Trip 032 Similan Islands

Right from the word go, we could see this was going to be a great trip. The atmosphere between all you guys kind of clicked straight away and from there on we knew this trip was going to be a good one. As you all now know, we had the lovely Eve on board, as part of our “test” to see how we could incorporate the Andaman Turtle Watch Project.

As a company we will be doing our bit every trip with the info and simple presentations Eve has provided for us to spread the word on what we can do to help monitor our Similan turtle population, but more so, we are planning a few dates in next season’s calendar for “turtle trips”.

We are still working on the details yet and will release them in the low season, but it’s a project we all look forward to watching grow and being a part of. I have included links to Andaman Turtle Watch at the bottom of this blog, and if you would like to sign up to our mailing list just reply to the email with a “shell yeah”.

Day one

West of Eden. 
What a lovely start…. First turtle of the trip … shell yeah.

Hideaway Bay & Tuna Wreck. Great viz and lots of juvenile bluefin trevally hunting.

Three Trees. 
Drifting south and finishing at Breakfast Bend, a couple of white tips spotted but sadly no turtle from our most common spot to see them, sods law i guess.

Donald Duck Bay. 
Ornate ghost pipefish.

Day two

Christmas Point. 
Great start to the day, schooling banner-fish and red tooth triggerfish all other the site.

Koh Bon South East Corner. 
A snowflake eel and sea snake which we have yet to identify.

Koh Tachai Pinnacle x 2. 
Barracudas spawning and more barracudas, slight current and plenty of life, the pinnacle was sure on form, a cracking couple of dives to end day two.

We met on the roof for a sunset beer and what an end to the day. Sky of the year contender… we think so, some of the skylines on this trip were incredible, it takes a lot to top a beautiful sunset or sunrise over flat calm waters. As we cruised to Surin looking forward to Richelieu.

Day three

Aow Pakkad. 
We spaced out our drops and planned a comb of the reef, with the hope of finding some turtles as this season Aow Pakkad has been a pretty consistent performer with turtle sightings and thankfully it delivered this trip. Leah, Andy and a new individual sighted.

Richelieu Rock. Nno wifi just fish and it certainly was just that. The size of the schools as we approach the end of the season is a real positive thing. The reefs are healthy and the cooler patches of water that are appearing gives me hope that the low season will be good to the parks dive sites and next season’s start is a strong and healthy one too.

Day four

Koh Tachai Pinnacle. For me, to be the only boat there and the amount of life on the pinnacle was a thing of beauty, I love Tachai so much when it’s like that. White and black tip reef sharks spotted at multiple areas on this dive, along with another turtle for Eve to identify, perfect start.

Koh Bon Pinnacle. Super clear viz, from the surface you could easily see the pinnacle, and from the pinnacle you could see all the way down to the sloping sands heading off into the deep. A stark reminder of how little we know of what is just beyond our reach.

Overall an absolute belter of a trip, and as well as many laughs we actually achieved something very positive, so thank you for joining us, listening and participating in what we were doing and bearing with us along the way while we worked a few bits out. It’s amazing what you can do with a bit of cahooting. (see what i did there) lol!!

The results of our very first turtle trial are as below.

Big Blue diving Khao Lak with Andaman Turtle Watch

Liveaboard 21-25 April 2025

Data Summary

Trip Highlights

An Andaman Turtle Watch first: The first record of 3 turtles interacting together in the same observation. Ao Pakad will be a great site to investigate social behaviour.

A Big Blue Khao Lak first: 7 turtles submitted during one liveaboard trip, the most recorded by one boat in one trip.

High levels of turtle activity in the Andaman sea – during the trip there were 5 other turtle submissions from different boats in the region!

Two new turtles from Big Blue’s previous liveaboard trip were identified whilst onboard and confirmed two new individuals – one new hawksbill at Koh Tachai (0056 NEW) and another at Ao Pakad (0057 NEW). Both of these turtles are awaiting names!

Thank you to everyone for taking part in educational sessions including: Andaman Turtle Watch Project Overview, Introduction to Sea Turtle Biology, Photo Identification as a Research Tool and Photo Identification Workshops. 
Congratulations to Team Cirara (Ciara, Andrej and Justyn) for winning the photo-ID competition.

After this trip we have a grand total of 206 sea turtle observations in the Andaman Sea – Big Blue Khao Lak has contributed a total of 69 of these sightings. 34% of all sightings from one small but mighty team is incredibly impressive! Thank you to you all!

Links

Andaman Turtle Watch Facebook Group: facebook.com. Please share with your networks and encourage other divers to submit sightings. Historic sightings from past trips are also incredibly useful!


Andaman Turtle Watch Instagram: instagram.com. New page but stay tuned for interesting content over the low season.


Post Trip Feedback Survey: https://forms.gle/Pr6PAph1QXREirdu8 . If you have time please leave some feedback about the turtle session, we hope to improve and launch these trips as part of Big Blue’s Eco Program next year!

Big Love

Boots and the Blue Dolphin Team. x