HTMS Khram Ship Wreck - a
day getting wrecked
Wreck diving Pattaya
The Khram shipwreck in Pattaya lends itself to
wonderful diving; dark, spooky, exciting - yet wonderful.
The HTMS Kram is a World War II medium size landing ship
was sunk off of Koh Phai, Pattaya, Thailand in 2003 for the purposes of a man made reef
for divers and enthusiasts. More
details of the Khram wreck Pattaya can be seen here...
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| A couple of days before the dive and all was
looking especially spooky... |
...but the morning of the dive it was indeed
wonderful:-) |
Pattaya Pier welcome building. |
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| Walking along the pier to the boat. Cars take
the interns and customers but I have to walk :-( |
Getting settled for a boat briefing. |
A briefing and then we set sail for the Khram shipwreck. |
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Computer generated image courtesy of Mr.
Alex Beuchel, a student of Mermaids Dive Center.
The "Phai" wreck lies
at 30 meters and is mostly intact. It was gutted and made wholly safe for
recreational diving prior to the sinking. The shipwreck is safe to dive but
having said that you only ever dive to the level of your training and within
your limits.
Gaz and Jase were my buddies for the day.
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| Gaz heading for the back platform |
Jase cruising along side the wreck. |
Jase appearing from a hole with light in
hand. |
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| Gareth looking through holes in the
deck. |
Gaz emerging from a hole... |
...and Jase dissapearing down one! |
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NOTE: Both Gaz and Jase are wreck spec trained and dive professionals.
Dive instructor (Gaz passed here)
and DM (starting his IDC today 14.10.05) they have progressed through the
dive internship to this level. Both are highly trained wreck specialty
divers with many penetration dives on the Khram shipwreck. The diving this
day was fun, relaxed and most of all safe due to diving within limitations
of our wreck dive training. |
I wish wished to get a few photos of the
wreck this day - please check out the pics below - taken over two days. The
pictures can appear dark as it is fairly deep. If there are a few divers on the
wreck then the silt on the wreck can get wisped up slightly lowering visibility.
It is hard to capture on a small SonyP150 camera....have a look anyway...
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| Free falling down on to the wreck is great as
i all opens up beneath you. |
There is a lot of coral build up pall over
the wreck - this is very encouraging as it has only been down since 2003. |
Holes, swim troughs and windows to enjoy (if
trained to wreck diver or advanced wreck). |
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| Cheeky crabs run around the entire
circumference of the wreck. |
Access to the lower levels for a look. |
The camera does not do it justice, but when
there to see the incredible light behind the wreck shadow is superb. |
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| Going down, down into the wreck. |
Following Jase back through a tunnel back out
of the wreck. |
Looking up to the main deck. |
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| Swimming out of the wreck again. |
There's some great marine life all over the
wreck - File FIsh. |
I caught these couple of Star Puffers around
the bow. |
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| Heading back along the wreck to the mooring
line. |
The line to the surface. |
And of course ... a safety stop at the end of
the dive. |
My many thanks to both Gaz ands Jase for a
good couple of dives on the wreck. I shall be getting many more complete shots
of the wreck - watch this space. The
first ever night dive on the Khram shipwreck Pattaya
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