Diving liveaboard in Thailand and Myanmar
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South and North Andaman Liveaboard: 13th of January

27/1/2022

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Trip report January
​We started this new adventure from Phuket on a very windy day, heading towards our very first dive at Koh haa lagoon. After we went down to Hin Deang and Hin Muang for the next 2 dives and the night dive at Hin Deang, it was really nice!
Boris Mekler, the photographer featured in this blogpost played with UV lights which gave these funky colours to coral and anemones.
Green Anemone
Blackwater dive
The following day was planned to be around Koh Lipe area but we could only have 1 dive at 8 miles due to wavy conditions. ​We found shelter for dive 2 and 3 at Pattaya corner and finished the day with calm conditions at the brightly coloured Stonehenge with a magnificent dive full of barracuda and 20m visibility!
Barracuda Thailand
Diving Thailand
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 pelagic this time but we still had some beautiful dives with great visibility and no more waves! Our 3rd dive of the day was at koh Haa Neua before setting sails for the Similan Islands, this part was really nice as we were cruising we had some nice drinks watching the sun go down…​ It was a beautiful moment to share with our guests! 
Sunset Thailand
Boat Smiling Seahorse
1 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 3rd dive at 3 trees!
At night we offered the option between a Blackwater dive and a sunset dive at Koh Bon, both were amazing!
Sunset divers caught a glimpse of 2 white tips and a guitar shark and Blackwaterdivers saw a seahorse and 2 paper nautilus (male and female) during floating offshore! It was amazing!! 
Seahorse BW
Strange face on blackwater dive
Next day we did 2 dives at Koh Bon which were both amazing with 2 white tips again and an eagle ray! Then we moved to Koh Tachai with great conditions and a massive school of black fin barracudas!  We wrapped up the day with our infamous bbq night taking this occasion to celebrate Marco’s birthday with some delicious cakes!
Turltle Blackwater dive
Male paper nautilus are much smaller then their female counterpart
Paper Nautilus
female also build a shell to hide their eggs giving them this "nautilus look"
Did you know Paper Nautilus are actually not Nautiluses at all?

The trip ended in Richelieu Rock for the next 4 dives… We found even more ghost pipe fishes than the previous trips, they seem to be everywhere these days. We were amazed by the abundance of macro life! In Koh Bon we found another white tips shark before saying goodby to the islands and heading back to shore.

Big up to Anka for completing her advanced open water certification as well as the nitrox specialty and to Emma for the nitrox specialty too! Thanks to our lovely guests, we had an amazing time once again :) Don't forget to subscribe to our blogpost to receive regular updates and more illustrated fishy stories directly in your inbox. 
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North and South Andaman Liveaboard : January 4th 2022

14/1/2022

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North and South Andaman Liveaboard : January 4th 2022
We had, once again, a Fantastic trip on the Andaman Sea this week. Joining us from Switzerland, a lovely group of fun divers chartered the boat and brought a lot of good vibes with them! Aurélie, Eva, Yan alias Loudou, Coranda, Tanguy, Damien alias titi, Marilyn, Gilbert, Alex, André, Roxane, André, Jean Louis,Thomas et Nadia: Thanks for joining us!
The cruise started late on the 4th of January as the group just landed in Phuket in the morning and were waiting for their PCR test to clear. We visited on this cruise the best dive sites of the Andaman Sea from Richelieu Rock to Koh Lipe over 8 days of fun.
​The highlights of this trip were certainly the dolphins and whale sharks!! 
Ko Ha, South Andaman dive site
similan viewpoint
diving koh ha
The cruise started very well with excellent visibility at Richelieu Rock. We had the chance to witness emperors, trevally and tunas hunting the glass fish covering the reef.
​
Unfortunately Franck wasn't in the water this week so we have less underwater photos than usual but a lot more surface photos :)
the smiling seahorse dive platform with happy divers
buterflyfish in thailand
We continued our journey in Koh Tachai the next day, where we had 2 wonderful dives on the pinacle, one in company of a Magestic Whale Shark!!! 
On the way to Koh Bon, we got lucky to see a pod of pilot whales from the boat! It was so exciting! 
pilot whales in thailand
pilot whales similans
​The next day we visited the infamous Donald Duck bay and viewpoint! The weather was super nice and we had amazing views on the beach. 
Donald duck bay, similan view point
the smiling seahorse from similan viewpoint
the beauty of the similans
During our surface interval we had the surprise visit of a huge green turtle checking out the boat which allowed us to swim with it for a few wonderful minutes.
similan islands green turtle
hermit crab on the beach
diving with a green turtle
In the South Andaman, we did some nice dives around Hin Daeng and Hin Muang and a cool blackwater dive; a first experience for most of our guests!!
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Our blackwater diving line
the smiling seahorse dive platform ready to jump from
enjoying the cruise in the similans

