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Blackwater Diving, Paper Nautilus and a Colourful Andaman Sea Adventure
We started this new adventure from Phuket on a very windy day, heading towards our very first dive at Koh Haa Lagoon. After that, we went down to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang for the next two dives and the night dive at Hin Daeng. It was really nice!
Boris Mekler, the photographer featured in this blogpost, played with UV lights, which gave these funky colours to corals and anemones. It was a fantastic way to see familiar reef scenes in a completely different light.
Koh Lipe, Stonehenge and beautiful visibility
The following day was planned around the Koh Lipe area, but we could only have one dive at 8 Miles because of the wavy conditions. We found shelter for dives two and three at Pattaya Corner, then finished the day with calm conditions at the brightly coloured Stonehenge.
Visibility reached an impressive 20 metres, and the dive was full of barracuda. After a windy start to the trip, it was great to finally enjoy such calm conditions underwater.
Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and the journey north
After that, it was time to go back west to Hin Muang and Hin Daeng, hoping to see some giant flap flaps… no luck with the pelagics this time, but we still had some beautiful dives with great visibility and no more waves!
Our third dive of the day was at Koh Haa Neua before setting sail for the Similan Islands. This part of the journey was really nice. As we cruised north, we enjoyed some drinks while watching the sun go down. It was a beautiful moment to share with our guests.
Similan Islands and two very different night dives
The next day started at Shark Fin Reef, followed by West of Eden. After that, we made a stop at our beloved Donald Duck Bay for some beach hopping before the third dive at Three Trees.
At night, we offered the option between a Blackwater dive and a sunset dive at Koh Bon. Both were amazing!
The sunset divers caught a glimpse of two whitetip reef sharks and a guitar shark, while the Blackwater divers saw a seahorse and two paper nautiluses — a male and a female — while floating offshore. It was amazing!!
Paper nautiluses and a birthday barbecue
The next day we did two dives at Koh Bon, which were both amazing, with two whitetip reef sharks again and an eagle ray.
Then we moved to Koh Tachai, with great conditions and a massive school of blackfin barracudas! We wrapped up the day with our infamous BBQ night, taking this occasion to celebrate Marco’s birthday with some delicious cakes!
Did you know paper nautiluses are actually not nautiluses at all?
Richelieu Rock and an abundance of macro life
The trip ended at Richelieu Rock for the next four dives. We found even more ghost pipefish than on the previous trips — they seem to be everywhere these days!
We were amazed by the abundance of macro life at Richelieu Rock. This world-famous dive site is always capable of producing surprises, and on this trip the tiny creatures were particularly plentiful.
We also found another whitetip reef shark at Koh Bon before saying goodbye to the islands and heading back to shore.
A big congratulations to our divers!
Big up to Anka for completing her Advanced Open Water certification as well as the Nitrox specialty, and to Emma for completing the Nitrox specialty too!
Thanks to our lovely guests, we had an amazing time once again 🙂
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