Richelieu Rock Liveaboard - Trip Report December

Trip 16 already!? How can it be so? I would like to confirm that time truly does fly by when you are having fun. The beginning of a 6 day Similan liveaboard departed last night from Kura Buri Pier. 14 of our guests currently on board are going full on for the next 5 days. What legends! We are joined by (big breath) Simon, Sally, Eva, Phillipp, Susan, Avanti, Pawel, Michelle, Jeanine, Rob, Fi, Anna, Byron, Anje, Jesper, Erik, Eva, Andrew. For Dive crew we are Sinan, Brett, Deaw, Rob, Tim. Dive master Trainees, Chris and Kelven, and myself, Christa. (Such a lucky girl I am)



The trip was an absolute success, with wonderful weather conditions, great visibility, and a great energy on the boat. It was a really relaxed group, with guests from all corners of the globe. There’s not much more one could need or want.



We spent the next couple of days living the dream at sea. Some of us were learning how to dive, some were diving nitrox and some were becoming advanced divers, and the rest were simply enjoying the natural beauty that lies beneath the surface. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their time on the boat, at the beach and underwater. I mean really, how could we not? We spent the first day splashing around the Surin islands, the second at Richilieu Rock, Koh Tachai and Koh Bon, and our final dive at local dive site, Boonsung wreck.



We saw a swordfish jumping at the surface, found some really cool nudis, swam around with some napoleon wrasse, watched trevally and tuna hunt and enjoyed some drift dives. We ate like kings and queens, enjoyed frequent nap times, spent hours looking through fish identification books and filling out our own dive logs. Lots of milo was consumed, plenty of quality sun soaking time, and danced around to some cool beats played from our ipods.



After all said and done, we were a bunch of happy divers. With majority of our guests staying on board for round 2, we can only hope to keep this level of enjoyment at such a high standard. We really are having a wicked ol’ time here, and hope that you are too! Until next time, Let the good times keep on rolling…

-Wicked Diving Thailand

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

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

Similan Liveaboard trip report - November 7th, 2013

The start of November also marked the start of another 6 day combination trip to the Similan and Surin Islands. A cosmopolitan group of guests was welcomed on board to drink from coconuts and enjoy some traditional Thai food while the boat crew took care of getting everyone to the Similans ready for the first day diving.

Mantis Shrimp

A checkout dive at Anitas Reef wowed guests and dive staff alike with stunning visibility and a rich variety of critters. Eagle eyed Albert had success uncovering both a Meyers dragonet and a juvenile peacock flounder, with matis shrimp, octopus, rockmover wrasse and much more being found. After a hearty bacon and egg based breakfast, the boat moved onto West of Eden, with a relaxing dive shared with clown triggerfish, turtles, more octopus and passing dogtooth tuna. A hard workout eating breakfast left everyone hungry for a fantastic lunch, produced by everyone’s favourite ladies P’Da and Tik. Stonehenge was next up for diving, where gentle drift and surge made for a wonderful dive amongst huge granite boulders. Luckily divers didn’t only see granite with schools of hunting giant trevally and more huge tuna took advantage of the current. A quick snack then a beach visit to Princess Bay rounded off the first day with Wicked staff and customers making a difference by cleaning up 2 bags of litter!

Day 2 began with a splash into Elephant Head Rock – a favourite site for dive staff, an opinion often shared by customers! Pushing deep for the first dive uncovered a cheeky mantis shrimp, giant barracuda, groups of giant trevally, and the highlight of a pair of white tip reef shark relaxing made for an excellent start to the day. After breakfast, the boat moved to North Point the 3 Trees, where excellent visibility was enjoyed by turtles, several octopus, marbled shrimp, giant morays, clown triggerfish, sharks spotted by the snorkelers and much more. Captain Wit moved us onto Koh Bon to relax before a night dive in the bay, swiftly followed by yet more food and some drooping eyelids as guests discovered some interesting facts about pandas and dolphins.

