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Trip report: South to North Andaman cruise from the 14th to 21st of November 2022

23/11/2022

Another great trip diving in the Andaman Sea in Thailand. 14 guests from all around the world embark with a big smile on the boat in Phuket and happy to start cruising South.

School of trevallies

Coral reef Tarutao National Park

Spadefishes (Batfishes)

Congratulations to Sari from Finland and Blake from Australia, our two students from this trip, started straight away to study and managed to be certified Advanced Open Water Diver and Nitrox Diver after few days only !

Amazing soft coral reef of Stonehenge - Tarutao National Park

Thank you to Koh Lipe and its beautiful dive sites and their beautiful creatures.
We were lucky to discover a stone fish, two frog fish, plenty of coral catsharks, seahorses, razor fish and some colorful Nudibranchia.

Coral catshark - Talang Steps Tarutao National Park

Stonefish - Synanceia

Occelated Frogfish at 8 Mile Rock

Chelidonura Punctata nudibranchia

Time to cruise North and look on and in between the big granite boulders of the Similan National Park. Another frog fish, a ribbon eel, a curious eagle ray and some black tip reef sharks were spotted in the middle of millions of fishes swimming above the reef.

Granite boulders - Similan Islands

Ribbon Eel

Yellow Warty Frogfish

The Blackwater dive from this trip was great, and we spotted many tiny and strange critters.

Amphipods on salp

Unidentified crab

Juvenile Flounder

Pencil squid

Pelagic Sea snail

Squirrelfish - Holocentridae

Unidentified Shrimp

Grouper Larv

Pelagic Larval Stage of a Tube Anemone

Tiger Tail Mantis Shrimp larvae

Back to the limestone type of rock with the famous Richelieu Rock and its school of barracudas, trevallies, emperor for four dives. You don't know where to look, in the blue for the dancing fishes, on the reef, covered by thousands of glass fish, for the beautiful peacock mantis shrimp, ghost pipefish and seahorse.

Peacock Mantis shrimp

Lobsters

Two-spot Red Snapper

Ornate ghost pipefish

Thank you for this amazing trip and looking forward for the next one already.

Happy guests onboard The Smiling Seahorse

Beautiful Barrel sponge

Koh Haa

Table coral

Diver surrounding by Glassfishes

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Trip report from our North to South Andaman cruise from 4th to 11th of November 2022

14/11/2022

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Welcome to 72 Aquatics from Tucson, Arizona for this great trip.

We had the pleasure to welcome this group, all the way from the United States to dive with us in the beautiful Andaman Sea of Thailand. Checking in on the MV The Smiling Seahorse and starting this trip in Ranong, we cruised to the South of the country and dove the best dive sites of the Andaman Sea from Myanmar's border all the way to the Malaysian border.

Snappers and bluefin trevally

Trevallies hunting

Lobsters

bAfter our check dive on the north of Surin, we headed to the famous and beautiful Richelieu Rock for the rest of the day! Loads of glass fishes, trevallies, barracudas and bat fishes were swimming around us and the purple rock.
When we looked closer on the reef, we found a seahorse, two baby ghosts pipes fish and the first pair of harlequin shrimps of the season!

Ornate ghost pipefish

Time to head for the Similan National Park and dive there for a couple of days. Colorful Nudibranchia and their eggs were found on the big boulders of granite. A huge and old green turtle came to visit us during our surface interval, and some guests were happy to swim with it for a while.

Psychedelic Batwing slug

Nudibranchia eggs

Netted Miamira nudibranchia

A friendly green turtle came to say hi in the Similans

After those two great days of diving, it was time to navigate south overnight to Hin Daeng and Hin Muaeng: two dives sites of Lanta National Park. Time to change the types of rocks we are diving on and explore a pinnacle made of limestone and basalt with a full mix of soft and hard corals.

