Richelieu Rock Liveaboard - Trip Report December 7, 2013

A warm welcome was extended to new and returning guests to complete the second part of our combined trip to the Surin Islands and Richelieu Rock. Dinner was served in the harbour before cabins were assigned and everyone was given a tour of the boat, before heading to bed for an early start the following morning.

Whale Shark - enough said?

Captain Wit safely got us all to Koh Bon to kick off the first day in fine style with two dives. Napoleon wrasse were there to meet us, along with a juvenile emperor angelfish, some cool nudis, mantis shrimps and some not very shy cuttlefish and octopus couples who were enjoying some sexy time! Koh Tachai was next up stopping firstly at the Pinnacle for the third dive of the day. After a thorough dive briefing, the first group went down to get geared up, when a large fin was spotted breaking the surface. Attached to the large fin was a 4m whale shark enjoying a quick circumnavigation of the dive site and was spotted by everyone on the boat – certainly a highlight of the trip!

In and under the water, giant trevally and tuna were found, along with moray eels, octopus and more mantis shrimp. After another mazing meal cooked by the legend that is P’Da, everyone got ready for a night dive in Tachai Bay, where Christa fell in love with possibly the world’s smallest cuttlefish.

An early night was taken by most in preparation for the following morning’s deep dive back at Tachai Pinnacle. The water looked full of plankton, and certainly if I was a whaleshark, I would have been there for an early morning snack, but despite everyone searching, it looked like our friend was relaxing elsewhere. Schools of barracuda made up for it though, along with lots of rainbow runners, morays and dogtooth tuna.

After a mean bacon and egg breakfast it was time to head to the Surins, with the first stop being Torinla. The tide charts told us it was slack tide, but a current check told us there was some great drift, making for one of the most enjoyable dives. Two big whiprays, scorpionfish, blue spotted rays, a pair of napoleons and some monster lobsters put smiles on faces shortly before lunch was put into faces. Aow Pakad made for the third dive of the day, with some beautiful ribbon eels spotted, along with those napoleons again and Christa continued her tiny love affair with a very small lionfish. After a beach visit, everyone got quizzical in the Wicked pub quiz before settling down for the night.

Whoever was in charge of wind and waves on the last day made an excellent choice in letting us go to Richelieu Rock. Mooring up, it was a fine sight to have no sight – we were the only boat there to enjoy Thailand’s finest dive site, for not one but two dives! Two schools of barracuda were there with baby boxfish, many mantis shrimp, banded box shrimp and some sexy octopus. Sea stars were found with missing legs, but despite our best efforts, those elusive harlequin shrimp managed to enjoy their breakfast alone.

The trip drew to a close as the boat pulled into the harbour where taxis were waiting to whisk everyone back to reality. A fantastic trip that produced 5 new advanced divers and 1 new adventure deep diver, and lots of whaleshark photos – sounds like we had better do it again next week!

-Wicked Diving Thailand