Welcome aboard, fellow underwater explorers!
We had another fantastic cruise this week with a very international crowd onboard! Divers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, America, and Switzerland. We were like the United Nations of scuba diving, ready to conquer the Andaman Sea!
We had another fantastic cruise this week with a very international crowd onboard! Divers from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, America, and Switzerland. We were like the United Nations of scuba diving, ready to conquer the Andaman Sea!
Our journey started in Surin National Park, where we were greeted with crystal clear water and an underwater playground that would make even Ariel jealous. We saw schools of colourful fish, and Richelieu Rock felt like we were in our very own Finding Nemo movie. We navigated overnight towards Koh Tachai and Koh Bon, and boy, were we in for a treat!
 The cruise always begin by a little ceremony |  |
We met 2 oceanic manta rays about 4 meters wide and big blotched fantail ray about 1,5 meters large!
Koh Tachai, also known as "The Island That Time Forgot," is closed to tourists since 2018 to allow the island's coral reefs to regenerate. Luckily for us, we are still allowed to dive around the corner on Koh Tachai Pinnacle, which was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! We saw more marine life than we ever could have imagined and a cute hawkbill turtle came by to say hello! . This time we were part of a National Geographic documentary :)
Koh Bon was our next stop, and it didn't disappoint. We saw oceanic manta rays, and it was like they were putting on a show just for us. It was like watching ballet, but instead of ballerinas, we had these majestic creatures. The dive site was so beautiful that even the fish were taking selfies :)
Koh Bon is the best dive site in Thailand to see Manta rays. Current here can be mild to strong, and this should be taken into account by your guide when selecting the entry and exit point for your dive. There are actually 2 main dive sites here: Koh Bon Pinnacle and the ridge at the West of Koh Bon. This is a well known cleaning station where mantas are often spotted gliding slowly in the current...
Koh Tachai, also known as "The Island That Time Forgot," is closed to tourists since 2018 to allow the island's coral reefs to regenerate. Luckily for us, we are still allowed to dive around the corner on Koh Tachai Pinnacle, which was like finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! We saw more marine life than we ever could have imagined and a cute hawkbill turtle came by to say hello! . This time we were part of a National Geographic documentary :)
Koh Bon was our next stop, and it didn't disappoint. We saw oceanic manta rays, and it was like they were putting on a show just for us. It was like watching ballet, but instead of ballerinas, we had these majestic creatures. The dive site was so beautiful that even the fish were taking selfies :)
Koh Bon is the best dive site in Thailand to see Manta rays. Current here can be mild to strong, and this should be taken into account by your guide when selecting the entry and exit point for your dive. There are actually 2 main dive sites here: Koh Bon Pinnacle and the ridge at the West of Koh Bon. This is a well known cleaning station where mantas are often spotted gliding slowly in the current...
 This ray was so big!!! |  Yet this one was bigger!!! :) |
We also did the Backwater dive that night, and it was like we were in a scene from Alice in Wonderland. We saw pelagic snail, day octopus, paper nautiluses, and other creatures that we didn't even know existed. It was like diving into a fantasy world.
Our diving adventure took us to Similan National park and Racha Noi next one our way back to Phuket and what a dream come true. We saw everything from Kuhl's stingray, big schools of barracuda, nudibranch, and even wipe coral shrimp.
The Similan Islands have been made famous for the wealth of their coral reefs teeming with wildlife and usually great diving conditions it is rare to have bad visibility here and both divers and snorkelers can see a number of marine species and brids more diverse than anywhere else. The beach stop are not to shabby either!
The Similan Islands have been made famous for the wealth of their coral reefs teeming with wildlife and usually great diving conditions it is rare to have bad visibility here and both divers and snorkelers can see a number of marine species and brids more diverse than anywhere else. The beach stop are not to shabby either!
We want to thank our international group for choosing The Smiling Seahorse to explore the Andaman Sea. We hope you had a wonderful trip with us and that you have a safe journey back home. We can't wait to see you again because you are now part of our diving family. Keep calm and dive on!
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