Hi Sarah,

Didn’t have the chance to meet you when we were in Phuket last 2 weeks.. you must have been busy and so did us…

It was a great diving course we’ve had… I “love” your team, everyone was so cool, supportive and welcoming.

During the open water course, i thought i will never dive again.. Trust me, I hate the mask clearance so much that I almost quit. Thanks that Kiwi ( Instructor) made me hang on there.. He and (the other) Sarah (Divemaster)were very helpful and supportive especially to me – as I guess i needed it more than my friends

Now when it’s all over I missed it so much. I give the blame to the turtle whom we met in one of our dives. hehe…

I look forward to join you guys again when I return to Malaysia for my vacation. I might drop by in Patong for short diving excursion again.

Thanks again to ScubaCat team for making my dream comes true, especially to Sarah and Kelvin the Kiwi. You ROCK!!

Cheers,
Sue

Suhanida Abd Gani

If you have had a good course or dive experience with us let the world know, Scuba Cat Diving have reviews on both Trip Adviser and Google

While scuba diving does require a certain level of health and fitness, your age doesn’t prevent people from becoming Scuba Divers.  YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN TO SCUBA DIVE!

People are no longer sitting home on the sofa during retirement. This generation is not only the largest, in the world’s history but it has also been one the most active. Needless to say they are not going quietly into the good night!

You may have read over the years about Scuba Kittens where Scuba Cat Diving has introduced diving to many of the younger generation through Bubblemaker, Sealteam  and Junior Open Water courses. Recently we went the opposite way.

The oldest newly certified open water diver from Scuba Cat has completed his Open Water Course with Scuba Cat Diving.

Larry Boersma is a repeat customer of Scuba Cat for over 4 years. Originally from Holland he now lives in the US and still works as a professor in one of the universities over there. He enjoys regular holidays in the Far East and has visited Thailand and Indonesia.

He had completed 18 Discover Scuba Diving experiences with us, and more in Bali and Borneo, for a long time he was happy with this and enjoyed taking photographs at the beautiful Racha Islands.

Earlier this year we made a special exception and Larry went with a private instructor the sites of Shark Point, Koh Doc Mai and Anemone reef. Usually these are reserved for divers who can go to 18m or deeper. But with more than 50 dives already we felt Larry could cope with these new sites.

This must have made him want more as when he came back to see us after 3 month he had decided to take the open water course with us and then join our liveaboard MV Scuba Adventure for a 4 day 4 night trip to Similan, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock.

With Kath as the tour leader on the boat and Francois as his private guide Larry enjoyed  every one of the 14 dives on offer during the trip.

We are not sure if at 82 Larry is the oldest newly certified open water diver but everyone at Scuba Cat is very happy to see him finally move on from being a habitual Discover Scuba Diver to a fully certified one.

Congratulations Larry!!

Trying to decide if Scuba Diving is for you?

Listen to your Body. 

You can’t expect your body to be as agile when you were 21. It is normal to tire easily or succumb to illness more often. An illness is simply your body’s way of telling you to slow down a bit. Listen to your body and don’t push it too hard. Do what you feel comfortable with, why not take a leaf out of Larry’s book and start with Discover Scuba Diving?

Don’t overestimate  your health. 

If you are the type of person who runs everyday and goes to the gym regularly then perhaps, you won’t have to worry so much about the encounter of health problems underwater. Nevertheless, be sure to visit your Doctor before you start this challenge. If your doctor gives you a thumbs-up, well then go dive! If not, ask how you could get dive fit.

Know your limits.

If you’ve been physically active for much of your whole life, then nothing should stop you from trying Scuba Diving. Unless your Doctor says otherwise, you could still go diving, but only do what you feel comfortable with, don’t succumb to pressure from the others on the Dive trips, if you don’t want to go deep or dive in strong currents, then don’t!

So you have decided to come out and dive with us, fantastic news, here are a couple of pointers before you take the course

More than likely your Instructor will be younger than you. As a mature student, you will have to deal with this. No matter what your position is in the “real world” in the pool or on the boat, the instructor is the boss. Learn to be flexible.

Learning

Expect a learning curve. At Scuba Cat Diving all our Instructors take diving courses very seriously. People who are settled into careers or retirement often forget just how hard learning new things can be sometimes. So go easy on yourself.

