stevenl

Am I glad I have not been on your boat. At least a few times a day you have divers run over by a speedboat and dragged around. Not many returning guests I would imagine

For real ??.... The Op was in reference to other boat drivers not giving two hoots of consideration for the safety of others. In pretty much the same way tuk tuks and other crazy drivers tear around there is very little consideration towards consequence.

If this has happened, and there are boats speeding past recklessly close to swimmers (snorkeling / Diving) and the Captain has already places his flags and provided warnings there is not much more he could do other than not let his tour swim at all which is rather the point of the trip in the first place I'd imagine.

I can't see why or how you have taken a disliking to the Op in this case, it seems you are defending the reckless and dangerous boat pilots based on the fact that you know some who are safe.

I know some of the tuk tuk drivers on Phuket are polite and don't want to rip anyone off, but.......

Maybe you'd better read what I have written. I am not defending speedboat drivers that drive by too fast, which happens very often. While surfacing from a dive they are the ones I watch out for, longtail captains and diveboat captains normally know exactly what they are doing, but the speedboats do not unfortunately.

Also I have nothing against the OP. Maybe my first posts could be misread, but I meant to say in those posts that the title of the thread and the byline 'Speedboat Runs Over And Drags Diver' 'This happens all to often.' gives a false impression. Because this was the first accidents of its kind (as far as I know) where a speedboat runs over and drags a diver.

There are still a lot of uncertainties about this accident BTW, which happened on the 21st of September. I am still wondering what happened exactly. Especially since the divecompany was not named, and nobody I talked to in the dive community here has any idea which company this was. Normally the word spreads pretty quickly about things like this.

Stevenl The more you post the more you show your ignorance about water activities You must be a speed boat driver <IMG class=bbc_emoticon alt= src="http://static.thaivisa.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif"> You stated in your post 7 that speed boats speed has nothing to do with passengers getting on or off boats at the pier. Well it has a lot to do with passengers getting on and off. Have you ever heard of wake. In properly controlled marine environments you can be sued for damage done by your wake in areas around a dock.If the wake from a speed boat caused someone to fall in the water they could sue the speed boat driver. If nothing else the driver would have to pay some money to someone to settle the problem.<BR> Sounds more to me like a territorial dispute. Maybe relatives of the tuk tuk drivers.

As I said: At Chalong Pier .... So don't take my words out of context please. And at Chalong Pier the speedboats don't come to the end of the pier where the big boats unload their passengers. There is no wake where the passengers disembark. So your your story about the wake is nice, but has really nothing to do with my post nor with the topic here.

Your final remark has me really baffled. A territorial dispute? What, where? Tuktuk drivers?

Am I glad I have not been on your boat. At least a few times a day you have divers run over by a speedboat and dragged around. Not many returning guests I would imagine

stevenl - try to take the bigger view, and not the literal words. Readers can work out what OP is implying without you putting unnecessary focus on the 'dragged around' bit.

Boat skippers / captains are either sub-contracted by dive shops, or employed by them directly. It's about time the dive shops took some responsibility here and occasionally sent a person skilled in boathandling out of the air-conditioned shop and onto the dive boat now and then to supervise what their staff are doing.

Lannatyne,

What happened here has nothing to do with a boat skipper / captain of a diveshop. Maybe read the story before you post about it?

Most of the captains on diveboats are excellent and very skilled BTW.

Serious

Your byline indicates this (people been dragged around) happens on a regular basis. Also in your post you make a connection between this accident and speeds at Chalong Pier. There is no connection, and the sometimes high speed of speedboats at the pier has no bearing at all on the people getting in and out of the boats. You suggest otherwise.

The news is a couple of weeks old. I am still wondering with divecompany it was, normally the word would spread very quickly about something like this, but this time there has been no talk at all about this. Very, very strange.

But yes, the speedboat captains can drive way to fast. That is why the marine national parks recently came out with new regulations regarding boating and diving. These regulations are also applicable to Phi Phi.

The effect though will be nil at places like Phi Phi, at Similans they might have more effect since enforcement there can be better.

Am I glad I have not been on your boat. At least a few times a day you have divers run over by a speedboat and dragged around. Not many returning guests I would imagine

No connection at all between Chalong Pier speed and the place where this accidents happened. Agree with you, quite often I am not happy with the speedboat captains myself, but your byline 'this happens all too often' needs some explaining. What other times did a speedboat run over and drag a diver? Considering your line I presume this happens at least a few times each year?

- Nationality: ???

- Length of overstay: 3 months (a friend)

- Where you/they attempted to leave Thailand: Samui Airport

- Showed up at departure immigration on: ???

