Richelieu Rock Liveaboard Trip report - November 23rd, 2013

With most of the guests arriving on time apart from a few coming by taxi from Phuket there was a sense of anticipation in the air, with a storm predicted for the last day of the trip everyone was hoping the weather would hold off long enough for us all to get in some great diving, with this thought the guest were bundled into taxis and escorted to the pier for their first glimpse of their home for the next 3 nights the M/V MARINER Wicked Diving's Richelieu Rock liveaboard, with the dive team getting everyone on to the boat and getting settled we were on our way!



The traditional thai fireworks going off at the front of the boat interrupting our trip leader Colin’s briefing as usual we headed out on our journey to some of the best dive sites Thailand has to offer the schedule called for us to head to koh bon for our first overnight stay in the similan islands with our check dive planned for the following morning along the koh bon wall and finishing over the ridge along the sloping reef on the other side, after another amazing meal prepared by the best boat cook on the west coast the guests and crew relaxed with some music and a couple of beers before most retired fairly early exited about the day to come.


19th Nov, 7:30am;
with the wake up call done and the guests making their way upstairs for their morning coffee they were greeted by a beautiful morning with little wind and a current check showing only a mild current pushing over the ridge the first dive of the trip looked to be a good one, after a dive safety briefing followed by the dive site briefing everyone was ready to go, after jumping we were greeted with 25m+ visibility 29deg water and a veritable smorgasbord of fish, with many species being spotted from giant napoleon wrasse right down to some of the smaller critters Koh bon is known for such as blue dragon nudis and mantis shrimp!

Koh Tachai

But let’s not forget all the regular west coast reef and pelagic species such as bat fish, tuna, barracuda, and even an octopus putting in an appearance. With the dive completed and the guest first breakfast in their bellies the boat was on its way to its next destination, a firm staff favorite Koh Tachai, known for often having strong current but also always the promise that something big may turn up the briefing was very detailed after asking how many divers had dived in such a current before and finding that the majority hadn’t the staff did a wonderful job preparing their divers for what to expect and giving some useful advice on exactly how best to dive under the conditions, most of the guests seemed to be looking forward to the challenge and hit the water eager to see what this currant was all about, all the prep turned out to be time well spent as when we entered the water the current was definitely flowing pulling ourselves down the mooring line all any of the divers could see was bubbles as the diver below them descended and the current pushed the bubbles straight at whoever was following however in true Koh tachai style once you hit the pinnacle and get in amongst the rocks its fairly easy to stay out of the worst of the currant for most of the dive, so after a couple of moments hovering amongst the boulders to get our breath back after the decent the dive went as planned the guests lived up to the challenge and all came back with grins on their faces and new found confidence in their abilities, the plan had been originally to do two dives at Koh tachai but after seeing the conditions and having a few courses running on the boat it was decided that a more suitable dive site needed to be found for dive 3 of the day...

The decision tachai reef, and what a great decision it turned out to be a nice easy drift dive along a sloping reef, this was also a chance for the dmt’s onboard to have a go at leading a dive under an instructors professional eye, and what a good job they did!


One of the groups managed to find a turtle another an octopus and plenty off reef species to keep the guests smiling, for the last dive of the first day it turned out to be a ripper!




With day 1s diving over it was time to head to Koh tachai island for a beach visit and maybe a beach clean up and I have to say well done to all our guests who hit the beach we managed to fill a number of bags in only an hour with groups of people wandering all over while still enjoying themselves still everyone got involved and should be proud of their efforts. With the beach visit done it was back to the boat for some dinner and a chance to swap stories about the days diving the current at Koh tachai seemed to be the main topic with most people agreeing that despite the challenge it was still great fun all round.


20th November, 7:00am:

After waking up half an hour earlier for the beginning of  wickeds hard core day of 4 dives the divers were all ready and raring to go for  dive number 4 the site, east rocks, with a number of diver doing their deep adventure dive the focus for some was more academic than fun dive however the number of species seen on this dive definitely made it a fun dive straight of the bat a khuls ray was spotted in the sand and the critters just kept coming Jenkins rays, giant morays, yellow edged morays, nudibranchs, lion fish, barracuda and even a white tip shark was seen by one group, the first dive of the day had set a benchmark and we all wondered what the next dives would bring.


Dive 2 rainbow rocks with a similar topography to the previous dive the divers felt pretty comfortable with the plan so they kitted up quickly and hit the water. There did turn out to be a mild currant running over the pinnacle but nothing to worry about, the west side of the pinnacle is covered in a myriad of soft corals of all different colors which is where the site gets its name from so it was a beautiful dive from the start however the marine life didn’t disappoint with dozens of big sweet lips all over the site more nudies octopus, squid and a veritable smorgasbord of crustaceans to be found something new was seen by all the dives were getting better and the divers were loving it what would the next dive bring? Torinla reef again a site the can bring current but in this case it is a blessing as opposed to a challenge dropping down and riding the current nobody was prepared for some of the things that were found one group lucked out with 3 turtles a sea snake an octopus and a seriously cute batfish that joined the group early in the dive then proceeded to stay with the group and school with them for over 20 min! Most groups found lobster, unicorn fish, sweet lips, puffer fish of all different shapes and sizes and at least 3 different species of anemone fish one group even spotted a black tip shark! A new favorite dive was crowned!

The 4th was the night dive with Deaw giving a highly entertaining briefing everyone was ready to go, jumping straight from the boat to descend on the site at around 15 meters the divers were struck by the beauty of decorator crabs morays and both made an appearance as did all the small and large crustaceans that are rarely seen by the divers during the day. After a hearty dinner most of the guests retired to their bunks early after a busy day and great memories the final day was highly anticipated with Richelieu rock the highlight of the trip planned for the following morning.dive of the day or night


21st November - 6:30 after the predicted storm hadn’t eventuated in the early hours

The first dive briefing of the day was eagerly listened to as the divers got pumped for the dive our brilliant captain had managed to get us first onto the site so we had a mooring line to drop down on to the site with, and it didn’t disappoint the pelagic species were in force hunting all the smaller reef species mating cuttle fish were spotted mantis shrimp, nudies, lionfish and scorpion fish were all spotted as well as white eyed morays by the dozen, the place was an aquarium of the highest order!


So the call was made that a second dive on the rock was in order as we were already on the site a relaxing breakfast and surface interval was had by all and the final dive of the trip was anticipated with mixed emotions sad that the trip was nearly over yet exited at what they may see on this dive, nobody was disappointed tomato anemone fish and tiger egg cowries were found as were more cuttle fish and octopus, and the pelagic hadn’t let up either with a large school of barracuda showing up and another school of tuna making an appearance towards the end of the dive, however diving being what it is we all had to surface eventually and get ready for the homeward journey. A final meal was served on the boat and photos taken for certifications and group photos were taken for all log books were completed and emails exchanged friends were made after 3 days living eating and diving together stories would be told for years to come!

Thanks to all our guests for making this one such a wonderful trip and we hope to see you back with us sometime soon and a special congratulations have to go to our new open water divers David and Adrian, also to our new deep adventure divers ken, Zoë, and Chrissie. Well done guys and we hope to see you somewhere under the water soon!!!



The wicked crew.


-Wicked Diving Thailand