Fine action of the Navy, however this near-disaster could have been prevented when finally thai maritime authorities (not useless Phuket Marine office 5) step in and set 'sail out' rules. 'Wild seas' are no sailing condition for the mainly poor maintained thai dive boats. There is hardly any preventive maintenance. Thai repair thins after it breaks down. Such is than simply not possible in 'wild seas'.

Posted by Kurt on February 11, 2015 08:07

Would it be possible to name the dive operation on Lanta that chose to send these divers out? As someone who dives from Lanta, I would be very interested to know.

Posted by Mikkel on February 11, 2015 09:59

Kurt, the boats are poorly maintained because most of the operators are in it purely to make a living and the vast majority of clientele are cheapskate farang kee nok, who keep margins razor thin. A wise guy such as yourself may say that fixing things when they break is "short sighted" or some such comment, but try saying that when you're barely in the black week to week.

Posted by Ryan on February 11, 2015 10:17

@ KURT
I am regularly on liveaboard dive trips to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang and rough sea may be quite challenging, especially since few weeks.

Anyway waves are not more than 1.5 meter high at worst and most of boats are able to cope with it.

For this group, Phuketwan did not mention they were with a dive boat owning by a dive center and they may be tourists renting a motor or sailing boat for touring and diving and the lack of experience about local forecast may have put them in trouble.
They were 15 nautical miles off Koh Lanta and it is in open sea with no islands or dive sites.

Back to dive boats from dive centers, I would say that business in the dive industry is down by 25 up to 40% for many dive operators in Thailand and fierce competition pushing some dive boat operators to give up to 50% discount to grab some businesses may not help to keep up to safe standards many dive and tour boats in the Andaman sea region.

I had many contact with Chinese tour operators but they want 50-60% commission and even you have full boat, you just have enough money to cover regular expenses.
You can go around Phuket and you will see tour counters offering with 50% discount off the brochure prices.

Today a agreement has been agreed by tour companies organizing Phang-nga Bay tours with an average of 3,000 Baht per person and the minimum nett prices for tour-operators:
1/- Chinese : 900 Baht.
2/- Westerners: 1100 Baht.

How do you want that transport boat companies is able to provide well maintained boats and qualified Thai staff with so little money paid by tour-operators ?

The fist step would be to have all government agencies (TAT in particular) to crackdown on illegal businesses, illegal foreign guides, touts, taxi drivers selling tours, tour-counters, etc.....

Posted by w on February 11, 2015 10:58

Then how about imposing some safety levels, shutting down the worst operators, reducing the supply to competent operators, who can charge more margin.

Simply letting anyone have a go, regardless of risk, and flooding the market for the same old excuse of being just "poor Thais" does not help what you pretend to want. Blaming tourists for the prices charged is a problem with the industry, not the customers.

Posted by LivinLOS on February 11, 2015 11:47

I am regularly on liveaboard dive trips to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang and rough sea may be quite challenging, especially since few weeks.

Anyway waves are not more than 1.5 meter high at worst and most of boats are able to cope with it.

For this group, Phuketwan did not mention they were with a dive boat owning by a dive center and they may be tourists renting a motor or sailing boat for touring and diving and the lack of experience about local forecast may have put them in trouble.
They were 15 nautical miles off Koh Lanta and it is in open sea with no islands or dive sites.

Back to dive boats from dive centers, I would say that business in the dive industry is down by 25 up to 40% for many dive operators in Thailand and fierce competition pushing some dive boat operators to give up to 50% discount to grab some businesses may not help to keep up to safe standards many dive and tour boats in the Andaman sea region.

I had many contact with Chinese tour operators but they want 50-60% commission and even you have full boat, you just have enough money to cover regular expenses.
You can go around Phuket and you will see tour counters offering daily tours with 50% discount off the brochure prices.

An agreement has been fixed by tour companies organizing Phang-nga Bay tours with an average of 3,000 Baht per person and the minimum nett prices for tour-operators:
1/- Chinese : 900 Baht.
2/- Westerners: 1100 Baht.

How do you want that transport boat companies is able to provide well maintained boats and qualified Thai staff with so little money paid by tour-operators ?

The fist step would be to have all government agencies (TAT in particular) to crackdown on illegal businesses, illegal foreign guides, touts, taxi drivers selling tours, tour-counters, etc.....

Posted by Whistle-Blower on February 11, 2015 12:12

The entire world is on a downturn. Small profits or profit margins should not dictate safety. The standards should be set & followed. Those that cannot comply go to the wall. That is a simple fact of business life anywhere in the world.

Posted by Logic on February 11, 2015 12:37

all safe should not have been put in this position in the first place no check of weather reports no engine maintenance boats just don't cease to run without cause and happens too regular in Phuket waters.

Posted by slickmelb on February 11, 2015 13:22

@W perhaps if the government did more to keep items in the sea for people to see more divers would come here! This follows the story yesterday on PW - http://phuketwan.com/tourism/phuket-dive-firm-poached-marine-life-fined-breaches-21861/

Posted by Feisty Farang on February 12, 2015 13:18