The second dive of the day was at West of Eden. We saw so much great stuff - Octopus, Lobsters, Seamoths, and this really cool Frogfish. It's always a great dive there.
Deep Six was next, with its awe-inspiring swimthroughs and fantastic topography. We found Morays, Tiger Cowries and even spotted two little Seamoths together. Nice!
The night dive was at Turtle Rock, Island #8. Big Lobsters, crabs and hunting Morays were all there. We even had a beautiful Green Turtle show up to do our safety stop with us. What a great first dayThe next morning began with a dive at Elephant Head Rock. What a magical place! So many cool swimthroughs, and interesting marine life too. Highlights were a family of Seamoths and this beautiful blue Ribbon Eel:
After a trip to the beach in Donald Duck Bay and a short walk up to the viewpoint underneath Sail Rock it was on to Christmas Point. Christmas Point is always cool. Swimthroughs. Check. White Tip Reef Shark. Check. General, overall coolness. Check. And it's on to Koh Bon! :-) Awesome.
Of course Koh Bon is famous for Manta Rays. We all know this. Sometimes you see them there, sometimes you don't. Well, on this trip we were kind of lucky. Many of the groups saw a Manta on this dive, but a few did not. I guess that's why they say that you've just got to be lucky...
The sunset dive was at Tachai Pinnacle. It was Tachai in its classic conditions, with some current and tons of fish activity. We saw schools of thousands of Fusiliers out in the blue. We has big schools of Trevally and the big school of Chevron Barracuda that is usually around. In addition to this, some groups saw a few Octopus and most of the others were able to spots few different Ornate Ghost Pipefish hiding amongst the bush corals. A fantastic finish to an amazing day.
Day three we decided to switch it up a bit. We elected to drive back South to the Similan Islands again and do some more dives there. We did the always interesting Shark Fin Reef first thing in the morning, drifting along with a fairly strong current for most of the dive. Shark Fin Reef is a pretty large site, so it's not a problem to lazily drift along in one direction the entire time.
We spotted tons and tons of schooling fish along the way. Everything from Tunas, Rainbow Runners, Banner fish and Fusiliers, all the way down to huge schools of the smallest Glassfish swirling overhead. One lucky group even saw a rare Bartail Moray hiding deep in one of the crevices. A great way to start the day!
Next up was Deep Six, hoping for a few sharks. One lucky group did see a large White Tip Reef Shark, and many groups spotted a really cool Blochted Fantail Ray hiding under an overhang. We also saw the cute little Seamoths again, and did a few really cool swimthroughs as well.
West of Eden must be one of the best Similan Dive sites around, and it was really great again today. We saw so much stuff, highlights being a few different Frogfish and this absolutely beautiful Green Turtle. Fantastic!
The night dive this evening was at Anita's Reef. Octopus, huge Lobsters, Nudibranch, hunting Moray Eels and a few of these Big Red Crabs were the order of the day.
On our last morning we again adjusted the schedule, giving us one more dive at the crowd-favorite Elephant Head Rock. With all of its magnificent swimthroughs, and interesting marine life, it is a really special dive, every time. This morning was no different, as we made our way through the maze of boulders spotting 3 White Tip Reef Sharks along the way.
The final dive was on the Premchai wreck, and on the way we came across a friendly pod of Dolphins...
The Premchai is an old Tin mining dredger that sank in 2001, and it is now absolutely teaming with life. Schools of Snapper and Sweetlips overhead, Scorpionfish and Nudis covering the wreck, and Crocodile Flatheads in the sand. A fantastic way up end the trip.
A big congratulations goes out to all of the students on board this trip. Andy taught Ya-Ting Yang her Advanced course, Chehab taught the PADI Advanced Open Water course and Nitrox course to Mathieu and Vincent. Ishmael taught an Advanced course as well, to both Tim and Lilly. Joe taught the PADI Enriched Air Diver course to Emma, Hanne, Edwin and Lars. Aine taught two students, Marco and Madeline the PADI Open Water course. Sweet! Great job by everyone.
So, this amazing season that we've had here in the Similans is just about finished. There are just two weeks left this year, still time for you to book your diving adventure with us here at KSA! We hope to see you soon on one of our liveaboard boats, cruising the islands and spotting the big fish, which are still around!
