Diving in Southeast Asia. David Espinosa

      Southeast Asia’s reefs lie in the heart of the coral triangle and have the biggest diversity of corals on the planet.

      Diving in Southeast Asia

      A Bounty of Reefs, Wrecks and Coral Gardens

      Whatever extraordinary notion possesses us that first time to strap on our backs a metal tank full of compressed air, fit fins to our feet, stuff an uncomfortable contraption in our mouth and a tight-fitting piece of glass across our eyes? Uncomfortable and inept, struggling and sweating, we lurch in our new uniform, wondering whether the effort is worthwhile. But our gracelessness soon vanishes as we tumble below the surface and move weightless through the water, drift with currents and have the chance to observe, often at close quarters, creatures large and small that we would never otherwise have imagined. It is quite simply a magical world and one which invariably seduces the novice diver. He is hooked on scuba diving.

      Fifteen years ago, while snorkeling from a dive boat in the gin-clear waters of the Similan Islands, a divemaster friend suggested I don a tank and regulator and drop below the water to see what diving was all about. With little more comment, he told me to stick by his side, descend slowly and remember to breathe out. Within minutes of descending, I was amidst a school of sweetlips, then visited by Moorish idols, and was enthralled by the pink soft corals sprouting from the reef like some exotic cotton wool. For some, that might have been enough, but when I caught sight of a black tip shark (shark!), admittedly at the edge of the 20-meter visibility, I, too, was hooked. Within two months I had crawled the length of a public swimming pool where second-hand Band Aids were the only novelty to spot, had learned to control buoyancy somewhere under the diving board and was finally rewarded with a PADI open water certificate. Armed with this little plastic card, the real diving experience was about to begin.

      For many a novice diver, education takes place after work in public swimming pools in the cold northern latitudes. Dive tables seem like just another bit of school maths and the idea of search and rescue in a swimming pool appears totally absurd. The promise of warm water and subtropical species is a lure but rarely a reality.

      In Asia, one of the most species-rich areas in the world, diving is a whole different ball game. Water that hovers around the 25° C mark, a tropical climate that is tempered by sea breezes, more species than most books cover, and a wealth of different marine environments—not to mention idyllic sandy shores for surface interval picnics—make diving a special pleasure. Imagine learning in this particular environment!

      The bodies of anemone fish are covered in a mucus that prevents them from being stung by their host anemones.

      PIONEER DIVERS

      The sport evolved radically in Southeast Asia from the 1960s to the early 2000s largely due to the Vietnam War and the oil industry. The former brought Americans who were used to recreational diving in the New World and who sought to enjoy their hobby when on R&R, notably in Pattaya, while the latter brought expatriates from the United States, Europe and Australia to work in the fast developing oil business. Amid the personnel who came to work in the industry—in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia—there were plenty of professional divers and, often benefiting from periods of long leave and a fat salary, many of these people explored the region diving recreationally.

      This striped triplefin (Helcogramma striata) is resting on a ball of tunicates and soft corals, Tulamben, Bali.

      Southeast Asia’s coral reefs are excellent habitats for gorgonian fans, which can grow up to 3 meters across.

      Twenty years ago, it was not unusual to come across divemasters whose first experience of diving in Asia was at the bottom of the Gulf of Thailand, off platforms in the South China Sea, or from some deserted island in Indonesia. Working at depths that were measured more often in fathoms than feet, diving was not always a pleasure. But armed with the skills to withstand the most taxing conditions, recreational diving in more shallow waters, on reefs that were in pristine condition, was a real pleasure even if the infrastructure for diving was largely missing. These pioneers of sports diving lugged their tanks from far-flung compressors, bartered with local fishermen and bêche-de-mer and pearl divers for a boat ride, and picked the brains of local mariners for reefs and shoals in a bid to find good diving. The rest was easy. Life on shore in Southeast Asia was (and still is to some extent) inexpensive and they had no need of fancy hotels. Nipa thatched huts and simple meals in the local cafes were good enough.

      But what about their buddies who were envious of their travels and fun? In the early 1970s, there were precious few places to learn to dive in Asia (Pattaya was one of them), and it was not until the

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