The second day and first dive on Elephant head Rock gave some more surprises with a white-tip spotted as we cruised the sandy flats for a couple minutes before leaving us. The resident giant barracuda was swimming around the site and posing for photos and the sea-moth are still doing their thing (whatever that is). We keep heading north throughout the day and after three dives with the sun starting to move down the sky, we finish the down off at Koh Tachai, always one of the best dives in the area. Greeted by a school of a couple hundred trevally and finishing with the schools of barracuda that block out the sun. Its a end to day we all dream of.
The next morning in comparison would have to be a nightmare. We finished the dive to find one of the divers needed some medical treatment and so headed south to meet up with a speedboat to get him to the mainland. Already back in the Similan Marine, we had a vote to stay put or travel the 4hrs north to Richelieu, the latter won by a landslide and we managed to fit two 45 minute dives to get a full serving of what Richelieu has to offer, all kinds of pipefish, shrimp, schools of fish and covered in soft coral and anemones.
With a long day of diving its mandatory that everyone unwind in their own way at the end of the day. With the amount of food on the boat no-one is going hungry tonight or any night, and as the beers are cracked and the ukulele comes out it seems like the mainland is a million miles away.
For the last day it was a double header of shipwrecks with the Premchai and Boonsung. Both great sites and covered in fish. Although the visibility isnt as good as what you get out in the Similans the amount of things you more than make up for it and it's no longer surprising when people say these are some of their favourites.
Additional photos courtesy of Phillip