 2018 has been a fantastic year with a new boat and some fantastic diving!
Bring it on 2019! The whole team at Smiling Seahorse wishes you a fantastic new year!
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Incredible trip in Burma for Christmas! We must have been very good guys during the whole year ;) The lucky ones were having a lot of fun under water as you can see on the picture above. Welcome to: Aapo and Kaisa from Finland; Rainer from Germany; Ed from Netherlands; Yiwen and Hao from China; Jeff and Jordin from USA, and Phanom from Thailand. ​Starting with the big, we had mantas ... 
And as if was not enough, we had an amazing surprise during a safety stop, looking below us and witnessing this huge one swimming peacefully, surrounded by his rainbow runner friends. ​The visibility was great and the currents brought huge schools of fishes everywhere. 
From the first night dive, we had the pleasure to meet these cuties ... 
​Spanish dancers had invaded the reefs ... 
Among the beautiful surprises of this trip were the frogfishes! ​A giant one ... 
​And a smally one ... 
Plenty of ghost pipefishes trying to camouflage :) 
All kind of nudis with unbelievable colors ... 
Cowries ... ​It was also crabs fiesta down there! 
Seahorses where there too, how can you not fall in love with this baby one! 
And so many more amazing stuff have been found! ​ Marbled ray ... 
​Spearing manti shrimp ... 
​Turtle ... 
Zanzibar shrimp, can you see it? 
​Fimbriated moray eel ... 
Spotted boxfish ... and so much more! 
​The flora was astonishing too! 
​On board, it was kind of a Christmassy atmosphere :) 
​Smiles everywhere! Delicious barbecue night for Christmas dinner ;) 
The sunsets were splendid ... 
​And the outdoors scenes always interesting ;) 
"Where to start? Top team! Top organization! Top boat! Top food! And of course top dives!"  "Thank you for two fantastic and fun trips. Taking my whale shark, eagle ray, manta ray and harlequin shrimp virginity was nice ;)"   Yes i know, you're gonna tell me that I should be more original but what a TRIP! We have been literally spoiled from the Surin Islands to Richelieu Rock, via Koh Bon and Koh Tachai :) There was no nice dives, only awesome ones! Don't know where to start actually! Let's introduce the people on board ... we were happy to welcome Jeppe and Will that were already with us on the previous Burmese cruise; Aurélie, Aurélien, Alena, Richard, Robert, Cameron, Yuki and Sophia. The first day in the Surin Islands was peaceful and away from the crowds! A great visibility, flat water and funny currents. Lots of fishes, black and white tip sharks, an eagle ray, beautiful corals and nice drift dives. Ending a nice day with a quiet night dive in South Surin bay.     Second day, starting with a beautiful dive in Koh Bon Pinnacle. Full of fishes ;) And then, in the middle, a huge eagle ray appears from the deep and plays around getting closer and closer. It was already something ... Second dive on the north ridge ... Mantas day!    Not to forget, an enormous marbled ray on the ground!  What could be better after this ... Maybe dolphins joining us for the ride :)   We headed to Koh Tachai and the best news is that we were alone and that's luxury! Koh Tachai being one the most fantastic dive sites around the Similan Islands. Fishes everywhere and astonishing corals ...       Last day and what a day ... It started not so well as we were not sure to be able to join the dive site due the weather conditions ... But with our fantastic captain, no problem! It was challenging at the surface and breathtaking underwater :) The best way to describe it: a wonderful aquarium, alive and free!        Very interesting encounters there! Harlequin shrimps ...   And ghost pipefishes !!!  Other nice ones along the way!      Special congratulations to Sophia with her thirteen years old, who dived like a pro!  And thanks to this great group for such a nice trip!  Still not fluent in German but I think that the hearts and smiles speak for themselves!  " The professionalism, the sympathy, the proximity, the happiness, the craziness, the kindness, the willing to help, etc ... from all the crew, made me feel super comfortable, confident, safe and very very very happy!!"  "I really appreciated how much effort everyone put into ensuring we'd have a great time - which I certainly did!"  "... loved the experience. Awesome food and company ... BBQ night was out of this world."   How lucky we were on this cruise! Our first whale shark of the season spent a whole dive with us ... You can imagine that we were all in heaven ;) As part of the group this time: Jeppe from Denmark; Inès from Austria; Irune from Spain; Stefan and Jannik from Germany; William and Amanda from the US; Keri from UK and Dirk from Belgium. The weather was nice and the challenging currents brought a lot of life. Over the surface, the landscapes were as breathtaking as always.  From the first day, we have been lucky with sharks encountering a huge nurse one in our secret spot! Here are some amazing close shots of the beast :)  On top of our small and beloved bamboo sharks, we finally met the biggest and most peaceful one ...    We have also been spoiled with the spanish dancers on several night dives!  Another very good news, the harlequin shrimps are back !!!   Ghost pipefishes starting to appear at every corner ;)   The nudis were in the place too ... As well was the extra small, so cute!   More usual but still as beautiful!  Our favorite grumpy one ...  Cuttlefishes, turtle ... Our mascots were also present ;)   One of the best things about diving in Burma is that underwater creatures aside, you already have a blast just with the incredible surroundings ... Astonishing corals ...   Extraordinary patterns and colors ... Try to guess what it is ;)  With us, it's not only underwater, the fun is everywhere !!! As you can see with these smiling faces!  Fun outdoor activities!  Delicious food ... yummy !!!   And a funny barbecue night! Dancing party!   A nice picture that reflects perfectly the cruise atmosphere ;)   This week was a special week for the Smiling Seahorse. We welcomed our first group of the season! Directly arrived from Barcelona we were happy to have the Xaloc dive Centre on board for an awesome trip in Burma. They spent 7 days with us all around the Mergui archipelago and we had a blast ! A usual day is always starting with an early morning dive. Our Spanish team met some beautiful creatures like those cute cuttlefishes. After a breakfast of champion and a small nap, let's get ready for the second dive of the day. All the groups were working together to find the small colourful worm called nudibranch. We always love to spot them !! It's now time to have the lunch together. Our chef, Chewy is taking care of us with this fried rice, a Thai speciality. Even Sharky, our mascot love that.  Diving is exhausting and our spanish guest were enjoying their nap on the sundeck. The sofa looks confortable too ;) Have a look on what we can find on the third dive !! These Ghost pipefish and Seahorses were hidden pretty well but our team have eagle eyes ! It's now time for our spanish team to enjoy the burmese sunset and ending the day with a beautiful night dive. Those spanish divers met the spanish dancer swimming around, What a show !!   Finally after a good day of diving it's always time for drink with everybody. This night was our famous BBQ night and all our guest enjoyed it. Sharks was invited too !! ;) Thank you to all the divers from the Xaloc Dive centre and we hope to see you again soon.
Hasta Pronto ! |
The Smiling Seahorse Diving BlogA blog about our diving adventures in Burma and Thailand. Diving trip reports, guest reviews, fishy stories, wildlife fun facts and much more...
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AuthorsThe Smiling Seahorse has been running dive cruises from Ranong since 2012.
Our team of instructors are reporting with a short blogpost after every trip. Camille, Franck and some guest writers also contribute during the off season writing on various topics. Keep tuned for more fishy stories :) 
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See also...- About Myanmar liveaboards
- Best Burma dive sites - Marine life in Andaman Sea - The Mergui Archipelago - Best dive site in Thailand |
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