Trip BB2617 Similan Islands

Trip 17 has returned to land after 4 days of amazing diving, pleasant camaraderie and excellent weather.

After a slightly late departure, a lost bag and when Dave finally arrived (classic Dave) we headed out to the Similan Islands with bellies full of Anne’s delicious Penang and an air of anticipation.

The morning did not disappoint with a lovely check dive and a steady drift along West of Eden we headed to the very pleasant Hideaway Bay and plunged into some lovely albeit slightly turbulent waters. Three Trees followed suit but had some epic fish action before you guys visited the lovely beach at Donald Duck Bay and then did your final dive at Turtle Rock and Barb, Tim & I enjoyed a very spectacular sunset (sorry guys :P).

Day 2 started off with a magnificent dive at the spectacular North Point, a visit from a turtle and some lovely little pipehorses among other things before we rushed up to Bon for a quick splash and up to Tachai to meet with the lost bag from our speedboat (yayy). Koh Tachai presented some challenging conditions but some really awesome fish action, a lot of trevally, and my favourite sighting of the trip – the juvenile parrotfish. Anne’s Pad Krapow was the hightlight of the dinner and we had a lumpy ride up to Surin Islands where we moored up in Aow Suthep for some respite from the elements.

A slightly blustery welcome to day 4 gave us a smidge of concern about conditions at Richelieu but the morning dive at Aow Suthep’s incredible coral reef started things off for the day in a magical way. As we poked our noses out of the lieu of the Surin Islands we found calm seas, a stifled breeze and a lovely pod of dolphins. Dive 1 at Richelieu was mesmerising with lots of hunting action, a seahorse and some harlequin shrimps among other things. Dives 2 and 3 rendered very much the same events and we wrapped up the day with another amazing Andaman Sunset and some delicious Khao Soi.

And to wrap things up (some of you) had a couple of splashes at Koh Bon including the pinnacle and we headed back to land with satiated diving appetites and some lasting memories to boot.

Congratulations to our new Nitrox Divers, go forth and consume voodoo gas at your leisure!

Finally, thanks so much to all of our crew for making this trip super easy to lead, and to you guys for allowing us the pleasure of your company. I for one had a great trip, and look forward to seeing you all again in the future!