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

Similan Liveaboard: Trip report November 18, 2013

It was a another great trip aboard our Similan Liveaboard. New friends, returning friends and some amazing diving all of us happy and ready for even more!!

Perpetrations didn't took long with the top notch team working from Brett, Albert and Krystal along with the trip leader Sinan and we were ready to welcome our guests on Mariner; Mick, Tom, Katie, Lotta, Trine, Aina, Torgier, Mikkel, Pal, Daniel, Stine, Marte, Kristian, Tord, Nils, Mikael, Valarie, Douglas, Finlay, Trish and Billy.

After our welcome coconut drinks, we did our general boat and trip briefing and have a quick look to our rooms. As usual at 8 pm the ring bells and delicious Thai food buffet was on. The rest of the night people just enjoyed some beers and shared lots of laughs on our sun deck.

Next morning comes with a surprise because there was no current at all in our first dive site Anita's Reef. After safety, dive site and course briefings Sinan's and Albert's group were the first ones to jump. Then Norwegian group make their way to the dive deck with their instructors; Brett, Edward and Jerome. Last group was Krystal and after she jumped the boat leave the dive site so we could just enjoy the silence of the underwater.

2nd dive site comes with another surprise; strong currents. But with a combined experience of 10.000 dives between the instructors they managed it like it was a lake diving.

After 3rd dive of the day we had some snacks and make our way to the beach as known as Honeymoon bay. It's just a piece of heaven and that's why King himself spend his honeymoon here. A little bit of clean up, swimming and relax made everybody refill their energy.

After dinner, fish books and beers were on the table and lots of old diving stories from all over the world. But wake up call was going to be early so everybody went to bed early.

2nd day the dives went incredibly smooth and relaxing. In order; Elephant head, 3 trees and North point. 

Night dive site was a surprise for the group because Sinan picked Koh Bon island for it. It was 2 hours ride from the Similans but it deserved every second of the ride.

3rd day morning we did our dive on the wall and second dive Koh bon bay. When the last group come to the surface we had 10 new advanced open water divers and we celebrated it with Katie's birthday together.

Next week 12 of our guests from this trip are coming back to have this experience again with us which shows us we are doing something nice and because of it we are so happy.

 -Wicked Diving Thailand

Similan Liveaboard - Trip Report November 1st, 2013

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.

Our final day got off to a bad start when it was discovered we had run out of coco pops, but at least we had the morning dive on Koh Bons west ridge to look forward to, a strong current passing over the ridge gave us a morning workout, but the soft corals alone make it worth the effort, scorpion fish, morays, octopi, and a napoleon wrasse keep us entertained till the end of the dive.

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

Similan Diving Video - Koh Bon

Similan Dive Sites - Koh Bon Wall

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

Koh Bon Wall

Koh Bon is located about 20 kilometers north of Island 9 and features one of the only vertical walls in Thailand. The island has no beaches and is in the shape of a horseshoe. The main dive site is on the southwestern point and consists of a 33 meter wall facing the small cove, and a step-down ridge that carries on to depths of over 45 meters.

Leopard sharks are common on the sandy flats below the wall (particularly on the eastern side). Although the soft corals are not as high-profile as they are in the Similans, the colors of the corals are radically different and include shades of turquoise, yellow and blue, besides the more common pinks and purples. With the angles on the wall, they also offer an ever changing spectrum of colors and make for some great photos around noon.

Koh Bon is one of the better places to see manta rays, almost all year around. This last year featured Mantas almost everyday from mid-December until April. Frequent, but not daily sightings for the rest of the season!

There is also a pinnacle in the bay just to the north of the ridge. It is a deep rock, but if you’re an experienced diver it’s worth the short bottom times you’ll get (especially if you’re on a longer trip). Not all boats visit it and if conditions are not good (like the current is wrong), it’s not worth it. But, if the water is clear, you’re good with your air, and the current is slack, it’s a stunning rock. It looks like a temple built by some ancient culture. It’s larger than Richelieu Rock at the base, and a hard swim. The bottom is over 40 meters deep, and the top only come up to about 18-20 meters. Some amazing little critters are seen here including nudibranchs, pipefishes, pleurobranchs and mantis shrimps.

Diving Depths of 1- 35 meters (1-100 feet), with most time spent on the ridge at 20-25 meters (70-85 feet). Visibility runs about 20 meters (75 feet) but gust of cold water, with associated plankton blooms are not uncommon. Currents can be mild to strong, depending on tides. It is also common to have virtually no current inside the bay but a ripping current on the outside.

Experience level: while beginners can do this site, it is recommended that the diver be intermediate and above due to lack of beaches, potentially strong currents and popularity of the site.

Similan Diving

Similan Guide

Divemaster Training

Our day on Koh Bon...

We dived Koh Tachai and Koh Bon today and the weather was perfect. There was a current at Koh Tachai - but there often is. There was also a Manta with us for 20 minutes of the dive. She was really big (4.5 meters/15 feet wingspan) and spent some quality time with each of the dive groups.

The water was smooth and clear (slight thermocline at 17 meters) and it was just a nice day to be out.


Khao Lak Diving

Similan Island Information

Similan Diving

Manta, need I say more?

This Manta we had the pleasure of encountering on the Koh Bon Ridge, along with two others, sadly I didn't manage to capture them all in the same shoot.
Is it just me who can hear the symphony playing whilst encountering these majestic creatures?

Similan Dive Sites - Koh Bon

Koh Bon is located about 20 kilometers north of Island 9 and features one of the only vertical walls in Thailand. The island has no beaches and is in the shape of a horseshoe.

The main dive site is on the southwestern point and consists of a 33 meter wall facing the small cove, and a step-down ridge that carries on to depths of over 45 meters. Leopard sharks are common on the sandy flats below the wall (particularly on the eastern side).

