News from Phuket, August 2004

Genesis goes Sea Bees

The "MY Genesis 1", our newest member of the Sea Bees fleet, is already a well-known and established cruiser in the Andaman Sea. To ensure our high standards for safety and comfort we brought her to the ship yard for a mayor overhaul. She will be ready in time for the next high season 04/05 and take you out during a 3-day adventure cruise to explore the amazing underwater world of the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock. This is a great alternative to our 6 day live aboard trips with our MV Marco Polo

Sea Bees Diving -The 5 Star Choice.

Sea Bees Diving has built its success on its reputation for excellent customer service, safety and quality of services including its boats, staff, diving instruction, adherence to diving standards etc. In addition to its current status as a PADI 5-star diving center, Sea Bees Diving has recently been awarded two more accolades:

Sea Bees becomes a 5-star Gold Palm IDC Dive Center:
As the largest diving certification in the world, PADI sets high standards for diving services and safety. This prestigious award recognises Sea Bees as a 5-star PADI diving center that can now independently teach Instructor Development Courses. Sea Bees will be teaching IDCs in both German and English. If you are interested in a career as a PADI Instructor, or would like more information, please contact Sea Bees Diving Center directly, using the Contact us page of our website.

5-star DIN Certification – The First in Asia


Sea Bees is the first and only diving center in Asia to be awarded the prestigious 5-star rating by DIN, the official government body regulating quality and safety standards in Germany. The award recognises Sea Bees for quality of its diving services and safety standards. The award was made after rigorous analysis and testing of Sea Bees services by DIN.

Our New Daytrip Boat

As we are talking about boats, let's talk about the new Excalibur II.
Excalibur I has gone into well-deserved retirement after many years of dutiful service but has been replaced by the brand new, splendid Excalibur II. At 23m x 7m, this specifically designed vessel offers plenty of space for relaxing, sunbathing and, of course, diving!

The facilities on Excalibur II match those on the Excalibur I and more! Two equipment rooms – one for storing your own dive gear and one where we store rental equipment, a galley, several comfortable seating areas, a partydeck with its very own bar and bartender, and a large 44 sqm dive deck. There are also 2 sundecks – one covered and one uncovered. All in all, a luxury dive boat, with a well-planned concept, that will satisfy even the highest expectations. To get a better picture of the beauty of this boat, have a look under the "Daytrips" section on this website for photos, and even a movie, of the Excalibur II.

Since the Excalibur has been in operation, our customers just keep coming back for more. The luxury and comfort of this boat makes sure that everyone really enjoys their day's adventure with Sea Bees. With lots of space to relax and chat, it's a very laid back and convivial environment. After the dives, on the way back to Phuket, the fun continues as we crack open a few beers and share our day's adventures.

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New Staff

Sea Bees are pleased to welcome onboard 3 new members of staff:
We have two new PADI instructors at our main office in Phuket: Sally and Julie, who will be teaching the full range of PADI courses and can teach courses in German, English, French and Italian. Both have good experience as instructors and are already familiar with the dive sites around Phuket.

We also have a new Office Manager in our main office in Ao Chalong: Volker. Volker has extensive instructing and dive management experience, having worked in the diving industry for many years and in many different countries. He speaks several languages and has good knowledge of diving around Phuket. It will usually be Volker that greets you when you pop by our Chalong office.


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Super Scooters!

To provide our customers with even more fun and thrills on our daytrips and dive safaris(liveaboards), we now have a set of 3 underwater scooters on both the Excalibur II and the Marco Polo. They are so easy to use and so much fun that you'll never want to go back to plain old fin kicks ever again ! As well as trying out the scooters on board the boats, you can also become a "scooter expert" by undertaking the Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DPV – or scooter to you and me!) Specialty Course. This means that in four really fun dives with your instructor, you can become a certified Scooter Specialist. If you would like to try out the scooters on either the Marco Polo or the Excalibur II, all you need to do is request a scooter when you book your dives with us.

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Sea Bees goes Tech!

