Dan's Adventure

In November I returned to Thailand with the sole purpose of diving some of the best dive sites that the country has to offer. The Similan and Surin islands are located on the Andaman coast, north of Phuket and can be reached either by speedboat or by liveaboard from Phuket or Khao Lak. I opted for the liveaboard option with Similan Dive Safaris who are based in Khao Lak.

The liveaboards in Thailand are no where near as luxurious as the liveaboards you will find anywhere else in the world where yachts and catamarans are used. The Thai liveaboards are more reminiscent of large fishing boats with very basic accommodation, simple but ample meals, and a very attentive crew.

The Similan Dive Safaris liveaboard is one of the more budget options for diving the Similans and therefore attracts a lot of backpackers. The group onboard were of mixed experience, some were doing their open water course, others advanced open water and the rest had a number of dives ranging from 10 to a few hundred. There was a dive guide for every 3-4 people, all of whom were very familiar with the dive sites and did a good job of pointing out various marine life.

The Similan and Surin islands are a lot more remote than other dive sites in Thailand such as those around Phuket and Koh Tao and as a result, there are far fewer divers. The only time I recall seeing many other boats and divers was on one dive in particular when a manta ray had been spotted. Although it was incredible to see my first manta, it was huge, the diver soup did taint the experience.

Over 4 days and 4 nights we did a total of 14 dives including 3 night dives. At the right time of year, a few of the dive sites in the Similans are famous for large numbers of manta rays, as we were there at the start of the season (October to May) we only spotted one, but the range of marine life more than made up for that.