Schooling bannerfish

Lunar eclipse

We celebrate the full moon and witnessed the lunar eclipse from the boat, while some of the guests were trying to blackwater dive for their first time and loved it.

Pelagic Larval Stage of a Tube Anemone - Ceriantharia

The Pumpkin afloat

Larval Flounder

Zoanthid larva - Zoantharia - Cnidaria

Larval Amphipod

Sea butterfly

Next day we went close to the Malaysian border and dive the underwater pinnacle of 8 Mile Rock and around Koh Lipe at the famous soft coral garden of Stonehenge. We found a frog fish, indian walkman and some cute cuttlefish.

Occelated Frogfish

After this great day of diving, we headed back toward Koh Lanta National park to dive on Koh Haa and ended the trip with Phi Phi for the last day of the trip.

Thanks again to 72 Aquatics Tucson for joining us on this amazing trip. We are looking forward to diving with you again very soon!

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22nd to 29th of October 2022: Second trip of the season | north Andaman liveaboard

4/11/2022

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We had the pleasure to dive with Subaqua Club de Chartres

22nd to 29th of October 2022: Second trip of the season | north Andaman liveaboard

What an amazing trip with this group of 16 French divers all super fun to have around!

Divers from Subaqua Chartres Club

After the rainy week we had last trip, it was a amazing having perfect conditions, both below and above water! Flat sea, warm water, excellent visibility and almost no rain.

Beautiful Sea fan from the Surin Islands

We started this trip from Ranong and were diving around Surin island on the first day. We had some current and could drift gently surrounded by thousands of fishes ! Some even managed to find the colourful Pikachu Nudibranchia!

Pikachu Nudibranchia

The second day was around Koh Tachai and Koh Bon, we love both pinnacles that were full of life!
We continued down South for the third day around the Similans Island and their beautiful granite boulder formations. The star here was a Yellow Warty frogfish (quite rare around here) but the magnificent ribbon eels at Elephant Head Rock was a close second!

Because of the rough condition last week, this trip saw the very first Blackwater Dive of the season and it was also a first for all our dear guests.

Lionfish hovering over the coral reef

Time to cruise back north, with the morning dives in the north of the Similan islands, then two more at Koh Bon, not far from which our guests asked for a second Blackwater Dive! Your wish is my command :) We just love making you happy!

Pearlfish Blackwater dive

Unidentified Shrimp Blackwater dive

Pelagic snail Blackwater dive

Flounder Larval Blackwater dive

In Koh Tachai pinnacle we swam in the middle of a huge school of barracuda, than with an enormous green turtle followed by a black tip reef shark.

School of Barracuda Koh Tachai pinnacle

Yellow Warty Frogfish

Last dive site but not the least, the famous Richelieu Rock in its purple soft coral costume, thousands of jack fishes hunted around to feed on the cloud of glassfish.
We were happy to find the usual suspect: seahorse, ghost pipe fish and another ribbon eel hidden under the blanket made from the millions of glass fish.

Pygmy Squid

We also welcomed back a dear friend and fantastic dive guide: Julien, who’s finally back after 2 years of adventurous trip sailing on the Atlantic Ocean who is just as delighted to be back in The Smiling Seahorse Family!

Octopus Richelieu Rock

Ribbon Eel Richelieu Rock

Congratulations to Roro and David for your 100’ dives and Stephanie for your 300’ !

Thanks again to Subaqua Chartres Club for joining us on this amazing trip. We are looking forward to diving with you again very soon!

Moray Eel Richelieu Rock

Beautiful soft coral

"Love is in the air"

Mantis Shrimp

Ornate Ghostpipe fish Richelieu Rock

Seahorse Richelieu Rock

Subaqua Chartres divers

Sunset onboard MV The Smiling Seahorse

Part of the group decided to continue in Khao Sok National park so we organised for them a little adventure! They even spent a night in a hammock with integrated mosquito net on a remote island of the lake from where they could spot interesting wildlife! Thanks for sharing these lovely photos!