Trip BB2512 Similan Islands

Our Similan liveaboard Trip 12 has returned to land and what a fantastic Christmas trip it was with perfect weather, breathtaking diving and great vibes throughout. Also worth a mention is the copious amounts of sunscreen consumed by the Fins.

Departure day went smoother than usual with a timely arrival from all the guests, a mass sign-up for Nitrox courses, a good feed and an early night as we headed off to the Similan Islands with fresh faces and stacks of anticipation.

Day One kicked off with a bang as we dropped on West of Eden for a lovely check dive including some awesome hunting action from the trevallies and a cuttlefish showing up towards the end. Hideaway Bay produced near-perfect diving conditions with a drop on the wreck and a lovely drift up the reef with an octopus and some lovely skeleton shrimps along the way. After getting slapped around Three Trees by the current we moored up in Donald Duck bay for the afternoon and once the Fins were done applying sunscreen, you guys headed over to the beach to say hey to to the monitor lizards, and a night dive on Turtle rock produced some awesome critters to round off the day. After a belly full of steak and some great diving a good day was rounded off and as the Fins applied their 15th layer of sunscreen, we all took an early night in anticipation of the next day!

North Point was absolutely glorious especially with the clear skies raining light down on to the dive site. Off we went to Koh Bon and found a few more boats than we would have liked, but managed to avoid the crowds and some groups spotted a Freckled Frogfish, some Squid and an Octopus. But taking the cake for the day was the spectacle that was Tachai. Dive three at Tachai was mind-blowingly good with insane hunting action, enormous Tuna scouting the site, and a mesmerising school of Barracuda. It was so good, we went again and weren’t disappointed, very much the same mayhem but a chunky Black Tip Reef shark showed itself to one of the groups. Sunset was epic from the rooftop of the boat and after an incredible day of diving the only question was how do we top that. Cue Richelieu.

We woke up to a magnificent sunrise in the picturesque Surin National Park, and an equally spectacular Aow Pakkad rendered another Black Tip Reef Shark, some Peacock Sole, and (I personally am very excited about this) a Hairy Shrimp. And of we trotted to Richelieu. Nothing could have prepared us for how good it was, a near-perfect day of Richelieu action including the amazing Harlequin Shrimps, heaps of fish and a Cheesecake Nudibranch (hats off to Jon there) to top it off. There was another incredible Andaman Sunset and somehow the meals were still getting better. Everyone went off to sleep as I dug deep to find more sunscreen 😛

The sun rose beautifully again at Koh Bon and we got 2 lovely dives with lots of Nudibranchs and a frogfish to round up the diving.

And that’s a wrap, what a spectacular trip this was. It was a pleasure to meet you all and spend 4 days out doing what we love. Congratulations to the new Advanced Open Water Divers, you guys smashed both the course, and all our SPF. Also well done to all the new Nitrox Divers! Thanks to all the crew for being so awesome as usual, and finally thanks to you, our lovely customers, for making it such a pleasure to show you around our incredible back yard.

Bon Voyage to you all and I hope to have the pleasure of welcoming you back soon!