IT WILL TAKE 16 trucks to carry Phuket's new Sky Dive Reef to the island later this month. That will make, allowing for space for safety, a convoy about 800 metres long.
On board will be four fixed-wing aircraft and six helicopters, all destined for a happy landing at the bottom of the sea off Bang Tao beach.
The obsolete Thai Air Force stock will arrive on the island about 3pm on April 20 after days of travel from Lopburi Air Force II base.
Lots of locals are expected to be there to greet their arrival. It will be the first artificial reef of its kind in Thailand.
People are also expected to turn out along the route to see the ''reef'' go past. Channel 11 will document the convoy's progress with news bulletins and updates.
At Phuket's deep sea port, Ao Makham, the aircraft will be stripped and reassembled for the sea journey to the strange fleet's final resting place.
Over a number of days, the Douglas C-47s and Sikorsky S-58Ts, veterans whose time in the front line has long passed, will be taken one by one and gently lowered over the side by a crane about one kilometre off Bang Tao beach.
Each journey from Ao Makham to Bang Tao will take 12 to 15 hours, and monsoon weather may cause delays.
By May 5, everything should be in place for a ceremony at which the final aircraft and helicopter will be lowered in place.
More than 100 fishing boats and 500 divers are expected to be present for the occasion, Phuket's director of tourism and sport, Promchote Traivate, told Phuketwan.
It was the work he performed on ideas like this one that made Khun Promchote the Phuketwan Phuket Man of the Year for 2007.
During the year, Khun Promchote also played a leading role in helping local Muslims learn massage therapy to suit Middle East tourism, and having Rawai sea gypsies taught how to dive using modern techniques rather than their traditional ones.
Khun Promchote said that Bang Tao was chosen as the site for the artificial diving reef because it had no large natural coral reef. The local Cherng Talay OrBorTor contributed four million baht to the project.
There was already one large vessel on the ocean floor at the spot, which was selected in consultation with the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, Khun Promchote added.
That vessel, believed to be an old tin mine dredge, the aircraft and helicopters will be accessible to most beginner scuba divers at a depth of 15 to 20 metres.
The sea bed along the coast here was scoured by dredges for many years and erosion on the beachfront is still blamed as the legacy of offshore tin mining.
''Scuba divers will be able to swim in and around the aircraft,'' he said. ''The aircraft will be surrounded by an artificial reef that should eventually grow living coral.
''Fishermen should find that over time, fish will lay eggs there and it should be good for the natural environment.''
The new attraction should bring instant benefits for diving businesses and resorts along Bang Tao beach.
Khun Promchote said that because the aircraft are made of aluminium, they will not rust and should last at least 100 years underwater. At least 3000 divers are expected to visit the site each year.
Phuket is already a base for divers looking to explore the reefs off Phi Phi, Koh Racha and the Similans.
The Sky Dive Reef, implemented with the help of the For Sea Foundation and the Thai Diving Association, should offer something different.
One diving site online says the Sky Dive Reef ''could become one of the most popular wreck-centric dive sites in the region, if not the world.''
On board will be four fixed-wing aircraft and six helicopters, all destined for a happy landing at the bottom of the sea off Bang Tao beach.
The obsolete Thai Air Force stock will arrive on the island about 3pm on April 20 after days of travel from Lopburi Air Force II base.
Lots of locals are expected to be there to greet their arrival. It will be the first artificial reef of its kind in Thailand.
People are also expected to turn out along the route to see the ''reef'' go past. Channel 11 will document the convoy's progress with news bulletins and updates.
At Phuket's deep sea port, Ao Makham, the aircraft will be stripped and reassembled for the sea journey to the strange fleet's final resting place.
Over a number of days, the Douglas C-47s and Sikorsky S-58Ts, veterans whose time in the front line has long passed, will be taken one by one and gently lowered over the side by a crane about one kilometre off Bang Tao beach.
Each journey from Ao Makham to Bang Tao will take 12 to 15 hours, and monsoon weather may cause delays.
By May 5, everything should be in place for a ceremony at which the final aircraft and helicopter will be lowered in place.
More than 100 fishing boats and 500 divers are expected to be present for the occasion, Phuket's director of tourism and sport, Promchote Traivate, told Phuketwan.
It was the work he performed on ideas like this one that made Khun Promchote the Phuketwan Phuket Man of the Year for 2007.
During the year, Khun Promchote also played a leading role in helping local Muslims learn massage therapy to suit Middle East tourism, and having Rawai sea gypsies taught how to dive using modern techniques rather than their traditional ones.
Khun Promchote said that Bang Tao was chosen as the site for the artificial diving reef because it had no large natural coral reef. The local Cherng Talay OrBorTor contributed four million baht to the project.
There was already one large vessel on the ocean floor at the spot, which was selected in consultation with the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, Khun Promchote added.
That vessel, believed to be an old tin mine dredge, the aircraft and helicopters will be accessible to most beginner scuba divers at a depth of 15 to 20 metres.
The sea bed along the coast here was scoured by dredges for many years and erosion on the beachfront is still blamed as the legacy of offshore tin mining.
''Scuba divers will be able to swim in and around the aircraft,'' he said. ''The aircraft will be surrounded by an artificial reef that should eventually grow living coral.
''Fishermen should find that over time, fish will lay eggs there and it should be good for the natural environment.''
The new attraction should bring instant benefits for diving businesses and resorts along Bang Tao beach.
Khun Promchote said that because the aircraft are made of aluminium, they will not rust and should last at least 100 years underwater. At least 3000 divers are expected to visit the site each year.
Phuket is already a base for divers looking to explore the reefs off Phi Phi, Koh Racha and the Similans.
The Sky Dive Reef, implemented with the help of the For Sea Foundation and the Thai Diving Association, should offer something different.
One diving site online says the Sky Dive Reef ''could become one of the most popular wreck-centric dive sites in the region, if not the world.''