The last day of the first half of the trip was completed with a pair of great dives on Koh Bon overseen by a pair of napoleon wrasse, mating octopus, banded sea kraits and giant trevally. Thoughts of leaving the fantastic Similans were too much for Gareth from England, who decided to extend his stay on board Mariner for the second half of the trip. Touching base back on the mainland, we bid farewell to some guests, while several stayed put, having already taken Gareth’s wise decision to visit the Surin Islands.
New guests were welcomed on board to share in more coconuts and listen to stories of the trip so far from guests that stayed on as we headed back out to Koh Bon.

The morning started with another great dive, as love was in the water (again) with mating octopus, cruising white tips, enormous sea snakes and our friends the napoleons were still hanging out on the ridge. After another great breakfast, we headed towards Koh Tachai for dives on the pinnacle, reef and a night dive in the bay. Giant trevally, comet longfins, blue dragon nudis, ghost boxer shrimp, marbled groupers, slipper lobsters and of course the seemingly ever present octopus were all enjoyed before the highlight of the day arriving at the start of the night dive with a 15cm Spanish dancer to put smiles on faces. The night was spent at Tachai for the deep dive of the day at the pinnacle. Several guests were certified brand new adventure deep divers as the depths uncovered a school of barracuda, octopus, lots of cleaner shrimp and a wandering dogtooth tuna.

Busy Day at Richelieu Rock

Dive of the trip was had when we hit the Surins with a fantastic drift at Torinla. Hopping in led to 2 large whiprays dwarfing a kuhl’s ray in the first 5 minutes. A wonderfully paced current moved divers past a busy reef full of fish and turtles onto deeper rocks with schools of barracuda and a marvelous leopard shark. Smiles all round were only interrupted by lunch. Aow Packad made for the last dive of the day before a beach trip and a visit from sea gypsies. An early night was taken as guests enjoyed a calm bay before heading to Richelieu Rock.

2 dives were made at one of Jacques Cousteaus favourite sites, letting us spot several interesting nudis and flatworms, barracuda, a pair of bent stick pipefish, tuna, more octopus and mantis shrimp. Guests somehow managed more food while the boat travelled back to port. For those who thought it was impossible to park a boat into a space exactly the same length as a the boat, they clearly didn’t see an amazing display by Captain Wit and the crew to get us safely moored up. Powernaps were taken by all on the taxi ride back, and an important lesson in divemaster training was learnt by Tim, who now knows to go to the toilet before getting into the taxi! A fantastic trip with a great group of people left everyone wishing we could all do it again!

-Wicked Diving Thailand

The first Similan Liveaboard of the season!!!!

The First trio started with a spot of Rain at Koh Bon and some of the dive groups were lucky enough to see a few white-tip reef sharks especially Chok's group Pierre, Fabio and Andrea see a debatable 6-9 sharks!!! What a great start to the season....sharks, sharks, sharks!!!

Everyone enjoyed all the good visibility but also we got to see a banded Sea snake, octopus and even a Napoleon wrasse AND Sugi became an Open water diver!  Our new guest Jeroen, Milan, Clemence, Pierre, Sugi were introduced to the chef P'nok's delicious cooking.  After the rain stopped, we were surprise with a beautiful waterspout on the way to Koh Tachai.

Once there - the pinnacle didn't disappoint anyone with the crazy currents, schools of hunting Trevallies and Barracudas. 

After that we had did break time and snacks at the beautiful Koh Tachai beach we even spotted a few baby reef sharks. The sunset dive was full of tiny red eye shrimps, craps and Nudibranchs, nudibranchs and nudibranchs - Sue find a pink one!!! Possibly the highlight of her trip :)

Dinner was again the massive feast of food provided again by our amazing chefs. Then a few games of werewolf were enjoyed and Jeroen with his logical and tactical thinking, and Chok with his terrible defense made everybody laugh. 

Morning wake up with a nice, sunny day and guest trying to find energy for what will be another exciting dive at Koh Tachai pinnacle!

