Trip BB2620 Similan Islands

Trip BB2620 has returned to land after 4 days of top-class diving, plenty of laughs, and the sort of surface conditions that make you wonder why we ever go back to land.

After the usual pre-trip chaos (including one late taxi—because it wouldn’t be a real trip without it), we finally departed at 23:30 and pointed the bow toward the Similans. Dinner set the tone nicely: Penang gai with a full supporting cast (rice, breaded pork, braised veg, seafood stir fry, fruit) and a general sense that everyone was already winning.

We rolled into West of Eden around 04:15 under clear skies and light wind, and got straight into it. Dive 1 was the check dive at West of Eden—calm overall with a little chop in the channel just to keep everyone awake. A hawksbill turtle made an appearance and the juvenile parrotfish was my personal favourite of the day. Dive 2 at Hideaway Bay was a relaxed wreck/drift combo with octopus and some lovely little skeleton shrimps. Dive 3 at Three Trees was choppier, driftier, and delivered a cracking Napoleon wrasse. Then we broke the day up with a beach visit to Island 8 (Donald Duck Bay), before finishing with Dive 4 at Turtle Rock—a calm one with mild current, and a pygmy squid to round things off properly.

Day 2 served up more of the good stuff. North Point was a belter: a super chilled hawksbill turtle feeding and a “floor to ceiling” wall of schooling barracuda for some groups. We then dropped into Koh Bon for a mellow drift with reef squid, a sea snake, and the awesome twerking squat shrimp. After that, it was time for Koh Tachai—two pinnacle dives with moderate current and proper big-fish energy: huge schools of barracuda, big eye trevally, and painted spiny lobsters… plus a blacktip reef shark getting followed around by big eye trevally like it owed them money. Food continued to be outrageously strong (mango sticky rice and bao buns doing important morale work).

Day 3 started in dreamy form. We hit Aow Suthep first and it was one of those “sit back and enjoy the reef” dives—vibrant colours, milkfish, and gorgeous morning light. Then it was on to Richelieu Rock, which apparently decided to behave: surface conditions excellent, zero current all day, and peak Richelieu vibes. We had seahorses and harlequin shrimps among the usual mayhem, plus a juvenile yellow boxfish for extra cuteness points… and most importantly, at the third attempt William finally got his seahorse moment (the sea provides, eventually). Snacks that day included fresh strawberry cheesecake, which felt like a very correct life choice after a full Richelieu session.

Day 4 was the tidy wrap-up: back to Koh Bon (overnight at 23:00), with the ridge and pinnacle on the menu to finish things off and empty the tanks in style. The final dives were all about cruising, debriefing underwater, and mentally planning your first land meal before you’ve even taken your fins off.

Special congrats to our new Nitrox and Advanced divers, you guys smashed it! Go forth and enjoy 🙂

Thanks a million to everyone onboard for making it easy, fun, and smooth from start to finish. Excellent diving, excellent people, excellent snacks—and that’s basically the holy trinity right there.