Diving liveaboard in Thailand and Myanmar
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        • Koh Lipe and Tarutao National Park
      • Mergui Archipelago >
        • Marine life in the Andaman Sea
        • Burma's best dive sites
        • The Ultimate Underwater photo Guide to diving Burma
  • ABOUT
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    • 10 things to do around Ranong
  • PROMO
    • HOT DEALS
    • Special Expeditions >
      • Ultimate Underwater photo combo expeditions
      • Video & photo expedition North Andaman 05 Nov 2023
      • Blackwater expedition 23 Jan 2024
      • UW Photo clinic North Andaman 31 Jan 2024
      • Special Marine Biology - 18 Feb 2024
      • Whale Shark Special - 19 Mar 2024 - North and South
      • Manta rays expedition - 20 April 2024
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Trip report North Andaman from 4th to 8th April 2023

29/5/2023

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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!

Fish bank on the reef
Trevallies bank
A fishy and amazing dive!
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
The cruise always begin by a little ceremony
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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...
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This ray was so big!!!
Beautiful Manta ray in the blue
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. 
Wonderful baby nautilus
Paper nautilus
Baby octopus
Baby squid in the salp
Another cute baby alien
Cute fish in salp
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!
Barracudas explosion!
Zanzibar shrimp
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!
Beautiful moon, beautiful mood!
HAPPY! On the MV Smiling Seahorse
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Trip report : North Andaman from 29th of March to 2nd of April 2023

22/5/2023

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diving trip report April 2023 in Thailand's North Andaman
Ahoy there, fellow adventurers! We've just returned from an epic liveaboard dive trip in the North Andaman of Thailand, and boy oh boy, was it a blast!
Thank you to Jeremy and Clara to come back diving with us and Kristoffer and Mairead to visit your friend Mint
With twelve intrepid divers from all around the world, we set out on a new itinerary that took us from Phuket all the way to Khao Lak, traversing the Similan and Surin National Parks along the way. We had guests from Switzerland, Sweden, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom, all with one common goal – to explore the vibrant and diverse underwater world of the Andaman Sea.
​

We want to give a big shoutout to our repeat guests, Jeremy and Clara, for choosing to dive with us again.

​And a warm welcome to Kristoffer and Mairead, who came to visit their friend Mint and ended up having the adventure of a lifetime with us!
Special thanks also go out to Clara Chanson, who took the incredible underwater shots that we're using in this post. You rock, Clara!
Beautiful ribbon eels
We got so lucky seeing these ribbon eels out of their hole for a sexy dance!
Cuttlefish eye
Guess who? --- Cuttlefish eye
Now, let's get to the juicy details of the trip. We started off by cruising through the night to the Similan National Park, where we kicked things off with a check dive on Shark Fin Reef. This dive site is a heap of big boulders made of granite that form a stunning underwater landscape. And boy, did we see some amazing marine life there! Napoleon Wrasse, Humphead Parrotfish, massive box fish, Hawksbill turtles, and even a white tip reef shark to get us started. What a way to begin the trip!
Baby octopus on blackwater dive
Baby octopus on blackwater dive
On the second day of diving, we headed to the northernmost islands of the Similan National Park, exploring Koh Bon in the morning and Tachai Pinnacle in the afternoon.

​We saw white tip reef sharks, huge Jenkin's Whiprays, Barracudas, Ornate Ghost Pipe Fish, commensal shrimp carrying their eggs, and even a squad of Smalltooth Emperors with their friend Bluefin Trevallies hunting on the reef. Talk about a diverse ecosystem!
As we slowly made our way north, we explored some of the best dive sites in the park, including West of Eden and Elephant Head Rock. The former boasts an incredible coral garden, while the latter offers swim-throughs between huge boulders. We even got lucky enough to spot two ribbon eels completely out of their holes, swimming on the sand. So beautiful!

The final dive of the day was either a sunset dive in Koh Bon or the famous Blackwater Dive away from the reef around our pumpkin. And once again, Lady Luck smiled upon us, allowing us to meet a paper nautilus! Can you believe it?
Anemone shrimp
Anemone shrimp
Nudibranches always make our day!
Nudibranches always make our day!
The following day, we headed towards the world-famous dive site Richelieu Rock in the Surin National Park and dived around the horse shoe shape reef for the whole day.

Barracudas and Trevallies were hovering over the reef, swimming in between the mass of glassfish trying to get protection from the corals.

​Yellow, purple and red soft corals are growing all over the rocks, sharing the space with some different type of hard coral. Nudibranchs, juvenile fish, so many different crustaceans and loads of moray eels find some shelter in the cracks.
On the final day of diving, we explored the Boonsung Wreck for the two final dives, and it was a fantastic way to end the trip. We saw bamboo sharks, Kuhl's Stingrays, Cuttlefish, Nudibranchs, Octopuses, Crabs, Shrimps with their partner gobies digging the sand, and lots of juveniles seeking shelter on the wreck.

