Day two started out awesome and then just got better! Dive one was at a Elephant Head Rock - boulders, swimthroughs and our favorite family of four little Seamoths were the highlights of the dive. Then after an amazing breakfast it was on to the beach at Similan Island number eight, and the short walk up to the beautiful viewpoint overlooking Donald Duck Bay:
Christmas Point, Koh Bon's West Ridge and Koh Tachai Pinnacle rounded out the day. Highlights included... Ummm, lets see... A WHALESHARK!!! This was my second trip in a row with a Whaleshark at Tachai Pinnacle, and although I didn't see it, it's always a wonderful experience for the customers who were lucky enough to see this gentle giant swim by from out of the blue. This seems to be the season of the Whaleshark around here, as I am personally aware of no fewer than twenty two Whaleshark sightings since the season began in late October, just three months ago. They just seem to keep coming around this season.
We had some bigger waves on the third day, and as a result we were not able to go to Richelieu Rock. This worked out alright though, as we went back to Koh Bon and did the second dive of the day on Koh Bon Pinnacle. We found our old friend Stewie the Stonefish, along with some of the largest nudibranch EVER. Also a school of Dog Tooth Tuna cruised by...
Next was a dive on the North Ridge of Koh Bon, with a rather large Barracuda and one dive group lucky enough to have a Black Tip Reef Shark swim right in front of them. The sunset dive was cool, with schooling fish out hunting in force. The poor little glass fish didn't stand a chance, as slate Sweetlips, Emperor fish, Bluefin Trevally and Checkerboard Wrasse were coming in hot from all directions!
The last day offered diving on two different shipwrecks, the Boonsung and the Premchai. They are both old tin mining dredgers, sunk in the 1980's. absolutely covered in life, they offer opportunities to see many creatures that you don't find often at the island dive sites. Honeycomb Moray Eels...
Nudibranch of all shapes and sizes, along with Freckled Frogfish, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Cuttlefish and a few huge Groupers. Good times.
Congratulations to all of our students on board. Claire completed her PADI Advanced Open water course on board while Andre and Bence became newly certified PADI Enriched Air Divers, having done their Nitrox course during the trip. Claire also had a Birthday while on board, so that was nice as well.
The last day is always bitter sweet, on one hand the trip is coming to a close, on the other, the wonderful memories created surrounding the diving and friendships created will last a lifetime. The best part: We are going out again tomorrow! Come and join us on Manta Queen 1 this season to experience all that the Similans have to offer. We hope to see you sometime soon!!!