The next day we travelled to Tarutao National park near Koh Lipe where we met a second amazing whale shark which came again and again during the whole dive.

​We just could never get tired of it!
a whale shark in 8 miles rock, lipe, thailand
Hin Muang was amazing with crazy visibility and no current at all: just a pure delight!

And speaking of delight, we enjoyed our special barbecue night surrounded by Koh Ha scenic islands, with our traditional "aperitif" to start what became a wild evening, some threw ourselves into the water in the middle of the night on Koh Phi Phi and others who had not asked for anything, were thrown into the water... poor people.
fun times onboard the smiling seahorse
We ended our journey with nice dives at Bida Nok and Shark Point with amazing visibility once again and some curious Blacktip sharks. We caught a glimple of Tigertail seahorses, a perfect way to end our cruise! 
beautiful thai islands
sunset of the Andaman sea
Thanks again to our amazing guests! We loved this trip and can't wait to welcome you onboard again! :) 
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27th December cruise... We get a whale shark for new year!

13/1/2022

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Trip report december

Diving into 2022 with lovely guests and 2 beautiful whale sharks!

Happy New Year 2022 to all ocean lovers! How did you celebrate? We hope that you had fun and that this year will be filled with happiness and marvellous diving. For us, 2022 got off to a good start with delightful encounters: not one but 2 Whale Sharks and the oh so pretty juvenile shaded batfish were the higlights this week!! 
Whale Shark
Diving Thailand
Whale Shark
This journey started in 2021, on the 27th of December from Tap Lamu pier with a full boat ready to visit the top dive sites in Surin and Similan National parks.  
Coral life thailand
Juvenile shaded batfish
juvenile Shaded batfish in Surin National Park
Coral life thailand
ghost pipefish
Ornate Ghost pipe fish
​We started by exploring Surin Islands on the first days where we went nudi hunting, this season is particularly great to see pikachu nudibranchs which are always a hit. We caught a glimpse of a guitar fish in Torinla but unfortunately couldn't get a shot this time. ​Yellow rock was beautiful, with amazing visibility and a massive school of sweetlips. But what we loved the most on this dive was this gorgeous juvenile batfish playing model for our pleasure. 
bannerfish
Diving thai
sweetlips
Coral life
We did the first night dives in the bay where divers could see various types of crabs, moray eals hunting and cool nudibranchs.
​
But for sure the highlight of Surin National park this week, was once more on Richelieu rock, the next day, where we met 2  friendly whale sharks, it was so exciting! 
Diving in thailand
Scuba diving
Scuba diving
Thailand diving
​Similan islands had perfect conditions: maybe 50 meter viz this week and mild current. 
Schols of fusilier, jacks, trevallis and barracudas were surrounding us and we went through some fun swim through making the perfect frames for our photo shooting session :)
weird crustaceans met on blackwater dives in thailand
Shrimp
Blackwater dive
We also did some blackwater diving and met some curious types of shrimp and a fish larveas. 
Clownfish
juvenile angelfish
clownfish eggs
Crab
We could aslo admire a clownfish family watching its nearly hatched eggs!
This juveline angelsfish was also magnificient. Don't you think?
Boat thailand
diving cruise
New Year
Cruise thailand
This cruise was special as well because we celebrated New Year's eve on the boat!
We had a lovely time and had some nice food and drinks to share with our amazing guests! 
​
Subscribe to our blogpost to receive regular updates and more illustrated fishy stories directly in your inbox. We have some pretty exciting things coming up in 2022! :) 
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Christmas gifts on this North and South Andaman cruise! 18-25 Dec 2021

10/1/2022

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The best Christmas gifts ever: 2 whale sharks!