Nitrox is certainly the current buzzword in diving. Following the increasing demand for Nitrox and Rebreather diving, we have a partnership with two tech diving specialists. They will teach for SEA BEES DIVING with the same high safety standard you can find throughout our whole operation.
You can experience this new world of bubbleless diving in an introductory course in the pool of our PALM GARDEN RESORT or join a complete course for Nitrox /Tech diving.

If you are already a certified NITROX diver, you can now dive with Nitrox at both Sea Bees Diving Phuket and Sea Bees Diving Khao Lak. All you need to do is request nitrox tanks when you book your dives with us. Remember to bring your certification card along with you!

If you want to join the NITROX 'world' but are not yet a certified NITROX diver, you can undertake your Nitrox Speciality course at either Sea Bees Diving Phuket or Sea Bees Diving Khao Lak. See the "Diving Courses" section of our website for more information about the excellent facilities and instruction of Sea Bees Dive Centers.


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The Palm Garden Resort

As many of you already know, two years ago we built our own dive resort located close to our Phuket dive center. The first phase of the construction included 6 double bungalows and a restaurant situated around our 3 meter deep free-form pool with a waterfall and Jacuzzi.

Due to the great popularity of our resort and the enormous demand for more rooms, we decided to move into "phase two" where we increased our capacity. By October 2001, the new construction was finished: In total, 12 double bungalows and 2 modern classrooms especially for teaching diving courses. To complete our mission, we created a brand new website including 360° x 360° panoramic interactive images.
Please check out www.palm-garden-resort.com

We would be happy to receive your comments about our new web page.


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A New Catamaran and second Sea Bees Dive Center in Khao Lak

This new and fast developing holiday destination just 60 km north of Phuket is ideally located to host daytrips to the Similan Island Marine Park.

It only seems like a few days since we opened our new diving center Khao Lak. It's difficult to believe that we're already into our third season and continuing to expand our already successful operation there. We now have a second Sea Bees office, located directly on the beautiful Khao Lak beach, as a sister outlet to our central office on the main road.

And, in response to the need for a faster diving vessel that would reduce the travel time to the Similan Islands, we have a new boat to operate alongside the MV Runaway (to the Bongsoon Wreck). We proudly present the MV Stingray, a 7m x 20m Catamaran offering typical Sea Bees comfort and safety whilst reducing the voyage time to the Similan Islands from 3 to just 2 hours. The Catamaran has only been operating for a few months but it is already proving to be a big hit with our customers , especially the faster trip and the comfort of the boat. We have also had some amazing dives – seeing Manta Rays, lots of different sharks – Reef, Leopard and the infamous Whale Shark. We have even had the fantastic experience of swimming with Orcas. Don't miss out on such a thrilling experience. For more information about the MV Stingray or diving around the Similan islands with Sea Bees, look under the 'DAYTRIPS' section of this website.

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New Nitrox !

As part of our expansion program at Sea Bees Diving Khao Lak, we are pleased to tell you that we can now offer our customers diving with nitrox as we have a new nitrox compressor in Khao Lak. This means that our customers now have a wider range of exciting services: If you are already a certified Nitrox diver and would like to dive with Nitrox around the beautiful Similans or the fascinating Bongsoon Wreck (and, let's face it, who wouldn't want to stay at these spectacular sites for longer?!), it's very simple – just request nitrox tanks when you book your dives with us. Just remember to bring along your certification card!

If you would like to join the „Nitrox family“ and become a certified Nitrox diver, you can take your Enriched Air Specialty certification at Sea Bees Diving Khao Lak. This takes just one day, with the added bonus of two dives around the amazing Similan Islands or fascinating Bonsoong Wreck. For further information or bookings, please go to the 'Contact us' page of this website.

You can also undertake your Enriched Air Specialty certification at Sea Bees Diving Phuket, around the great dive spots of Shark Point, Anemone Reef or the Racha Islands. For further information or bookings, please go to the „REQUESTS“ section of this website.

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