Jaws - But Bigger

"I know you've seen sharks before, but I'm going to show you a BIG shark!"

These were the words that enticed me to follow Michael up to the fabled, yet largely unexplored waters off southern Thailand's West Coast.

Malaysian-born Michael Loh, considered by many to be one of this region's finest underwater photographers, was on an expedition to the string of uninhabited islets stretching from the north of Phuket to within easy view of the Burmese border.

His mission was to try to establish the true diversity of the astounding variety of marine-life in these chrystalline waters.

Having logged several thousand dives in the ASEAN region, Michael feels that some of the most exciting diving can still be found along this swatch of sea that used to be home to pirates, and continues to be the domain of the curious Thai "water gypsies" - a people who lived on their boats a la "Waterworld".

A group of 20 of us joined Michael on the Divemaster II, a completely scuba-outfitted 'live-abroad', Phuket-based yacht, on what promised to be an adventurous week of diving near-virgin reefs and ocean banks. And it was these ocean banks that were to hold the biggest surprise of all...

Malaysia faces no ocean and so has no ocean banks, which is a shame really because that is where there is a stunning interplay between the large beasts of the deep ocean, and the bountiful feeding grounds of the shallow (read divable) coastal waters.

Mammoth manta rays with 'wingspans' in excess of 12ft which 'fly' in majestic slow motion through the seas are not uncommon. Nor are giant schools of barracudas.

To be diving beneath a steadily swirling storm of these sleek predators, with shafts of late afternoon sunlight shimmering off their silvery backs is quite understandably breath-taking (although maybe that's not such a good response seeing as you're scuba-diving).

But to most divers, the undisputed Queen of the Seas is the elusive whale shark - that largest member, but among the most harmless, of the shark family. As is so often the case, its popularity among divers is due to the mystique that arises from its very elusiveness.

These toothless giants, reaching to 40ft or more, are loners that gracefully cruise the 'Deep Blue'. They rise only irregularly and for brief spells to the plankton-rich coastal waters to feed and breed. Sightings are rare and often tantalisingly appear as a blurred mirage at the edge of the diver's visibility.

As we headed out to the banks, we were getting reports from other returning boats that there had been recent whale shark sightings near a remote, semi-submerged reef name Richelieu Rock. The captain changed bearings to North/North west and picked up speed, and by morning we were anchored off the heaving waters of 'The Rock'.