Sunny Days, Cool nights, No Rain

Summary of the last weeks weather in Phuket - every day sunny, no rain. This is now what we would expect in January - this is "winter" weather (Phuket style). It's dry, not too humid, some easterly breezes blowing, clear skies and cool nights (down to 21° C a couple of nights ago). There's not much to report when the weather is like this - for mini updates (if a weekly weather blog update is not enough, you can follow me on Twitter. Or check out one of the webcams - see links on the left of this page.

Been another busy week in the dive shop. After a slow start to the season, no doubt caused by world finances, bad exchange rates, bad publicity from the Bangkok protests last year - despite this, the season has been picking up. The best time to come and dive here is January - April. Best weather too. BUT now we are suffering a small hangover from the fact the the weather last year was too good, too hot. Water temperatures were over 30 degrees, and this is getting too hot for corals. There was bleaching especially in shallow areas. Now, this has not really affected the dive trips. The boat staff know which bits to avoid to give people the best diving. Water temp now is much lower, 27 - 28 degrees, but coral bleaching takes more time to recover. And suddenly this week, this "news" was in the local press, then national and then international, and with each step, more misunderstanding and confusion.

Dive trips are not cancelled, national parks are not closed. There are a few areas of reef which are supposed to be closed, and these are mostly not dive sites, but shallow areas which are not used by divers. One dive site in the Similan Islands (East of Eden) is closed, but the boats were not diving there anyway since the bleaching was more obvious at that spot. Deeper coral 12m + deep is not affected and a lot of the diving in the Similan Islands is at 12m +. So, no need to worry. This season we have had just as many happy reports from guests as any other year.

• Diving in Thailand - Sunrise Divers

On my precious day off yesterday, we took it very easy. Our son had been a bit sick last weekend so we did not plan much this week, and he had to go to school to do his tests that he missed when he was sick. I spent time gardening. We're into that time of year when the garden actually needs watering. In the late afternoon we met friends at our favourite Beach Bar. Couple of cold ones, a great sunset, I always feel relaxed there.





Forecast - more of the same - sunshine, blue skies, see you in Phuket :)