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On the 4th of May 1997 the 85-meter passenger
ferry 'King Cruiser' on a routine run to the Phi-Phi Islands
made history by straying several miles off course and hitting
the Anemone Reef. With a huge hole ripped in her hull the
ship went down in less than an hour. The absolutely ideal
weather conditions at the time of the accident no doubt greatly
aided the rescue efforts and fortunately the several hundred
passengers (mostly tourists) and crew on board at the time
all managed to escape to safety.
Most of the passengers on board that day
may have preferred not to participate in this little drama,
but surviving a ship-wreck would certainly be an unforgetable
experience and make for an unusual and exciting travel story
to tell the folks about back home. Any passenger or crewman
who may have wanted to congratulate the captain of the vessel
for his creative navigational skills, or to thank him for
stopping the boat so everyone could enjoy a swim would have
been sadly disappointed as he had already fled the scene.
If the Phuket dive scene had been previously
lacking in anything it was a decent ship-wreck for divers
to explore. This unplanned addition to Anemone Reef has become
one of the most popular dive-sites around Phuket. Not only
is the wreck located near an already popular dive-site but
it is positioned almost perfectly at a depth between 12 and
30 meters. With it's multiple decks and spacious open areas
the King Cruiser wreck is providing sheltered living quarters
for large numbers of fish and crabs. Over time it will become
an even better dive-site as it takes on a patina of age, and
becomes encrusted with a variety of colorful corals.
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