The Similan Islands are NOT closing to divers!!!!

Some very poor journalism has created a huge misunderstanding and a great many bloggers and people without knowledge on the matter are stoking the fires of falsehood!

The Similan and Surin National Parks are open and will remain open. Details are here.


The following is a highlight of the article form the Director General of Thailand's National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department...

"Closing the marine national parks will not help the coral reefs recover from bleaching," the Department's director general Sunant Arunnopparat said.

Sunant said he had instructed officials to survey the bleached areas and report the findings to him. He will today call on all marine national park heads to meet with University academics and other experts to find out answers to the coral reef bleaching situation.

"I think there is no need to close the marine national parks to relieve the damaged coral. This measure would not help too much at this time," Sunant said.

Wicked Diving has spent a great deal of time, effort and money over the past years to reduce our impact on the coral reefs of the region. We have trained members of the national park to dive, performed dozens of beach cleanups and much more. We have been loudly advocating the closure of dive sites, limiting the number of boats and divers allowed in the park as a way to achieve sustainability of these precious resources.

As a first, and profound step towards positive action - we strongly urge the strict enforcement of the already existing rules regarding fishing, tour operator standards and park closure dates. This will make great strides towards the recovery of these reefs.

While the storm of misinformation has already passed through - it may take some time to pass along the facts. We hope to post regular updates to clarify matters should they arise.

-Similan Diving