Trip 016 Similan Islands

Trip 16 has returned to land and what a wonderful trip we had with some great company on board and some epic diving to boot.

After a delayed departure and an unfortunate turn of events for one customer losing their bags on their flight, we headed off to the Similan Islands with bellies full of food and an air of anticipation on the boat :)

Day one kicked off with a lovely dive at West of Eden, with sighting of a huge Great Barracuda and our friend Gracie the Hawksbill Turtle making an appearance in her usual spot. Weather conditions dictated the rest of the days diving but we made the best of it with lovely dives at Turtle Rock with 2 turtle sightings and a calming sunset splash in Donald Duck Bay with a couple of Octopus. A lovely feed in the evening and news of better weather and the lost baggage found set us up nicely for day two.

Christmas Point was its usual epic scenery and despite slightly challenging surface conditions we managed a lovely dive there, with a Leaf Scorpionfish seen by a few groups. Two dives at Koh Bon Ridge with excellent visibility and lots of fish set us up for an evening dive at Tachai with lots of hunting action and elation when the lost bag was reunited with its owner having been brought out to us by our day trip operation.

With the weather calming we did a lovely dive in the stunning corals of Aow Suthep and an Ornate Ghost Pipefish was the pick of the sights. Aow Pakkad was cold but enjoyable, and Richelieu Rock rounded up the day with lots of fish, hunting barracuda and Giant Trevallies galore.

On the last day we hit Koh Tachai in the morning for more hunting action and Koh Bon Pinnacle delivered the goods, teeming with batfish and a really cool Mantis Shrimp on the top.

Thanks to all that joined us, I can honestly say it was a real pleasure to lead this trip and that’s largely thanks to our wonderful crew and you, our awesome customers. On behalf of my team and myself, we hope to see you again soon!