{"id":30210,"date":"2025-07-23T00:01:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T07:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=30210"},"modified":"2025-07-09T09:51:42","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T16:51:42","slug":"huber-michael-huber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2025\/07\/23\/huber-michael-huber\/","title":{"rendered":"Huber. Michael Huber."},"content":{"rendered":"
By Mike Huber<\/h6>\n

My apologies as my stories have been quite out of chronological order.\u00a0 I wrapped up ~2 months in the beautiful country of Nepal. I still have several blogs to write on Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Circuit, and my experiences with the wonderful Nepalese people.\u00a0 Upon completing my treks there I performed a typical \u201cHuber\u201d and was flipping coins more or less to find a new home.\u00a0 I was tired of being cold and from hiking daily.\u00a0 In search of a place where I could relax it seemed that Thailand checked all the boxes.\u00a0 Thailand has warm weather, great people, food, and I could get some more scuba diving in.\u00a0 Decision made.<\/p>\n

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My friend Nigel Rustage from Anum Scuba (www.anumscuba.com<\/a>) has helped me find amazing live aboards before and is pretty knowledgeable on diving Thailand.\u00a0 Just prior to arriving in Thailand I asked if he could recommend anything.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take him long to respond with a 5 day live aboard that would provide me with 14 dives over my stay on the boat.<\/p>\n

Once I was fully thawed out from Nepal and with a short flight to Phuket I was ready to begin diving again.\u00a0 As I made my way to the pier there was a beautiful wooden tall ship in the bay.\u00a0 Its name is The Junk<\/em>.\u00a0 I learned it would be my new home for the next four nights.\u00a0 Once on the boat, which housed 22 divers normally, I found out there were only six divers on this trip.\u00a0 This meant we each would have our own cabins on the boat. Perfect!<\/p>\n

The reason for the title of this blog is that The Junk<\/em> was the actual boat in the James Bond movie, the Man with the Golden Gun.\u00a0 This made the boat even cooler in my eyes.\u00a0 Throughout the dive trip that thought kept popping in my head, which was really cool. With the Bond boat being my home I was ready to meet my new diving friends and spend some time underwater around the remote limestone islands that are home in this part of the country.<\/p>\n

The next day would be busy since four dives were scheduled.\u00a0 I try to not do more than three dives per day as I begin to develop ear issues and the key is to be proactive and know when not to dive.\u00a0 Combine that with on my third dive I got caught in a current that sucked me away from the others I and was forced to resurface after just 20 minutes. Upon surfacing I could hear expletives (coming from me) echoing off the tall limestone islands that surrounded me. I was frustrated.\u00a0 I have had pretty much every type of mishap you possibly can have in my short 1 year of diving experience.\u00a0 Mishaps are what make you improve and I understand this, but was a bit distraught with myself nonetheless.\u00a0 It was bothering me to the point I was questioning if I should continue with this new hobby of mine.<\/p>\n

One thing I did not want to do was quit on account of one bad dive. If I was to quit it would be after a good dive so that mentally the door for scuba diving would remain open. With the help of my new dive buddy, Danny, I regained motivation and within the next two dives had overcome the anxiety that was plaguing me. I ended the trip with only seven dives, which I was more than happy with, especially since they only improved once I got back into my rhythm.<\/p>\n

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A few days later Danny and his girlfriend Rahwa and I met up on the Pei Pei Islands and got to spend a couple days snorkeling and just hanging out around the island having a blast.\u00a0 Danny had been to this island 10 years prior and introduced me to a speak-easy hidden inside a scuba shop which somewhat resembled a scuba museum with a beautiful wooden bar and some fine whiskeys.<\/p>\n

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This scuba experience yet again assured my confidence in my diving abilities and the scuba community. Nigel is 2 for 2 with his recommendations so far, and my next trip here I will certainly be reaching out to him.\u00a0 That will most likely be sooner than later. Thanks again Nigel, Danny, and Rahwa.<\/p>\n

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