James and Marnie with fins of steel headed to the secret pinnacle, were amazed by the beautiful soft corals. Hugh heading to 40 meter for the first time on his Deep Dive specialty course. For the second dive of the day, we had a relaxing time at the east rocks of the Surin Islands, where we did a bit of an exploration dive with Ornate Ghost Pipefish, more Banded Seasnakes,  a big turtle, a Marbled Ray……and then time for more food…

Then a nice drift dive at Torinla island where we were blessed with more turtles, Napolean Wrasse and a huge Jenkins Whipray. Tuk's group (Alex, Max, Rowena and Lisa ) turned out to the the "Masters of seasnakes and scorpionfish" as they were seeing these on nearly every dive of the trip! 
Enjoying the change of scenery at the Surin Islands rummicub was played again with Sylvia and John teaching new guests the rules. And the night dive, which was the first for Clemence, Pierre, and Sugi, all of them were amazed by the peaceful feeling experienced. Jade's group spotted a shark as well as millions of shrimps, crabs, morays and pufferfish. Werewolf having been so popular the previous evening was played again with DMT Liz taking the lead role of mayor and Chok's terrible defense again :)
It was the final day and the buzz on the boat was palpable as we were ending the trip with or our final dives a Richellieu Rock Diving!!!  Even Max and Alex made it out of bed on time for the briefing ;) Lucky enough to be one of only two boats there at Thailand's most famous dive site no one was disappointed. These dives were definitely most peoples trip highlight. The beautiful colors! Tigertail Seahorse, whip Pipefish, Nudibranchs, matting cuttlefish, Nudibranchs, Scorpionfish, Tomato Anemonefish, Giant moray and the list just keeps on going!!!  There were faces all round on the trip as we headed back to land but only because we all didn't want to leave.
This was a fantastic trip! We want to extend a MASSIVE thank you to all the guests for choosing Wicked Diving and making it such a thrill! We hope to see you again real soon!!!!

-Similan Islands Diving

Simlan Dive Sites - Richelieu Rock

Thailand Dive Sites - Richelieu Rock

The Best dive site in Thailand

Since there is just so much to see at this dive site, the guides usually schedule more than one dive here. You will appreciate the chance to experience all these attractions, plus schools of mackerels and barracudas, more than once.

One of the most famous dive sites of Thailand. Richelieu Rock is an isolated pinnacle to the east of Surin Islands. Forming a horseshoe figure, the pinnacle falls steeply to the surrounding sand bottom at 35 metres depth. The south side is a bay with a slope that gently falls to the deep, while the rest comprises sheer walls, groups of rocks and numerous small caves that are home to various marine life. The majority of corals are colourful soft corals jostling against the wall, accompanied by huge sea fans, hard corals and sea anemones.

Richelieu Rock is part of the Surin National Marine Park, yet located about 18 kilometers east of the islands themselves. Richelieu Rock is just barely exposed at the lowest of tides-thus a navigational hazard for those boats not equipped with a GPS navigation system. Situated 200 kilometers Northwest of Phuket and 70 km from Khao Lak - the rock is closer to the Burmese (Myanmar) border than Phuket.

A massive underwater limestone pinnacle rising up from 50 meters to the just below the surface. Horseshoe shaped with several smaller boulders surrounding it at the depths, protection from currents is assured for the experienced guides. Steep walls and deep crevices offer both stunning scenery and great hiding places for all manner of amazing creatures.
The unique shape and location are part of what Richelieu so special. There are no other pinnacles or submerged rocks anywhere nearby so all the marine life in the area have one place to go. As this is the single pinnacle, it also generates a strong disturbance to the tidal currents. This creates strong upwellings of cold water – which causes plankton. And this plankton feeds the diverse fish and corals. Want to dive Richelieu on a one day trip?

Richelieu Rock Marine Life

While Richelieu Rock has long been famous as the easiest place to see Whale Sharks, but a worldwide decline in numbers has really reduced the number of encounters. The frequency of encounters over the last 4 years has been about once every 2 weeks.

Disappointed? Don’t be, the Richelieu Rock has an amazing amount of diversity. Expect to see schools of chevron barracudas while larger sharks and rays can be seen in the deeper water.

Vast Schools of Snappers, Tuna, Mackeral, Jacks and Trevallies circle the site hunting and hiding from one another.

The crevices, cracks and fields of soft corals are home to such an amazing diversity of fish such as White-eyed Morays, Nudibranchs, Tigertail Seahorses, Harlequin shrimps, Ghost pipefish, Lionfish, Glassfish, Frogfish, Leaffish and even some very exotic species like Pineapplefish. Just keep your eyes open, take your time and enjoy. There is so much to see.

