We lined up a dive for the second day on Phi Phi. The two Brazilian girls who run the Leisure Dive Centre we very friendly & seemed a bit more switched on than the local Thais who ran the shops from the resorts. They were quite a bit cheaper too. The best part is that they have a proper dive boat (the white boat pictured above) instead of a dodgy long tail boat (foreground). Long tails are all well & good for snorkeling but trying to get back into it with full dive gear looses it's appeal a touch.
The weather & tide conditions meant that the day's dives would be off Mosquito & Bamboo islands. The Islands were very close to our hotel (Mosquito Island is the one in the top photo) which meant the travel time would be minimal. Always an advantage. You can see the two islands to the top of the map. Our hotel is the beach next to the big white dot near by. Apparently there are some very nice dives around Phi Phi Leh but the travel time is around the hour mark instead of 15 mins. The hotel cluster & day tourist area is to the south of Phi Phi Don so the near by dive sites get hammered. 
The first dive was the shallow atoll just off Bamboo Island. We Suited up & hit the water. I must say it was a nice change to be able to dive without a restrictive wet suit. It was very shallow & the sand very white & powdery (and easily stirred up). I wasn't getting good vibes early on but it got better. We had been promised a leopard shark so everyone was on the look out. We weren't disappointed.
The dive continued to improve as we descended. There were all kinds of brightly coloured fish living in the reef & a few not so bright. I think we saw 3 stone fish including one that Kerri didn't see until she's almost put her hand on it!
We were collected by the boat and ferried to Mosquito Island where we stopped and had a nice lunch. Once we'd been on the surface long enough, we were back in the water. This time the reef was very close to the island & dived away sharply providing us with an ideal habitat for loads on different creatures.
We saw 3 different types of clown fish including the one above (Ocellaris Clown Fish) made popular by the Finding Nemo movie. There were also a number of families of a bright orange species I've never hear of called the Fire Clown fish. It's the orange one in foreground below. The other one is Kerri.
We also saw three lion fish (below). I've logged heaps of dives on the Great Barrier reef & have never actually seen one. I was very excited.
The list continues including a moral eel and countless other fish species. The Harlequin fish below (related to clown fish) are very territorial and this one I thought was just curious until it gave me a nip on the knuckle.
Unfortunately there was a distinct absence of any species you could eat because the concept of national park isn't too clear in Thailand and us rabble tourists just encourage it.
In all a couple of really nice dives & in hind sight should have gone out again the next day.
The underwater photos are courtesy (well we had to pay $10 for them) of the Leisure dive centre.
