Trip BB2505 Similan Islands

Trip 5 is back on dry land—and what a banger. After a few weeks of challenging surface conditions, we were greeted by lovely flat water, tip-top dive conditions, and a boat full of legends. Instant classic.

We slid out after a suspiciously smooth departure night, fuelled by dangerously moreish Penang curry, and pointed our happy bellies toward the Similans.

Day 1: West of Eden made for a perfect check dive—Bluefin trevallies herding fusiliers like underwater sheepdogs. Hideaway Bay kept the good vibes rolling, zero current (don’t jinx it), then moving on to Three Trees (featuring a Hawksbill turtle cameo) and Turtle Rock (starring a pygmy squid, a snack-seeking snowflake eel, and a cuttlefish). We celebrated with an irresponsible amount of P-Annes delicious steak and an early snooze in the lee of Island 8.

Day 2: turned it up a notch. One lucky team spotted an eagle ray at an unnervingly calm Christmas Point. Koh Bon looked airbrushed—glass-calm with excellent viz. Moving up to Tachai Pinnacle… a little murky, a lot mayhem: schooling tuna, barracuda, and trevally running the lunch rush, plus an octopus doing octopus things. It is worth noting at this point that Alex had only 1 piece of cheesecake and nobody can prove otherwise ????. Minds pleasantly blown, we cruised toward the Surins dreaming of more trevally carnage.

Next morning was a lazy morning bimble along Aow Pakkad with bonus turtle sightings, then off to a whale-adjacent Richelieu Rock: pilot whales and a Bryde’s whale from the boat (no big deal), and underwater it was pure chaos in the best way. Fish traffic nonstop and an absolute unit of a giant—no, giant giant—moray.

For our final overnight, we boomeranged to Koh Bon: dropped on the ridge for a serene dive, then wrapped it all on the gorgeous pinnacle. ????????

And that’s the diving! We cruised back to Thap Lamu with both our cravings satisfied: maximum bubbles, maximum snacks.

Huge thanks to everyone aboard—when the company’s this good, my job feels like cheating. Massive appreciation to our crew for making the magic happen.

High-fives and hearty congrats to our freshly minted AOW and Nitrox divers, and to our newest certified “Ocean Nerd” for acing Marine Ecology.

Stay in touch—and let’s do it again soon. Same seas, same smiles, maybe fewer steaks (no promises).