Manta Queen 5 departed in the evening from Khao Lak with calm sees and arrived at the Similan Island Marine Park early morning.
With the beautiful Similan Islands in the background we jumped in the water to do the first dive at Anita's Reef. The perfect place to start! No current, amazing visibility and fish every where we looked!
After a solid breakfast we got ready to dive again! Second dive was at the swim through paradise Deep Six! Again easy conditions and everybody enjoyed the dive with all the colourful marine life full of fusiliers.
After eating another of P Tum, Manta Queen 5's outstanding cook, fresh prepared Thai meals, we were excited to do the third dive of the day at The West Of Eden! A dive site where you get to dive the famous Similan Island fish soup!
After the sun went down and the stars came out it was time for the night dive! With the light from our torches we spotted octopi, a swimming moray, the banded cleaner shrimp, and commensal shrimps.
Second Day:
Feeling well rested from a good night's sleep in our cabins aboard Manta Queen 5, we awoke in time to see the sun rising over the Andaman Sea. After finishing our coffee, we jumped right in the water at beautiful Elephant's Head Rock. We explored the maze of swim throughs formed by all the large boulders, and checked out all the local inhabitants including a white tip reef shark that we spotted off into the deep. Once again we enjoyed amazing visibility, giving us wonderful views of the rainbow runners and tuna that we saw swimming through the open water. Back on the boat we had another delicious breakfast. After eating, we rode the dingy over to the beautiful white sand beach and hiked up to Sail Rock to enjoy the scenic views.
And then before we knew it, it was time to go diving again! The next site was Christmas Point. As we descended, we drifted along the coral, watching parrot fish munch away among a slew of other reef fish. We spotted the spearing mantis shrimp hiding in his hole near the two boulders.
By the time we were back on board the boat and barely dry, it was lunch time already. We ate and lounged around the boat enjoying the clear blue skies and sunshine. Next stop on the trip was the dive site called Three Trees. Mark gave a wonderful briefing as usual, and off we went. The coral reef was full of life. We swam along the edge of the reef, near the sand, where we spotted a baby blue spotted sting ray gliding gracefully by. Towards the end of the dive we bumped into a friendly sea turtle, grazing in the corals. We hung out with him for a good 5 minutes before making our way back to the surface.
During the following surface interval, we munched on some fresh fruit and other snacks to get some energy for our final dive of the day which was at Koh Bon Island. We did a sunset dive, the day light just starting to fade and the evening hunters such as giant morays and octopus out and about. The conditions clear and calm as the previous dives.
Once we were back on the boat, and finished dinner, we played a huge Uno tournament. Mark cheated and put all the "Draw 4's" in his pocket before shuffling.
Day 3:
To kick off our third and final day of the trip, we dove the West Ridge of Koh Bon. The visibility was absolutely amazing and there was almost zero current to speak of. Along the wall we saw a few sponge snails as well as a small lobster and a pipefish. Off into the blue there was so many fish we didn't know where to look, but my favourite was the hungry trevallies persistently chasing the small rainbow runners.
We had another delicious breakfast, and got ready to dive again. This time we moved around the corner of Koh Bon to the North Ridge. The water in the shallows was a little murky but in the deeper parts, where we spent most of our dive, was crystal clear. A couple of large napoleon wrasse, husband and wife, cruised by along the reef. A sea snake was seen slithering up towards the surface. Overall it was another excellent dive.
Once aboard the boat again, the captain set off for our final dive site, the Boon Sung Wreck. There we saw several honeycomb morays, loads of lion fish, and tons of puffer fish, and were swarmed by large schools of snapper.
Happy Days!!!
The Team of Manta Queen Five powered by Khao Lak Scuba Adventures