Have you been good this year?? What did you get for Christmas? 
​We have probably been very good this year, cause Santa brought us a whale shark!!!
The best Christmas gifts ever: 2 whale sharks!
This trip was just awesome! We left Phuket on the 18th of December with 15 fantastic guests and explored Thailand's 4 best Marine National parks.
We started down south, near the Malaysian border with Tarutao National park next to Koh Lipe, also dived in Koh Lanta National parks around Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and Koh Ha before going around Phuket island to explore the North Andaman National parks of Surin and Similan islands next to Myanmar border! What an adventure!
The Smiling Seahorse Christmas tree
The Smiling Seahorse Christmas tree
Batwing sea slugs
Batwing sea slugs
The 2 whale sharks were not the only gift we got on this trip, there were a rainbow of criters in all shapes and colours from this wonderful Batwing sea slugs (top right) to pretty Harlequin shrimps (below) read more about these Anibal lector of the sea in this dedicated blogpost.
Arlequin shrimp in her colorful environment
Beautiful Arlequin shrimp
We found a Mama Clown fish (clark to be precise) eye to eye with her nearly hatched babies.
Mama Clown fish (clark to be precise) and babies
Nearly hatched clown fish babies
Several Ghost pipefish on our North and South route as well as Napoleon fish and reef steaming with life!
Napoleon fish
Napoleon fish
Ghost pipefish
Ghost pipefish

Black water diving on every trip: We love it!!!

Just like on every other trip, we did an optional Blackwater dive and met a myriad of Fish larvaes, all cutest than can be as well as cephalopods and drifting crustaceans in various stage of development.
blackwater diving cruise in Thailand
blackwater diving cephalopod in Thailand
Picture
blackwater diving liveaboard
Thailand blackwater diving
There was also plenty of schools of fish to keep our eyes and cameras busy around the reef.
School of fish and underwater landscape
Almost inside a school of fish...
But I must admit my favorite this week were the two whale shark and this shy tigertail seahorse.
The gentle whale shark...
The gentle whale shark...
A shy tigertail seahorse
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A cruise down South: Phuket to Koh Lipe December 12th 2021

5/1/2022

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As you may have heard by now, our itineraries have changed greatly since Covid-19 separated us from our beloved Mergui Archipelago and the biggest news for us is to dive down South all the way to the Malaysian border were we met a lovely Devil ray on 8 Miles!!!
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But that's not the only reason this cruise was so wonderful! read more...
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emergency tank deep diving padi
Flo practicing new skills for her Deep diver specialty
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We had some of our favorite divers onboard and were delighted to welcome again these lovely divers who are now part of The Smiling Seahorse family. Not only did we have the pleasure to continue diving with 8 French friends who were already on the previous cruise, but a lovely british family joined us for their 3rd cruise on the Smiling seahorse in a year! They first came last christmas as newby divers and now have over 50 dives, most of them with us.
​
Flo, 15 is now a deep diver, nitrox certified, and talented underwater photographer :)
Maisie, 13, is advanced and enjoys diving with the rest of the family to up to 21 meters.
Claire is such a confident diver now who overcame an initial fear of the ocean and Paul became a Go-Pro enthousiast  :)

For various reason, this trip was a lot more lucky than the previous one: better weather, better visibility, better sightings!
Picture
Picture
Mike and his new buddy and freshly certified open water diver
Mike was another friend coming back for more underwater adventures bringing along his friend for a first diving experience and what a trip! Congratulation to Aor for completing her open water course with her private guide Julie 
as well as the deep and night adventure dives! We look forward to having you and Mike back soon!
​​Can you believe Aor met mr whale shark on her 10th dive ever!!! When other wait for years, it seems pretty unfair
Why we loved diving around Tarutao and Koh Lanta national parks?