Yourself

Be open-minded. You might think you have “been there” “done that” and “survived near everything”, being underwater, breathing through scuba gear and being dependant on a dive buddy, can take some getting used to. Some more mature students can become resistant to being told what to do and when to do it. It’s understandable. It’s hard giving over control to someone who may be half your age, but our instructor’s want you to experience all the joy of diving while remaining safe.

If you have always wanted to go scuba diving but have never found the time, learn why it is never too late to start scuba diving, no matter what your age!

Northern Cruise to Similan Islands and Richilieu Rock

This trip left from Tap Lamu with Peter and Bente from Denmark, Emil and Patrick from Sweden and Urs from Switzerland. We sailed for a few hours to Koh Bon where we slept for the night. The first morning we had a check dive on Koh Bon Reef. Urs, who was doing his Advanced Open water course on board completed his deep adventure dive. The reef was active with beautiful schools of yellow snappers, the 2 resident golden trevellies made their appearance. The resident Napolean also made a visit.

After breakfast Patrick did the skills for the Discover Scuba. He was very confident and managed the skills with ease. The second dive had octopus, cuttle fish, banded sea snake and a manta!!!! We decided to move to Koh Tachai where we attempted to do the Pinnacle. Unfortunately, the current was so strong that Kath couldn’t make it to the mooring line… Another time!! All was not lost as we headed to the reef where we had a gentle easy dive. The night dive was also on the Reef. Fred, the resident barracuda accompanied us throughout the dive trying to hunt by torchlight. For a predator, he is not good at catching his prey (maybe he needs glasses!!)

On day 2 we went to Richelieu Rock where we did 3 dives. Each dive was completely different. The school of barracuda were hanging around the crescent as usual. They are a magnificent sight. One of the first things we saw was a Devil Scorpion fish moving along the bottom. This dive site is an incredible place and offers so much diversity from large schools of fish to macro. Each diver really enjoyed looking into cracks and crevices to see what could be found…pipefish, shrimps, moray eels, mantis shrimps and so much more. A Devil Ray was seen at the surface during lunch. A rare sight!!! Our final dive was at Koh Tachai. Emil, Peter, Bente and Kath went onto the pinnacle with zero current. A vast change from the day before. Peter and Bente had to abort the dive. A pity, as it was truly amazing. A huge school of barracuda with hundreds of fish appeared and stayed for a while. The batfish were hanging around one of the boulders and the trevellies were menacing the snappers and fusiliers. Elaine, the Dive Master on the boat took Urs and Patrik onto the reef where they saw a turtle.

The first dive on day 3 was on Koh Tachai. A good dive with some current. The soft corals and gorgonion sea fans are stunning. This dive site always has so much activity on it that it is difficult to put into words. You just have to experience it first hand. Our second dive of the day was on Koh Bon Reef heading towards the West Ridge. A manta made it’s appearance towards the end of the dive. Albeit a brief encounter it way still lovely to see this majestic creature. After dive 2 we headed to the Similan Islands and into Donald Duck Bay, where some of the customers went onto the beach to take photos from the view point. Urs completed his navigation dive as part of his advanced course. The natural navigation part of the dive was a dream with us finding a Green turtle sitting quietly under a rock. Our third dive on Three Trees was enjoyed by all on the boat. The reef is a sloping running reef on Island 9. There were several turtles in the shallows. We saw a Napolean Wrasse as we dropped in. Three Trees has an abundance of aquatic life. Our final dive of the day was a night dive on West of Eden. This site with the rocky formations and coral blocks is an ideal environment for many nocturnal creatures. There were plenty of lobsters, various crabs and shrimps. A free swimming giant moray was actively hunting. Always a great sight.

Day 4 and our final dives were on Shark Fin Reef. The South side has the most incredible rock formations. The enormity of the boulders is very imposing. During this dive we saw garden eels and numerous blue spot rays in the sand. We were lucky enough to see a huge bump head parrot fish hiding in a crack in one of the rocks. To see this fish so close was breath taking. The surgeon fish always look as if they are kissing the rock as they feed on the algae growing. Shark Fin also has the large boxfish, something that isn’t seen often on other sites in the Similans. Our final dive of the trip was on the north side of Shark Fin. Once again we saw the bump head parrotfish. The north side has rocks in the shallows and slopes gently to the bottom. A relaxing dive for the end of the trip.

Congratulations to Urs for completing his Advanced Open Water on the trip and to Patrik who had several dives on the Discover Scuba program. He is now bitten by the diving bug and will at some point in the future do the Open Water Course, so he can dive with his brother Emil.