Our very first dive welcomed us to Surin Islands National Park with a majestic giant guitarfish swimming towards us and putting on a wonderful show before disappearing into the blue. It stayed around us long enough for everyone to appreciate all the details of this fascinating creature, and it was certainly the highlight of the dive.

Our second dive was special too, as we spotted a wonderpus octopus poking its head out of a sandy burrow. We honestly didn’t think these wonderfully colourful creatures lived in Thailand, so it was a fantastic surprise!

Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get a photograph of this rare critter. The photo below is of its less rare, but always charming, cousin: a reef octopus we encountered at Koh Bon.

Our third dive was highlighted by a huge Napoleon fish at Kitten City. In the large sandy patches we also found plenty of rays, including blue-spotted ribbontail rays and the larger Jenkins’ rays.

When we cruised over to the rocky area, we encountered quite a number of shy brown-marbled groupers. They would sneak into the cracks as soon as we got a little closer, making them particularly entertaining to watch.

As we were taking a break on the boat between dives, we got another spectacular wildlife show as a marlin jumped dozens of times around the boat. The Surin Islands really delivered a fantastic day of diving!

At Koh Bon, we were all hoping for something big in the blue and kept our eyes peeled. There had been a big bull shark sighted there the previous week, so naturally that was quite an exciting prospect.

One diver was lucky enough to spot a giant manta ray at Koh Bon Ridge, but unfortunately the rest of the group missed it. Bummer!

Some of us found better luck later when we saw a blacktip reef shark cruising along the ridge. On the pinnacle, we also found a Maldive sponge snail, while plenty of chevron barracuda and tuna were hunting in the blue.

A sea snake came by as it surfaced for a breath of air, and most of us got to see two octopuses mating in their own underwater Valentine dance. I swear I even heard dolphin songs during the safety stop, but sadly never saw them!

This week’s visit to Koh Tachai was out of this world! We dived in around 40 metres of visibility and encountered massive amounts of fish.

We loved the giant trevallies most of all. They were absolutely huge! They had plenty of friends around too, with schools of blue trevallies, jacks, emperor fish and surgeonfish all hunting together in great balls of glassfish.

It was an impressive display of coordinated hunting, with the larger predators constantly moving around the baitfish. Down on the seabed, impressive lobsters were showing off, while porcelain crabs delighted us as they sheltered among the anemones.

Our barbecue night was once again loads of fun, and Simon gave us a scuba diving celebratory dance… I’ll just leave those moves to your imagination, haha!

We were incredibly lucky to have Richelieu Rock almost to ourselves. Only one other boat was on site with us, so we were able to enjoy some peaceful diving away from the crowds and really explore this famous dive site.

Thailand’s number one dive site was not quite as fishy as Koh Tachai this week, but it was still exquisite. A school of chevron barracuda mingled with their yellowtail cousins, while schools of batfish moved around the rock.

We also spotted a zebra moray eel at the safety stop, with hermit crabs playing hide-and-seek in almost every crevice. Colourful tiger cowries were hanging out in the sea fans, while mantis shrimps, tomato anemonefish, immaculate ghost pipefish and frogfish all appeared during our dives.

All of this was happening while we were surrounded by trevallies, with some big tuna also passing by to grab smaller fish nearby. Richelieu Rock certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the most exciting places to dive in the Andaman Sea.

We had an amazing trip with new and returning friends!

A big thank you to Chris, Pook, Andrew, Mike and Gabriela for coming back!

A special congratulations to our four new Open Water and Adventure Deep Diver students: David, Gerard, Laura and Arnaud.

Congratulations as well to Lena on becoming an Enriched Air Diver, and to Nikita and Rianne for completing their Adventure Deep Dive certifications.

We hope to see you all again soon for more underwater adventures!

The Andaman Sea never seems to run out of surprises, from giant guitarfish and mantas to hunting trevallies, colourful reef life and the incredible underwater scenery of Richelieu Rock. If you’d like to experience this kind of diving for yourself, discover the marine life of the Andaman Sea and join us aboard The Smiling Seahorse.

For our latest liveaboard trips, departure dates and prices, check our cruises schedule and prices and start planning your next underwater adventure.