Richelieu Rock Diving

Depths range from 5 meters in low tide to 35 meters.

This dive site is suitable for intermediate and advanced divers.

There can be a strong current and if so the mooring line should be used to descend. Shelter can usually be found at some area of the dive site.

Richelieu Rock Hazards

You can dive here over and over and see something new. The currents change constantly, and it's not always an easy dive. But, if you have an experienced dive guide and they give a good detailed briefing, you can learn how to hide from the currents and have a very enjoyable dive.

Similan Liveaboard
& Similan Diving Day Trips

While our Similan Liveaboard is a great way to visit the Similan Islands - don't overlook the local Khao Lak diving day trips or the Similan Day trips to many great dive sites.

Similan Dive Sites - Richelieu Rock

As part of our ongoing series of Similan Island Dive sites, Wicked Diving presents:

The most famous dive site in Thailand.
Richelieu Rock

Richelieu Rock is an isolated pinnacle to the east of Surin Islands. Forming a horseshoe figure, the pinnacle falls steeply to the surrounding sand bottom at 35 meters depth. The south side is a bay with a slope that gently falls to the deep, while the rest comprises sheer walls, groups of rocks and numerous small caves that are home to various marine life. The majority of corals are colorful soft corals jostling against the wall, accompanied by huge sea funs, hard corals and sea anemones.

Due to the diversity of small and large creatures, Richlieu Rock is a paradise for underwater photographers.

Ghost pipefish, frogfish, harlequin shrimps, seahorses, Janss’s pipefish are some of the smaller marine life that can be spotted here. In addition, plenty of anemonefish species, particularly tomato clownfish are regularly sighted. Pelagic fish swarming around the small outcrops include chevron barracudas, rainbow runners and plenty of bigeye trevally, fusiliers and snappers. Giant groupers resting on the sand floor are a common sight. Lastly, this site is famous in Thailand for being a hotspot for encounters with both whale sharks and manta

rays.

Depths range from 5 meters in low tide to 35 meters.

This dive site is suitable for intermediate and advanced divers.

There can be a strong current and if so the mooring line should be used to descend. Shelter can usually be found at some area of the dive site.

Similan Diving

Similan Guide

Divemaster Training

Richelieu Rock - the history

The following article relates some history from Thailand. The famous dive site - Richelieu Rock is named after this little known piece of Thai naval history. Enjoy

Bringing back a piece of Thai history back - robes

OUTLOOK
Robe revived; Will this piece of Thai history find its way back?
1366 words
8 September 2007
Bangkok Post
O1
English
(c) 2007

USNISA SUKHSVASTI

A robe of heavily embroidered gold threads lay in a state of suspended existence in Denmark. But like Sleeping Beauty waking up from a 100 year sleep, it has recently been roused from its bed of silver paper and, wrapped in white linen, hidden away in the hushed security of a bank vault.

And this is no ordinary robe. The heavily embroidered, loose open style with intricate hem and cuffs is typical of those of those worn by members of the royal Siamese court of old, reflected today in the simplified graduation gowns worn at Chulalongkorn University commencement ceremonies. The filigree gold and silver threads that still shimmer despite their antiquity have a story to tell if you look closely enough. The intricate floral and vine patterns are interspersed with marine motifs - anchors, ship's wheels - that provide a clue to its original owner: Vice Admiral Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu.

It was in April of 1875 that Lt Richelieu arrived in Bangkok, bearing a private letter from King Christian IX of Denmark. An officer in the Danish Navy, he had come to offer his services to King Chulalongkorn during the height of European colonial expansion into Southeast Asia, a crucial period in Siamese history.

He was appointed chief of the naval inspection ship, the Regent, which patrolled the Bay of Bengal. In 1877, he had become commander of HMS Siam Mongkut, and by the following year he had been titled Luang Cholayuth Yothin and appointed chief commander of HMS Vesatri.

In this same year, as chief of the Naval Arsenal, he was also put in charge of a new unit, the Marines, which had been created to handle the newly imported Gatling guns.

Within the next decade, Richelieu's status grew, and his title elevated from Luang to Phra and later Phraya.