We want to thank everybody who chose The Smiling Seahorse to explore the Andaman Sea with us. It was an absolute pleasure to share our lifestyle with you all. We hope to see you again soon for more underwater adventures!
Wonderful porcelain crab in anemone
Wonderful porcelain crab in anemone
Cute gobi
Glass cleaner shrimp
Beautiful nudibranche on the reef
Coral crab
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Trip report Manta Ray expedition from 19th to 27th of March

11/5/2023

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Trip report from our 2023 Manta Ray expedition in Thailand
Thailand Manta Project expedition 2023
Jamie leader of Thailand Manta Project
Arguably one of the best experiences a diver could ever have is to dive with giant oceanic manta rays. We are lucky to see them regularly during our cruises both in Thailand and Myanmar and happily participate to their research and preservation whenever we can.

Although they are protected in international waters and by laws of certain countries, they often travel through unregulated waters and are still being fished in many places 😔

This week we had the chance to welcome onboard Jamie leader of Thailand Manta Project, we could share with us and our guests through daily lectures invaluable information about Manta rays in the area. 
PROJECT LEADER - JAMIE PIYADA MONMANEERAT
Let's talk about Manta Rays!
The first couple days, we were at Surin National Park and after an easy check out dive around surin islands, we headed straight out to swarms of fishes at Richelieu Rock. A giant grouper is staying around the rock this month, it is HUGE!!! We had 3 dives to explore the dive site from all sides and saw it on every dive. What a treat! About 100 kilograms and so chill, really makes you feel like a prehistoric creature!
Groups of long nose mixed with trevally were hunting all over the rock and a big school of barracudas could be seen hanging out in the bay. Unfortunately we dont have many photos this week but we have a video and its worth a thousand words!
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Meet Joony! A new Black Manta for Thailand Manta Database!
After Surin National Park, we moved south towards Similan National Park where we met the star of this manta ray expedition a very special Melanistic Oceanic manta ray (black). It was pleasure for all but even more so for Jamie who could add it to her Manta Trust Database and we were the first to record it. Yeah! One new manta for the Database! And we were so proud to name her Joony, the magic black Manta!

Such an amazing creature! She is so elegant and beautiful. Seeing was like a dream come true!
A quick glimpse would have been nice, albeit frustrating but she graced us with her presence for the whole dive! ​
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Mobula ray on bluewater dive
Mobula ray on bluewater dive


​We were also very lucky to spot a gorgeous mobulas ray on our blue water dive near the end of the continental shelf… Of course this being a Manta Expedition, everyone was delighted by these two graceful rays but they were not the only cool things we saw on this 9 days/ 8 nights cruise: we were able to observe a leopard shark, blacktip reef sharks, a HUGE giant grouper (about 100kg!), octopus, very fishy divesites and beautiful coral reefs in warm and crystalline blue waters
Thailand blackwater dive flutemouth
Flutemouth on blackwater dive
paper nautilus on blackwater dive
paper nautilus on blackwater dive
​Last but not least, we offered two amazing blackwater dives during this cruise, a great experience to see these pelagic and deep sea creatures we would never otherwise see. We saw a paper nautilus, flouders, juvenile squirelfish, floutemouth, moray eels, Salps and jellyfish in all shapes, and so much more! 
leopard shark in thailand
Leopard Shark near Phuket
And on the last dive of the cruise, we met this lovely Leopard shark! How cool!!!

Thanks to our lovely guests for choosing to dive with us, it was wonderful sharing this adventure with you all!
Hope to see you again very soon!

Do you dream of diving alongside these gentle giants? Our next Manta expeditions will be in MYANMAR next April (2024)! Join The Smiling Seahorse, a manta trust approved operator, and dive with us and Jamie around Mergui Archipelago!
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    ​The Smiling Seahorse has been running dive cruises from Ranong since 2012.
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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 >
        • Phuket & Koh Phi Phi National Parks
        • Koh Lanta National Park
        • Koh Lipe and Tarutao National Park
      • 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
    • Diving in Thailand
    • Diving in Myanmar/Burma
    • Itineraries
    • Blackwater diving in Thailand
    • Marine life in Thailand's Andaman Sea
    • 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
    • Guest Book
    • FAQ
  • Plan your trip
    • Our hotels recommendations
    • 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
  • PROMO
    • HOT DEALS
    • Special Expeditions >
      • Ultimate Underwater photo combo expeditions
      • Video & photo expedition North Andaman 05 Nov 2023
      • Blackwater expedition 23 Jan 2024
      • UW Photo clinic North Andaman 31 Jan 2024
      • Special Marine Biology - 18 Feb 2024
      • Whale Shark Special - 19 Mar 2024 - North and South
      • Manta rays expedition - 20 April 2024
  • gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • CONTACT
  • BLOG
    • Most popular posts