The final trip of October 2013 saw us setting off on the evening of the 28th, heading for Koh Miang, or island #4 in the Similan islands, on board our live aboard Mariner 1 we had 17 divers from around the world, France, Spain, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, The UK and the beautiful Emerald Isle. Stefan, Markus, Sinead and Petra had been on the boat for the previous three days already, and were back for more, with Dan, Justin, Suki, Yuki, Angie, Mila, Jorge, Renay, Christoffer and Krystal all out for their first taste of Thailand’s best dive destination. Along with captain Wit and his crew the dive guides Ed, Deaw, Colin, Jerome and Albert made up the remainder on the three day trip. After a traditional Thai dinner and equipment set up, many retired for an early night.
The boat had reached the shelter of the islands around midnight providing us with a stable nights rest, only to be rudely awoken as the boat moved into choppier seas on the way to the first dive site, Shark fin reef is a long thin rocky pinnacle, it breaks the surface at a couple of spots and slopes away beyond 30m in the sand. The conditions made our time on the surface a bit tricky, but as we descended things became calm and serene, 30 meter plus visibility and a slight current heading north gave us a beautiful long, slow drift dive up the west side of the pinnacle, sting rays and jaw fish could be seen in the sand below the boulders, and the schools of fusiliers which circled in the shallower water were being stalked by a few large dogtooth tuna. These perfect conditions set the scene for the rest of the trip, as the sea flattened and the clouds dispersed, we began to see the Similans at their most spectacular.
Then more stunning dives at Anita's reef, with mantis shrimp, razor wrasse and nudies, and West of Eden with clown trigger fish, octopus and a turtle. A visit to the beach on island #4, with a hope to enjoy the views, lead to a beach clean up, resulting in two large bags of garbage. \
Day 2, Elephant Head pinnacle for the first dive and Christmas point for the second, both with stunning granite boulder formations and both with deep perimeters and the hope to see some larger fish, but it wasn't until the end of dive three on the slopping reef at three trees that we spotted our first shark this trip, a Leopard Shark, a rare treat for two of the dive groups, these sharks used to be a common site around these islands, but numbers have decreases in the last ten years, hunted for their meat, fins and liver oil, also popular in public aquaria, there is evidence that their numbers are dwindling across their range.
The world conservation union has declared the leopard shark as Vulnerable worldwide. The shark we saw was guessed to be over two meters long, an adult possibly 20-30 years old, nice to see and good to know they are still here, though it would be nice to spot a few juveniles too.That evening we left the Similan islands, heading north to the island Koh Bon for a night dive, a great spot to take down a torch to fully appreciate the many small, colourful corals and sponges that cover this limestone site, and a few nocturnal creatures make themselves known. A bit (lot) of dinner and a surprise birthday pancake cake for Stefan and everyone was ready for their beds.
Back on the boat we turn for the Thai mainland and journey to our last dive, the Boon Sung wreck, not far from where we started our trip, the briefing describes the normal conditions as having poor visibility, but our luck continued as we descended the wreck at 20 meters was clearly visible and down at depth you could see for miles, well maybe the best conditions i've seen there, with a visit to the Wicked artificial reef close by and a tour of the wreck, we swim through schools of snapper and porcupine fish, spotting rays and cuttlefish, then back on the boat for some lunch and the journey home.
The visibility can't get any better this season..... can it?
Wicked Diving Similans
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