He played an increasingly significant role in the Royal Thai Navy. Eighteen ninety-three was a year that is etched in every Thai history book. Known as the Gunboat Crisis of Rattanakosin Era 112, the French sent gunboats to block the Chao Phraya River estuary. In his book of 1895 titled The Peoples and Politics of the Far East, British MP and journalist Sir Henry Norman, who had travelled extensively in the region, noted that the Thai navy was at a significant disadvantage due to the lack of experience of its personnel and its smaller fleet. He noted the presence of two or three foreign officers, among whom was Phraya Cholayuth Yothin, or Richelieu. Henry noted that Richelieu had suggested using HMS Maha Chakri to attack the French fleet, since it was the Royal Thai Navy's most modern and fastest vessel, but this particular ship was berthed at the Grand Palace landing for the king's personal use only. It was equipped with state of the art guns which, unfortunately, none of the local officers knew how to use. Had the HMS Maha Chakri been deployed, suggests Norman, things might have been different. As it was, Siam had to cede its Lao territory to the French.

Richelieu was to go on to become the first and only foreign commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Navy, from January 16, 1900 to January 29, 1901.

He also served the king in various other capacities, acting as the king's adjudant general. In 1883 he accompanied two royal princes to Europe for education in Denmark, during which trip he also negotiated the purchase of ships for the navy as well as ammunition. On this same trip he is said to have bought generators and lamps to be installed at the Royal Palace in Bangkok, the first time the palace was fitted with electric lighting. In 1897, during King Chulalongkorn's first visit to Europe, Queen Saovabha was installed as Regent, with Richelieu as one of her advisers.

In 1898, he accompanied Crown Prince Maha Vajiravudh on visits to the Russian tzar and tzarina (the Danish Princess Dagmar), to the king of Sweden and to the king of Denmark while attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, in England.

Richelieu was often in the entourage of Prince Damrong Rajanubhab and Prince Devawongse, who held the positions equivalent to the Minister of Interior and Minister of Foreign Affairs, respectively. With these two princes he developed a particularly strong and lifelong friendship. Prince Damrong subsequently visited Richelieu in Denmark several times, the last time in 1930, two years before Richelieu's death.

When Wat Benjamabopit was being built in 1901, he oversaw the shipment of the presiding Buddha image (copied from that in Phitsanulok) to be installed in the chapel. His name appears at the foot of the Buddha image together with that of King Chulalongkorn.

For his services to the king, and after he was elevated to the rank of vice admiral in 1902, he was awarded the Ratanaporn Medal Rama V, or the King Chulalongkorn Royal Cypher Medal (Rama V), prior to his return to Denmark at the end of a long and eventful time in the service of the king of Siam.

With this decoration came the gold robe which was to be worn on all formal ceremonial occasions as a full dress robe. According to the book Phra Phusa Song Nai Rajasamnak Siam (Royal Robes in the Court of Siam), written by historian Paothong Thongchua and published by BankThai, the tradition of the robe can be traced back to the Ayutthaya period as a ceremonial court costume adapted from the Persians and Indians.

The close friendship he retained with the king and members of the royal family can be seen in a description of the touching farewell given to Richelieu when he retired from the royal court in 1902, as recounted by his grandson, Allan Aage Hastrup, 76, who is now in possession of the robe.

"When my grandfather left Siam, the king, queen, Prince Damrong and a lot of other princes and royals followed him to Singapore. At the Governor's Palace dinner, grandfather sat next to the king, and the king said in his speech how much he appreciated him, how sorry he was to see him leave, and how he hoped he would soon come and visit. He also gave him a beautiful silver plate, covered with diamonds showing his coat of arms ... at the same time the king gave him the title of 'Admiral en Suite' and a pension. This was on February 24, on grandfather's 50th birthday!

"The next day, at 9am at the Maha Chakri, everybody was on deck when the king came out from his cabin. The king then asked my grandfather to appoint his successor as commander-in-chief of the Royal Thai Navy, and to give the Seal of the Navy to the one he found the most important after the king himself. Grandfather gave it to the only full-blooded brother of the king, Prince Bhanurangsi Savangwongse, who was also the minister of the War Cabinet."

