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[Tony Buxton skirted with grouper after a long dive]
While most of these outings perforce took their departure from nearby Pattaya, the spearmen also ventured farther afield. On the trips down the coast to Sataheep and Rayong, they found deeper and more mysterious waters, where they were surrounded by sinister hordes of shark. Early ventures to Goh Samui, a large Gulf island of the Kra Isthmus, pointed the way to a promising new field for the future. And the Indian Ocean isle of Puket, with its surrounding satellites, afforded an even more abundant and diverse fauna. The surveys of Vichien, Lee, Buxton and their friends sketched the terrain of Thailand diving. It remains for future adventurers to fill the outlines in.
The Thailand Sub-Aqua Club
In order to give others a chance to join in and discover the fun of diving, this early group joined with Dr. Max Henn, owner of the Atlanta Hotel in Bangkok, to form Thailand's first diving club in August, 1964.
"Skindiving and underwater activities have become the world's fastest growing sport, and thousands of clubs have been formed all over the world", they declared in their initial announcement. "It is only fitting that Thailand should have one of her own." With encouragement and advice from officials of the Thai Government and others in the Bangkok community, the founders looked forward to a future of incalculable benefit to the nation: the discover and taming of this fringing seas.
Dr. Henn consented to serve as the club's first chairman, a position to which has twice been re-elected by acclaim. His pro-tem executive committee was composed of Buxton as secretary, Lee as treasurer, and Vichien as Club Captain, and two additional members; Kodak executive Tony Western and Fred Fairman, managing director of Singer Sewing Machines.
The new committee mapped out an ambitious program. Expecting an influx of new members with varying degrees of diving experience, they decided to begin a course of pool