Similan Islands - Liveaboard
This trip saw Ricky along with Diego and Karin, head out for a trip around the Northern Similan Islands, cruising round islands 7, 8 and 9, as well as a stop-off on the last day to Koh Bon, a dive site famed for frequent manta ray sightings.
To enjoy all of it, our guests this trip were Maria and Annette from Sweden, Averil and Carmel from Ireland, Parry and Denise from Singapore, Giorgia from Italy and - last but not least - Kristian from Sweden (back this time as a fun diver, not for work!), plus our wicked divemasters in training (DMT's) Kasper, Lucy, Davis and Mick.
The weather’s been glorious, so so very hot, it’s a pleasure to jump into cooler water at times! 
Seems like someone’s put the monsoon weather on hold for a bit, he visibility’s been lovely, and although a wee bit choppy further north, the sea and diving conditions have been great. All the usual suspects spotted during the dives, loads of garden eels and Kuhls rays in the sandier areas of the eastern dive sites like Three Trees, as well as a huge variety of reef fish over the corals. Plus, the wishes on the firecrackers at the start of the trip worked, snorkelling and diving at Koh Bon on the last day of the liveaboard with manta rays proved for most to be one of the best bits of the trip, especially for those whose first manta it was.
Festivities galore on the Parinee this trip for Carmel’s 31st birthday celebrations, as Captain Kaew moored up in a secluded bay, relaxation time on the sundeck to appreciate the stunning sunset over the ocean, then everyone joined in for an exuberant game of pass the parcel, and all the Thai crew got involved too – Pi Pa and Pi Lek made a yummy cake, whilst Nuk and Poh sang a few ‘traditional’ Thai songs and treated everyon
e to a magic trick extravaganza, David Copperfield eat your heart out. It’s not often you get the chance to to celebrate your birthday on a liveaboard in the Andaman Sea – hope it was a good one, all the best for the year ahead!
It’s not all fun and games on the Similan liveaboard though, well, not for the hard-working DMTs it wasn’t! Diego was on hand to help them along with practicing and evaluating their rescue skills, exams and lectures in decompression theory and physiology, as well as assisting the dive guides throughout the trip – the 4 of them are almost finished, not long now! Kasper unfortunately had to sit out the first couple of dives due to ear problems, thankfully they cleared up and he left the books in the cabin and made it to Koh Bon for "mantamania", although he just missed out on his 50th dive – save that milestone for the next trip huh?!
We asked a few of the guests what their trip highlights were – I’m afraid that we can’t publish Mick’s incredibly enthusiastic and ecstatic comments on his first manta ray dives (public forum, childrens’ eyes and all that!)
Giorgia’s ‘manta ray party’ seems to sum up the collective excitement from the trip, along with ‘Great food, great fun, great singing, great mantas!’ from Denise, and Kristian’s comment ‘yeah the mantas were brilliant, but they weren’t the highlight, the other people on the boat were”.
-Similan Diving
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