We got lucky at 8 miles where we had a friendly visit of a mobula ray and lucky again in Koh Ha where a 7 meters whaleshark came to say hi. What graceful animals!!
Picture
Superbe cave system to explore in Koh ha. Unfortunately a whale shark passed in front of the cave when we were exploring it...
Unfortunately my group didn't get to see the whale shark as we were exploring the wonderful caves of Koh Ha, but Julie, with her brand new Open Water student Oar, got more lucky and took a quick video!
whale shark Go Pro
Whale Shark spotted at Koh Ha, video by Julie
turtle easting coral
we also met this gorgeous turtle which made the dive even better!
Picture
Out of 16 guests this weel, we only had 4 new guests to welcome to the big Smiling Seahorse Family. We had a blast with you all and look forward to more dives and laughters with you on the Andaman Sea.

Oh and did I talk about the blackwater dives? this baby seahorse and puffer fish came right at us to strike a pose :)

Picture
Picture
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  • When & Where
    • Schedule and Prices
    • Destinations >
      • North Andaman Thailand >
        • Similan Islands
        • Surin Islands >
          • Richelieu rock
        • The essential Underwater photo Guide to diving Thailand
      • South Andaman Thailand
      • Mergui Archipelago >
        • Marine life in the Andaman Sea
        • Burma's best dive sites
        • The Ultimate Underwater photo Guide to diving Burma
  • ABOUT
    • Our Boat >
      • DELICIOUS FOOD
    • Guest Book
    • Diving in Thailand in 2022-2023 >
      • Ranong Departures >
        • 3D Thailand: Surin National Park
        • 4D Thailand from Ranong 5pm-7pm
        • 5D Thailand: Surin and Similan
        • 6D Thailand: Surin and Similan end to Ranong
        • 7D North Andaman: Surin and Similan from Ranong
        • 8D Thailand: North & South
        • Alternative itineraries for full charter >
          • 4D4N Evening to morning - Surin Similan
      • Khao Lak Departures >
        • 5D North Andaman from Khao Lak to Phuket
        • 5D North Andaman: All of Surin and Similan
        • 6D North Andaman: All of Surin and Similan
        • 6D North Andaman: From Khao Lak to Ranong
        • 7D North Andaman: All of Surin and Similan
        • 7D North Khao Lak to Khao Lak
        • 8D North & South Andaman Thailand
      • Phuket departures >
        • 5D North Andaman from Phuket
        • 5D South Andaman: Lanta and Tarutao National Parks
        • 6D North Andaman: Phuket to Khao Lak
        • 8D Thailand: South & North
    • Blackwater diving in Thailand
    • Marine life in Thailand's Andaman Sea
    • Diving in Myanmar | Burma dive cruises >
      • 6D Burma : South Mergui Archipelago
      • 7D Burma: dive Black Rock
      • 8D Burma: Undiscovered Mergui
      • 9D Burma: Exploration trip
    • Dive Courses >
      • Learn to Dive
      • Continue diving education
      • Rescue diver
      • Professional Dive Courses
      • Hone your dive skills with a PADI specialty course
      • Photo coaching in Thailand on the Smiling Seahorse
    • FAQ
  • Plan your trip
    • Accommodation in Ranong
    • SHA+ hotels in Phuket
    • Bungalows in Koh Phayam
    • Khao Sok National Park
    • Taxi services >
      • Taxi services to and from Ranong
      • Taxi services to and from Phuket
      • Taxi services to Tap Lamu and Khao Lak
    • 10 things to do around Ranong
    • Covid-19 news & infos >
      • COVID-19 update travel to Thailand
      • Covid-19 protection on-board
  • PROMO
    • HOT DEALS
    • Whale shark expedition - 4 Feb 2023 - North and South
    • Manta rays expedition - 19 Mar 2023
    • Photo clinic + Blackwater 23 Jan 2024
    • UW Photo clinic North Andaman 31 Jan 2024
    • Manta rays expedition - 18 Feb 2024
    • Whale Shark Special - 19 Mar 2024 - North and South
  • gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • CONTACT
  • BLOG
    • Most popular posts