This weekend was a long weekend due to Constitution Day and National Father’s Day on 10 and 11 December, which brought many divers and boats flocking to the national parks. Busy, busy! We had a lovely group of Thai and expatriate divers from Bangkok, Rayong and Hat Yai who were not bothered by the crowds and were mesmerised by the treasures we found.

The sea was as flat as a lake and the sun was beaming during this fantastic cruise, giving us some great diving conditions and plenty of memorable encounters across Surin National Park, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock.

This time we saw two ribbon eels, one black and one blue, at Koh Chi in Surin National Park, as well as five Pikachu nudibranchs and a giant school of rainbow runners and trevallies! We were entranced by a cute yellow boxfish and all the colourful tropical fish in the coral garden.

A myriad of nudibranchs welcomed us on the night dive, alongside hunting moray eels and a crocodilefish with its hypnotic green eyes. We enjoyed watching a feather star taking a stroll, as well as many scorpionfish and lionfish hiding amongst the corals and sponges.

Koh Bon Pinnacle was covered in schooling fish: jacks, bigeye trevally, fusiliers and so many grouper species. We also fell in love with juvenile angelfish and sweetlips as they showed off their wiggly moves.

Barracudas formed a tornado around us and we ogled Andaman sweetlips with their mismatched stripes and spots. At the Reef we saw lobsters, batfish, snappers, trevallies, Maldive sponge snails, many nudibranchs, grumpy titan triggerfish and groups of long-faced emperors hunting and changing colours.

Koh Tachai was a magnificent fish soup yet again, with batfish hovering in the current, unicorn surgeonfish, many sweetlips, a huge crack full of lobsters, Napoleon wrasse and even a very brave and curious octopus, to name a few.

We began the third day at Torinla in a veritable ray paradise. Over the course of one dive we saw Kuhl’s rays playing in the sand, a massive Jenkins’ whiptail ray hiding under a rock, and even an eagle ray and fantail ray cruising past. There were also many cute boxfish, whip coral cowries and garden eels shyly poking their heads up when they thought no one was watching.

During our surface interval, we paid a visit to the Moken settlement in Surin National Park to snap some photos, chat with the locals and bring some gifts of snacks and smiles to the children. Our charming boat crew even joined us for their first visit to the village.

Richelieu Rock was rocking and rolling with many boats and divers for our last three dives, but despite the crowds we saw some amazing things! Ornate ghost pipefish frolicked in the fan corals, while a banded sea krait bumped into a diver on its way up to the surface for a breath, startling it into changing its mind and retreating back into the depths.

A massive school of chevron barracudas greeted us at the bottom, while huge pickhandle barracudas came within mere centimetres of our masks during the safety stop.

Moray eels hunted through the nooks and crannies, colourful nudibranchs munched on yummy hydroids and decorator crabs got creative, using cuttlefish eggs to adorn their carapaces. Love was certainly in the air as cuttlefish courted and fought to impress the discerning females. Some were more curious than others, and one came in really close as if to offer a little kiss to an elated diver!

The icing on the cake was a quick fly-by from a speedy eagle ray during the safety stop of the night dive.

Many thanks to this incredible group of divers for making this weekend memorable and sharing these delightful encounters with us.

A massive congratulations to Aaron for completing his Advanced Open Water certification, as well as to Jerome, Amelie and Blaize for becoming certified Enriched Air divers! We can’t wait for the next trip!

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