Water Sports in Pattaya can kill you !

Beware ! If you’re on the Pattaya / Jomtein beach area, you will be tempted towards some kind of water sport : banana boat, paragliding, scuba, ocean walk, water-scooter, etc.

Each of these is fraught with danger. For one, the safety standards are extremely questionable. This isn’t the West, or even Singapore or Malaysia. The entire water sporting action here is controlled by disparate gangs of thugs, who wouldn’t care if you sink or swim. Let me give you my example.

A group of us friends decided to take the seemingly harmless ‘banana boat�?ride. For the uninitiated, the banana boat is a long sausage type plastic float this is pulled by a tug / speed-boat. We started the ride cautiously, but, as soon as we were a little far out (30-40 feet water) the speed-boat man suddenly went crazy, speeding away like a maniac and consequently toppling us over in approx. 40 feet of water.

Each of us were jettisoned to a depth of 6-8 feet of inky black water, before gradually surfacing. It took 15-20 terrifying seconds for the buoyancy of our safety jackets to bring us back to the surface of the water. This was indeed a huge scare, as a couple of us couldn’t swim. What if a few of us had succumbed by swallowing water ?

Now here’s a cruel twist : As each of us were splashing about in panic and crying out for help, the boatman was clearly enjoying our hapless condition.

Instead of choosing to help us, he started chatting away on his mobile phone, making no attempt to throw us a line, or, a helping hand. We re-grouped and re-mounted the boat, after considerable confusion, thanks to the few of us who were good swimmers.

It later transpired that the whole toppling business was done on purpose, and, as an act of revenge, for having bargained with the speedboat man’s boss on the initial cost of the ride.

The point I’m making here is that this unprofessional and dangerous behaviour would never be pardoned in a more organised set-up / country. The guys who operate water sports in the Pattaya belt are a special breed. They seem to be dangerously ‘wired�? What’s more, the cops are in cahoots. A death of a tourist would be just another statistic. The local government needs to move in quickly to screen the water sport operators, and weed out the dangerous elements.

Just wondering if any other reader has gone through a similar scenario !

Water Sports in Pattaya can kill you !

Your experience is unfortunate and unpleasant, but thousands of beach goers play on banana boats every week with little problem. Such a thing is possible in any other resort too.

Water Sports in Pattaya can kill you !

Sorry you folks had to learn that lesson the hard way.

From what I have seen in the popular coastal areas of Thailand, jet skies, parasailing, banana boats are quite dangerous. Thy are also run by local Mafia%26#39;s in many places.

I never, ever use their services nor when my daughters were growing up and when on vacation many times would I ever allow them to participate.

I have seen too many instances of either irresponsible acts or unqualified people on jet skies who have come dangerously close to running over swimmers and clueless as to the potential consequences of the wreckless behavior.

The owners of the equipment certainly don%26#39;t care as long as you have the baht to pay for the %26#39;rides%26#39;

Patong Beach in Phuket is also notorious for this.

But, sorry...gotta ask...If some of you can not swim why on earth would you be going on a banana boat in the first place?

Have seen these cowboys operating out of both Pattaya and Phuket, their whole body language alone kept me from having anything to do with them, they are not particularly pleasant people and what they say about the Ferangs in Thai is very rude and unpleasant, ladies when they are smiling at you and speaking to their friends you realy don%26#39;t want to know what they are saying! I had the translations from my Thai partner and even I a veteran old crusty was shocked.

Best thing to do is ignore them completely and let them go out of business.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Trust me it’s an experience I wouldn’t wish on anybody.

‘dragonc’�? don’t get me wrong. I love Thailand�?but the operators on the beach strip are a breed apart. And ‘DGH�?we figured a lifejacket would be adequate. Which it was-thank the Lord !

THis is Thailand...not Europe or the States or Oz...these thing s are unregulated .....as a visitor you should expect/know this or at least find out about it.

the other thing that amazes me is what you thought you were letting yourself in for, especially as a NON SWIMMER - what were you thinking??....have you no sense of risk assessment at all?

You could have just watched the banana boats for a few minutes and see the sort of thing that they get up to and then decided if it was for you.

You cant just ASSUME that everything is going to be OK in this sort of situation.....

Hi

I watched a Banana boat one time in Phuket take off

the driver gunned the boat all five people%26#39;s head%26#39;s on the boat snapped back and 3 of them lost teeth.

I am an adventure junky from rock climbing to alpine skiing to hard core mountain bikeing there is no way in hell I would ever get on any of the touristy

';adventure rides'; at any beach any where in the world. they are not safe.

they are geared for the weekend warrior and only to take your money. do not use them and maybe they will go out of bussiness and make the beaches more safe and tranquil.

ao nang and krabi do not allow them and it is so peaceful there.

Whilst this was obviously a scary experience it does beg the question %26#39;what are non swimmers doing on a banana ride in the first place?. Highly irresponsible on both sides I would say, however I hope the rest of your holiday went off OK.

Banana boat - driver normally%26#39;s goal is to make the riders take a spill. User should lean the opposite way the boat turns - if everyone does not work together - you all will see water and fall off.

Agree with Britmaveric.

I%26#39;ve been on one of the banana boats in Pattaya. It was a long time ago, probably 15 years ago. We were a group of teenage girls and understood that getting on the banana boats would give us a thrill ride and somehow be thrown into the water. Back then, they were bad enough. We told the boat driver to be gentle and after 5 minutes of trying to thrown us into the water, he succeed. Unfortunately, a couple of us were quite large and couldn%26#39;t pull ourselves back on to the back of banana boat so the guy had to jump into the water and help us out. :) It%26#39;s one of those things that you Had Once Never Done Again.... sorry HONDA!

With all due respects Woody, but you have to be pretty stupid to get on a banana boat or a jet ski if you can%26#39;t swim. Don%26#39;t blame the boat driver, blame yourself.