Although the soft corals are not as high-profile as they are in the Similans, the colors of the corals are radically different and include shades of turquoise, yellow and blue, besides the more common pinks and purples. With the angles on the wall, they also offer an ever changing spectrum of colors and make for some great photos around noon.

Koh Bon is one of the better places to see manta rays, almost all year around. With wing-spans sometimes in excess of five meters they are a spectacular thing to behold! This last year featured Mantas almost everyday from mid-December until April. Frequent, but not daily sightings for the rest of the season!

There is also a pinnacle just to the north of the ridge. It is a deep rock, but if you're an experienced diver it's worth the short bottom times you'll get (especially if you're on a longer trip). Not all boats visit it and if conditions are not good (like the current is wrong), it's not worth it. But, if the water is clear, you're good with your air, and the current is slack, it's a stunning rock. It looks like a temple built by some ancient culture. It's larger than Richelieu Rock at the base, and a hard swim. The bottom is over 50 meters deep, and the top only come up to about 18-20 meters.

Some amazing little critters are seen here including nudibranchs, pipefishes, pleurobranchs and mantis shrimps.

Diving Depths of 1- 35 meters (1-100 feet), with most time spent on the ridge at 20-25 meters (70-85 feet).

Visibility runs about 20 meters (75 feet) but gust of cold water, with associated plankton blooms are not uncommon.

Currents can be mild to strong, depending on tides. It is also common to have virtually no current inside the bay but a ripping current on the outside.

Experience level: while beginners can do this site, it is recommended that the diver be intermediate and above due to lack of beaches, potentially strong currents and popularity of the site.

Great day on Koh Bon

It was an incredible day today...Both Keith and myself saw the opportunity, and word of some great conditions got us all excited.

With a boat load of excited divers we left Khao Lak and headed off to the main site for seeing Manta Rays in Khao Lak - Koh Bon. Just yesterday there had been a sighting of a Whale Shark too! It was all I could do to stay calm.

Well, it turned out a bit different than we expected...

Here's Michelle and Ali looking for something interesting on their dive.


Michelle, Donna and Gerry were all here visiting ...trying to find some good diving. So it was pretty weird having three Americans diving. Plus me! We were the majority on the boat. how often does that happen?
It was great though, they were really fun, positive people and being from Georgia, they said "y'all" more than I do!


Ali guided them and showed them a really sweet time. Mantas on two days, all sorts and of course his famous riddles...



As they were in very good hands, I had a deeper dive with Keith and we had a great time too!



This is a Manta sitting right above us on the Ridge while we were distracted by cool flabellinas....








which is what I was really focused on. An amazing snail, but of course I couldn't get it in focus. Then when I came back to the shop...all proud and bragging, I get a "oh yeah, that's a Maldivean Soft Shelled snail" or some such rubbish. Well it was the first time Keith or me had seen one, and we were impressed.
Here's more time on the ridge with Keith. We were just inundated with Manta Rays. This one did two very close "swim-bys" of us, then went on to circle Michelle, Donna and Gerry for quite a while. It was stunning, watching it for the ridge, as they were int he blue and round and round this Manta goes.


We were all impressed, and then I got another one circling me during my Safety stop.


anyhow....check out our site Wicked Diving. We are going to Koh Bon almost every Tuesday, Easter and Christmas.

Khao Lak weather April 7

We had a nice shower last night, cooled things down a lot. Made it much cooler.

We are definitely in the hot season. It is HOT outside. Okay, it's still just 34 (94) but the humidity is amazing. I tried taking a butter knife and cutting out a hunk of the air, but it actually melted. Khao Lak is like that this time of year. It makes for good napping, good diving and good lounging on the beach.

It looks like the same for the next week or so.

Tomorrow we head to Koh Bon on our speedboat, the mighty Moby Dick. The conditions have gotten so good that it's jut about scary, so I figured I'll jump on! I am looking forward to it.

Tonight we have a whole group going on the West Coast Explorer - Great Last Minute prices for them, so saved money and got to go on a SWEET (maybe even - Wicked) boat.

I'm looking froward to Manta and seeking out the opistobranch that is supposed to be afoot. Well, I'm looking for anything I can find! Clear, warm water is just about okay with me.

Still a few weeks of great diving left. We are looking forward to it. Then ADEX - the Asian Dive Expo, where we roll out our next project. It is very exciting. Lots of tension as we build up for that. should be very exciting....

oh yeah...don't forget Wicked Diving is the only kind of diving you'll want to do...

Our most recent Advanced student...

Harsha has just done his Advanced Open Water Speciality Course. He wasn't even sure if he should do the course here on the Similans when we first talked. I said it was expensive to do the course in Khao Lak but a very good place to do it.

He went forth with high spirits and hopes (and a loan from mum!). He ended up being the only student on the course, so he was pretty lucky to be 1 on 1 with Ali the whole time.

Spread over three days, his course featured the highlights of the area;

One day on the Similans
One day on Koh Bon
One day on one of our local wrecks - Bon Soong.

Of course the high points....


Manta Rays! Here is a picture with Ali posing. He said they saw 5 or 6 on the first dive. Not bad. But luckily this was his photography dive, so he had the camera for the day, and whipped out a couple more nice pictures....

Here's another with Ali pretending to be Cobia. There was a pretty heavy thermocline so plenty of plankton at depth, but hey...that's what feeds them!

Of course there was plenty of other stuff to see, like this lionfish....


Click on it for a bigger picture (you can do that for all of them)

But here's them heading back to the boat....




Another successful day for Khao Lak's finest dive center - Wicked Diving!!!


Similan Information

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