As the end of the Singapore season draws closer, our guests taking advantage of the last few diving weekends are rewarded with some outstanding diving! From the end of September until the end of October MV White Manta visits some of Indonesia’s islands in the South China Sea; and the world class wreck diving sites including ‘Seven Skies’ and ‘Igara’.

It was just over a year ago that the White Manta team confirmed a ‘special’ trip to the Sulu sea would take place in June 2013. Since the announcement most of the dive crew have been like kids waiting for Christmas, hardly believing that the chance to dive in one of the most famous destinations in the world could be described as ‘work.’ After a fantastic Thailand season, and a brief but rewarding few months in Layang Layang; finally! June 1st arrived and all the crew of White Manta were ready and eager to welcome aboard some familiar faces and new friends.

A wonderful Easter holiday was enjoyed by all as MV White Manta temporarily resurrected its schedule in the South China Sea since returning from annual maintenance in dry dock, Phuket.

Mike Newman and Greg Reed 'followed on' for two trips; I swapped Greg from Heikki's group, with Mike from my group; for this trip. I figured they might enjoy a change; and Mike benefitted from a smaller group as Greg had on the previous trip. This would also be the last trip for our popular masseuse Dtik. I hope she can join us again in the future - if not just for her wacky hairbands!

Sigh! It is the last Similan island safari of the season. It is a rigorous and often hectic schedule on board MV White Manta, though the 4day / 4night with 24hr break between is an appealing routine. Thailand feels like home to me, and of course it is to our crew too.

This trip sees us return to Patong; so an inverse schedule was on the cards, starting at Tachai and finishing in the Similan islands.

MV White Manta had another large representative group from Hong Kong for this trip.

South Korea provided the majority of the guests this time out. Thanks to Duck and Peter of Dive Lab for recommending MV White Manta.

Our regular DM in Singapore: Glenn Wright, the mighty Springbok; joined this trip as DM and brought along his gorgeous partner: Jill, too. Jill lives and works in Singapore (save the travelling that goes with the job). She is originally from Georgia, USA. It was great to welcome Glenn into the team again, he added both professionalism and enthusiasm as a well seasoned veteran of scuba diving would.

Tristan Bellville and Oliver Fitch were returning freelance dive crew on this trip. Sadly, Hayami had to complete a visa run, thus the regular dive crew missed out on their "Chocolate Time”.

Amazing international mix of guests join us almost every trip on MV White Manta, and this was no exception.