Trip 025 Similan Islands

Big currents, bigger fish and even bigger smiles!

Trip 25 saw some old friends return to the Andaman once again along with a lovely group of fresh new faces. As expected, everyone got on in no time which led to a really special trip full of laughs and stories.

A smooth departure from Thap Lamu and we were soon riding the strong tides out to the Similan islands. (We’ll get back to these strong tides later…)

Kicking off day one, our usual calm check dive at West of Eden became something more akin to a drift dive though our seasoned adventurers handled it with ease. A visit from our friendly giant green turtle Anakin at the dive deck made for a memorable breakfast. By comparison Elephant Head Rock was super relaxing, some gorgeous ribbon eels spotted and a very mild current that pushed us all the way round the back of the less explored side of the site.

After a lunch cruise past Island Eight all the way to the north of the park we arrived at island nine for dive three, Three Trees. In typical Three Trees fashion the current proved unpredictable, though we were rewarded with a very uncommon sighting of a white tip shark along the shallow reef and another greedy turtle munching away.

The climb up to Sail Rock on Island Eight helped to ease the guilt of P’Ann’s famously decadent light snack of pizza, French fries and bao buns. Dive Four rounded off an excellent first day with a sunset splash at Aow Khon Gaer.
Day two, remember those strong tides we mentioned earlier? Christmas Point lived up to it’s name as the bearer of gifts in the form of sharks and eagle rays, a worthy reward for the serious calories consumed on this turbulent dive around the enormous granite boulders. Koh Bon cranked the current up a notch, more white tips and even a ghost pipe fish were a welcome surprise! The early arrival at Koh Tachai in the North confirmed the epic tidal movements we were dealing with on this trip. The 2 dives we did here today really put our fins to the test with some breathtaking barracuda formations on top of the dome.

Day three began with a gentle drift along the stacked hard coral formations of Aow Pakkad. After this dive any semblance of ‘gentle’ or ‘relaxing’ went out the window upon arrival to the white water rapids of Richelieu Rock. Not being known to back down from a challenge we conquered the currents and had three memorable and uncrowded dives. Sometimes it pays off to stick it out! Obligatory sunset drinks as we cruised back down to Koh Bon rounded off an exciting day.

To all of you who joined us on this trip, I’d like to thank you for making it a special one and give a big well done for putting your skills to the test in some unusually strong currents. Bravo and we hope to see you all again next season, Sam and the crew on Blue Dolphin.