A Festive Christmas Week of Diving in Thailand’s Andaman Sea
We just returned from a festive and exciting week of diving in Thailand. After our departure from Ranong, we picked up Gary and Lisa from Koh Phayam and had our diving group ready for an adventure into the Similan Islands and Surin Islands!
Surin Islands: turtles, Napoleon wrasse and a tiger shark
Our first day was spent exploring Surin National Park, where we were delighted to be greeted by friendly turtles and roaming Napoleon wrasse. We looked a little closer to search out iridescent peacock mantis shrimp, ghost pipefish and loads of vibrant nudibranchs, including the cutest little Pikachu nudibranch.
The divers were especially excited when we sighted a tiger shark! As calm and cute as a teddy bear.
Schooling fish at Koh Tachai and Koh Bon
The following day we cruised south to Koh Tachai and Koh Bon in the Similan National Park. As we hopped into a calm sea, we were in luck and found fantastic visibility. We descended into swarming schools of fish such as batfish, goatfish, cobias and trevallies.
As we peered through the corals to find colourful juvenile angelfish, groupers and parrotfish, we also spotted an eagle ray!
Even though we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the schooling fish, we had another exciting moment when we found a rare psychedelic batwing slug. What a trip!
In between dives, a friendly green turtle swam up for some air right next to our boat! We grabbed some snorkels and hopped in to say hello. It was so friendly that it stayed with us for some time, having a close look at us as well.
Exploring the southern Similan Islands
After a comfortable night’s rest, we travelled to our southernmost destinations. Beneath the famous submerged boulders, we spotted two juvenile whitetip reef sharks at Anita Reef and Shark Fin Reef.
Our sunset dive at Elephant Head Rock was filled with exhilarating swim-throughs and lots of fish nibbling on their evening meals. The most beautiful ribbon eels in all three colours came out of their rocks to watch us swim by: yellow, blue and black. What a treat!
A clean-up dive with the Similan National Park Rangers
During this cruise we also partnered with the Similan National Park Rangers for a clean-up dive. We met the Rangers on the island and learned more about maintaining the natural beauty of these marine parks. We were even rewarded with awesome T-shirts to remember our time and our work together in preserving the majestic homes of our underwater friends.
We were also rewarded with phenomenal visibility on our next dives as we descended into a tornado of shiny barracudas!
The clear visibility allowed us to spot a massive titan triggerfish nursery. There must have been 20–30 nests in the sand, all filled with mothers snuggled close to their babies and fathers swimming close by to ward off any predators. We made sure they felt safe as we kept our safe distance from this natural wonder.
Christmas Eve at Koh Bon
Our night dive at Koh Bon was full of excitement and oddities. A funky frogfish was hanging out with a Spanish dancer nudibranch in the rocks, and we spotted eerie sea snakes and ornate ghost pipefish.
We returned to Koh Bon the following day to continue exploring one of the best sites on our trip. Franck decided to stay back on the sunset dive to grill up an epic Christmas Eve barbecue. The whole boat was rocking as we ate, drank and danced the night away! It was definitely a Christmas party that nobody will forget.
Christmas morning at Richelieu Rock
On Christmas morning we received the gift of Richelieu Rock! This was the highlight of our trip as we donned our Santa hats and dived through mind-blowing schools of chevron and pickhandle barracudas, huge red snappers and flashy rainbow runners.
We saw lionfish, frogfish and scorpionfish as we cruised around the craggy site, and could not hold back our excitement when a guitarfish joined the party. After we passed some mating cuttlefish, we found a magnificent seahorse. A perfect ending to our holiday trip.
The end of a festive Andaman Sea adventure
Our festive cruise had come to an end, so we headed home, dropping Wendi off at Koh Phayam.
Thank you to all the divers who made it so memorable! And a big congratulations to Gabriella for her Junior Advanced Open Water Diver certification, to Sylvia and Ben for their Advanced Open Water Diver certifications, and to Nici for her Advanced Open Water Diver and Nitrox certifications!