- What was done by the immigration authorities: Spent 2 days in jail, out on 6,000.00 Baht bail until the court hearing.

When was this?

Did he/she have money to pay the fine on the spot?

Why pm? If you can help the poster simoly do so here.

I would recommend kata beach, sounds like what you're looking for.

Sorry, know nothing.

Then why ......... post!

Because the op asked specifically whether people in the dive industry knew something. So i am simply answering the op's question.

Are you always this friendly?

Sorry, know nothing.

And fsrang can also be used positive.

Looking at the positive things makes you a much happier man.

>>Tell me another word that means the same as farang and I'll gladly use it.

Until then I'm afraid it's farang.

Are you French? If so then farang is the right word.

Foreigner, alien, non citizen, et al. all express the fact that you're not Thai, even though you might be living here.

And they all have a different meaning from farang.

>>Who cares, are you another spelling expert on this forum i an not

Is there anything wrong with using proper grammar and spelling correctly?

Absolutely not imo. And especially from native English speakers I would expect that, but unfortunately quite often don't get it.

Foreigners that use the word farang.

Foreigners that bang on constantly about other foreigners that moan about Thailand. If you don't like reading Thaivisa - go somewhere else.

People that don't wear helmets.

People that complain about others, even though their perceived problem/behaviour has nothing to do at all with them.

Wow clearly you have a huge problem with reading words and understand their meanings.

And as far as i know, thais don't lean on bikes, they swirl around by moving the handles which is why they always turn left for 5-6metersfirst when they want to turn right. On a car and on bikes

Maybe time you learn how to ride a bike. Before turning right you first have to move to the left. Which is why a bike is far less agile than a lot of people think it is.

So KB is absolutely right: you turn a bike by leaning, not by the steering handles. A sidecar though you do turn by the steering handles, and sometimes also leaning but the opposite way.

Agree with the OP, very strange this. They also say rain is ok for farang kids, because they are not the same. Totally nuts.

It was cold though yesterday, I also wore a sweater on the motorbike, and sleep deep under the blankets (no a/c in the house).

Many good local places in Kata, where you get a good meal of rice with add ons for 35 Baht, sometimes 40. There are also some restaurants with fixed prices: all meals 80 Baht, 90 if seafood included. So excellent value IMO.

Plus there are of course the normally even cheaper road stalls.

Rawai has the same, and I'm sure even Patong does.

I would say Tesco rawai is in rawai, tesco chalong is in chalong. Both tambon rawai. But agreed, there are more interpretations to the placings.

Well, you did allow them out and about in the vicinity of their homes. And being in front of resco rawai i presume they live in Rawai, why would they be there otherwise, so they were in their rights.

the poor farangs should be shot out of this country. In your own country, everybody hates the immigrants who come with no money or useable skills and just leach off the country creating ghettos.

Well the poor farangs here are the same, but on top of that they drive samlors dangerously and they give us a bad name. Just as the useless immigrants give a bad name to the hardworking immigrants in other countries.

Moving to a tropical island is a luxury and for some reason, bunch of poor leeches come here and destroy the quality of lives of the rest of us thinking that they are entitled to luxury even though they never did anything in their lives to deserve it.

Judging from your posts here just one farang is the problem.

Ah, so a poor farang is allowed to drive his sidecar in the vicinity if his home, you just don't want him in the way when you have to go somewhere.

How generous.

http://www.phuketgazette.net/issuesanswers/details.asp?id=168

“Yes, it is. There is no Thai law that allows a motorcycle with a sidecar to be legally registered. This means they cannot be legitimately insured.

Therefore, all motorcycles with sidecars are illegal. Motorcycles are the only two-wheel vehicles that may be legally registered and be legitimately insured.”

Monday, April 23, 2001 Somjit Boonchaoy, Phuket Provincial Transportation Office.

I dont agree with the answer, I believe if the right passes are done, like tiger do, you can get a legalized sidecar.

Thank you, that answers one question.

So the problem is with your hardware Steven?

No, Thaivisa software

I like posts with pictures myself.

So do I, but this many is really overdone IMO. It does not bother me, but I think a post like this would be better received if he would say: 'hi everybody, my name is, I am a new sponsor and would like to introduce myself. On this website you will find more information, but we can help you with etc etc.'

As a sponsor the guy is quite entitled to open a thread to inform members of his products.

The same people screaming spam seem quite happy advertising on Thaivisa all sorts of breakfast places and other restaurants, but when a sponser wants to let you know about his wares you are offended.

What's the problem? If you don't like what he's offering don't order from him.

I don't mind a sponsor informing us about his offerings, but would have preferred a normal post in stead of all these pictures. especially on a mobile that is very irritating, plus on the mobile version the OP is not identified as a sponsor.