country tend to be particularly well known regarding clear water and delightful corals. If you are looking for a place in this fantastic region to wreck dive, Pattaya is the place to look.

Different people like a variety of wreck. Some prefer ancient wrecks as they provide a fascinating screen onto the past, other individuals prefer very modern day, purpose-sunk wrecks for the unheard of access they provide as well as the easy availability of wreck penetrations. Some divers enjoy travelling to war wrecks as well as natural wrecks with their often violent backgrounds while others favour the security of artificial coral reefs. Pattaya has at least one of most of these types of wreck and has more man-made steel on its seashore floor than another part of Thailand.

The oldest ship available to those wreck diving Pattayawreck diving Pattaya is the misnamed "Petchburi Bremen". She in fact sank under the name Kaeo Samud, however was built in Bremen and also launched as the SS Petchburi. Any German-built cargo ship, she'd been impounded and confiscated by the Thai government during the First Globe War. She sank in 1920 after your ex steam engine boomed.

As is often the case with natural wrecks, the Petchburi is in an awkward position for diving, often being inaccessible as a result of strong currents. Wreck penetration has been rendered impossible due to the chronilogical age of the wreck, which is compounded by the fact that Elegant Thai Navy divers have been using it regarding demolitions practice.

The other all-natural wreck around Pattaya will be the so-called "Hardeep" - actually known as the Suddhadib - and is the only real war wreck throughout Thai waters. The cargo ship designed for the Siam Steamship Company inside 1918, she was sunk from the Royal Air Pressure in 1945 while transporting supplies for the Japan Army. This wreck is slightly unsafe because it is surrounded by unexploded weapons - the biggest danger to divers in Thailand - and is within an area also known for strong currents.

The two Koot and the Khram are previous US Navy landing ships, transferred to Thai ownership after the Second World War. Both of the had been also purpose sunk given that 2000 as man-made reefs and safe wrecks to leap on, with transmission being very easy as well as safe. On the disadvantage, visibility is not especially good in the water around Pattaya. However, there is no place else in Thailand with the amount of wrecks in so small an area, all of which have a fascinating history to tell.




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