Manta Queen 1 sets out on our 4 day 4 night Similan Island liveaboard trip, everyone on board was lucky enough to experience not only the beautiful super moon from the boat, but also to celebrate Loy Kratong, a Thai tradition and celebration of purification. Shortly after departing Khao Lak pier we Moored to a bouy line and every guest was given a posy of flowers, with incense and a candle, which we all lit and then placed into the water off the dive deck and floated them out into the ocean, it was a beautiful sight and a wonderful way to start the trip.
We woke up in the heart of the Similan Island National Park, after a coffee and a safety briefing everyone was ready and excited for the check dive at Anita's Reef. We had great visibility and no current, which made it a really great first dive for both customers and guides. Dive 2, we moved over to West of Eden and then onto Deep Six for dive 3, and then Hideaway Bay for the night dive, where we got to see the tsunami memorials during the dive. Highlights of the day: - groups have been lucky enough to see a green turtle, a white tip reef shark, barracuda, a blue spotted ray, shrimps, box fish, along with many other beautiful reef fish. On the night dive Gary's group had a particularly special dive, one diver took down a red light, a light that didn't cause octopus to shy away, so they got to see him out and about, hunting and feeding on coral bommies.
Day 2 - an earlier start than yesterday, everyone in the water ready for dive 5 of the trip by 6:45 am, the day started at Elephant Head Rock, where we experienced little current and great vis, after breakfast everyone had the opportunity to take a quick trip to the beach on Simialn Island number 8 which I think everyone will agree, a stunningly beautiful beach, white sand and crystal clear water. Dive 6 at North Point a bit more current than we've had so far and everyone handled. Some groups were lucky enough to bump into 3 napoleon wrasse, others saw the lovely pigmy pipe horse. Onto Koh Bon Island for dive 7 where the current subsided and we enjoyed the beautiful limestone island, some groups saw lobsters, we also saw the Maldives sponge snail, many grouper, parrot fish and the snorkeler on board saw a banded sea snake. Our 8th dive of the trip, our sunset dive and last dive of day 2 was at Koh Tachai Island, strong currents and lots of sea traffic, one group saw a school of barracuda cruising by, we also came across unicorn fish, a banded sea snake, grouper, parrotfish, morays and lots more.
Day 3 began at Richelieu Rock we had 2 fantastic dives, groups saw barracuda, octopus, cuttlefish, juvenile Angel fish, peacock mantis shrimp, boxer shrimp and many different kinds of nudies to name a few, as the visibility wasn't as good as we had hoped we started our journey back a little earlier and did our last 2 dives of the day back at Koh Tachai, one at The Dome where some groups saw the huge school of barracuda again, others saw big grouper and free swimming morays, because of the strong current we decided to do the last dive of the day at the reef, take it easy and enjoy the perfect vis and calm water, and the beautiful reef fish, the perfect end to a wonderful day!
Day 4 and we are back at Koh Bon! Dive 15 was at Koh Bon Hin Luang, a beautiful, deep, pinnacle covered in bright yellow soft corals. Groups saw the resident stone fish, peacock mantis shrimp, octopus, grouper, huge barracuda, parrot fish. As its our 4th day of diving and the pinnacle is so deep our dives were a little shorter than usual because of our NDL's. Dive 14 at West Ridge Koh Bon, was a peaceful and relaxing dive for all groups, one group saw a white tip in the distance, others saw schools of fusilier, grouper, barracuda, trigger fish, flute fish, puffers and parrotfish. Our final dive of the trip was at Boonsung Wreck, there was no current, which Madeira a great dives and all groups were able to explore the wreck easily, we saw many puffer fish, lionfish, scorpion fish, lobster, huge schools of fusilier, so much sea traffic! A great way to end the trip!
Congratulations to everyone who completed courses, and congratulations to chew, who did his 100th dive - naked!!
Thanks everyone for a great trip, love and best wishes
The Team of Manta Queen 1 powered by Khao Lak Scuba Adventures