When King Chulalongkorn undertook a second visit to Denmark in 1907, he made a point of visiting his old friend of 28 years, V Adm Andreas du Plessis de Richelieu. Photographs from the period show a mature vice admiral constantly in the presence of the King during his Denmark visit.

Richelieu married his half-cousin, Dagmar Lousie Lerche, in 1892 and had five children, three of whom were known to have been born in Siam in 1892, 1894 and 1897.

The youngest of these three - Agnes Ingeborg du Plessis de Richelieu, known as Abi - inherited the robe from her father, and she in turn passed it down to her only son, Allan Aage Hastrup.

Despite its sentimental value, Hastrup feels that the robe should be returned to its place of origin, Thailand, a sentiment that is echoed by the auction house, Bruun Rasmussen, in Denmark, which is planning to exhibit the robe in Bangkok at the end of the year. It is hoped that a Thai buyer will be found for this magnificent robe, and if possible, it will make its way back into the Royal Thai Court, its place of birth.

Khao Lak Diving

Whale Shark Conservation project

Our new project, in partnership with Golden Buddha Resort and Ecocean is now live!

Please visit the new site - whale-shark.org is the address...

We are very happy to announce the project dates, in late March and mid-April. We are not only seeking people to join in the research, but we are also offering two scholarships to deserving local divers. We will have lots more about that project as we get closer.



If you would like to help our research expeditions, please check out these pages

We also have lots of interesting whale shark facts and information.

There is also information about our boat, the accommodation and even how to get here.


As always...

Similan Diving

Safer Diving

Thailand liveaboards

and now....

Whale Shark Conservation

Similan Dive Sites Report - Richelieu Rock

Remember that our incredible site for choosing your next liveaboard is up and running
www.liveaboardguide.com

Richelieu Rock

One of the star attractions of the Andaman Sea (and coveniently located for Khao Lak diving!), Richelieu Rock is famed for housing everything from the most obscure marine life to the biggest of the big fish, with whale shark sightings becoming increasingly common throughout the season.

Situated to the north of the Similan islands, Richelieu Rock is part of the Surin National Park. The Rock itself is a submerged pinnacle which forms the shape of a horseshoe. The north of the dive site is characterized by a rock face which rises to the surface in low tide and drops to a sandy bottom of about 30 meters. The south side has a shallower incline composed of a collection of rocks and crevices, which can provide shelter during strong currents. Soft and hard corals are interspersed across the divesite, with the northwest rock face covered in a diverse collection of soft tree coral. The star attractions include sea horses, ghost pipe fish, Janss’s pipefish, harlequin shrimp and tigris allied cowries. Juvenile sweetlips, angel fish and cube box fish also make a frequent appearance. A wide variety of clown fish including the tomato clown fish, squat shrimp, moray eels, cuttlefish and octopus are common. There is also a large resident nurse shark, resting in a small cave in the south side. Around the outside of the pinnacle, large schools of barracuda as well as blue finned trevallies cause mischief to schooling rainbow runners, yellow damsels and blue powered surgeon fishes. The diversity of the dive site easily accommodates multiple dives.

Click on the map for a larger picture

This map is taken from Pocket divesite's guide book: Similans including Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, Richelieu Rock more. Info at pocketdivesite@gmail.com. You can also purchase this book in our shop! Only 100 Baht. This is one of the best dive site books we've run across.

The last few days have brought some rain...

With all the rain, our air has cleared and the trees and jungle are very green again. We were starting to see slightly less green (it is a rain forest after all...so it's never really anything but green).
Now we are getting almost daily reports about Whale sharks and things are clearing up to 20+ meters on the Similans.

Still getting a bit of murk on Richelieu and Koh Bon. But our last guests, Maarten and Heather from Canada were diving at Richelieu. The weather got a bit choppy, so several people skipped the dive. The professional Photographers on the trip set up all their gear for Macro (seahorses, Ghost Pipefish, Nudibranchs abound on Richelieu). Sounds like a perfect set up for...Whale sharks!!!

Seems that if you plan on it, that you prepare for it, you won't see them. But if you skip a dive, then everyone else sees them!!!

Looks like clear weather for the next few months.

Songkram (the end of the dry season celebration - much like New Years, but very warm and fun) looks to be dry this year! WE'll figure out a way to get wet

Similan Diving