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A wonderfull Christmas 2020 cruise to Surin and Similan!

28/12/2020

Christmas 2020 cruise, a festive and exciting week of diving in Thailand

We just returned from a festive and exciting week of diving in Thailand. After our departure from Ranong, we picked up Gary and Lisa from Ko Phayam and had our diving group ready for an adventure into the Similan and Surin Islands!

Our first day was spent exploring Surin National Park where we were delighted to be greeted by friendly turtles and roaming napoleon wrasses. We looked a bit closer to search out iridescent peacock mantis shrimp, ghost pipefish, and loads of vibrant nudibranchs, including the cutest little Pikatchu nudibranch. The divers were especially excited when we sited a tiger shark! As calm and cute as a teddy bear.

Cutest little Pikachu nudibranch

The following day we cruised south to Ko Tachai and Ko Bon in Similan National Park. As we hopped into a calm sea, we were in luck and found awesome visibility. We descended into swarming schools of fishes such as batfish, goatfish, cobias and trevallies. As we peaked through corals to find colorful juvenile angelfish, groupers and parrotfish, we also spotted an eagle ray!

We descended into swarming schools of cobia

The reef was covered in glassfish

Batfishes

Even though we were overwhelmed with the beauty of the schooling fish, we had an exciting moment of finding a rare psychedelic batwing slug. What a trip!

Rare psychedelic batwing slug

In between dives, a friendly green turtle swam up for some air right next to our boat! We grabbed some snorkels and hopped in to say hello. It was so friendly that he stayed with us for some time to have a close look at us as well.

A marine turtle very friendly

After a comfortable night’s rest we traveled to our southernmost destinations. Beneath the famous submerged boulders, we spotted two juvenile white tipped reef sharks at Anita Reef and Shark Fin Reef.

Our sunset dive at Elephant Head Rock was filled with exhilarating swim throughs and lots of fish nibbling on their evening meals. The most beautiful ribbon eels in all three colours came out of their rocks to watch us swim by: yellow, blue and black, what a treat!

we spotted two juvenile white tipped reef sharks at Anita Reef and Shark Fin Reef

we spotted two juvenile white tipped reef sharks in the southern Similans

Night dive in Thailand

Our night dive at Elephant Head Rock was filled with exhilarating swim throughs

During this cruise we also partnered with the Similan National Park Rangers for a clean-up dive. We met the Rangers on the island and learned more about maintaining the natural beauty of these marine parks and were rewarded with awesome t-shirts to remember our time and work together in preserving the majestic homes of our underwater friends...

We met the Rangers on the island and learned more about maintaining the natural beauty of these parks and were rewarded with awesome t-shirts

Look at this bunch of awesome trash heros!

We were also rewarded with phenomenal visibility on our next dives as we descended into a tornado of shiny barracudas!

The clear visibility allowed us to spot a massive titan triggerfish nursery. There must have been 20-30 nests in the sand, all filled with mothers snuggled close to their babies and fathers swimming close by to ward off any predators. We made sure they felt safe as we kept our safe distance from this natural wonder.

Underwater garden in Thailand

The clear visibility allowed us to spot a massive titan triggerfish nursery

Awesome titan triggerfish nursery

a massive school of Barracudas in Similans

Our night dive at Ko Bon was full of excitement and oddities. A funky frogfish was hanging out with a Spanish dancer nudibranch in the rocks, and we spotted eerie sea snakes and ornate ghost pipefish.

ornate ghost pipefish

We returned to Ko Bon the following day to continue exploring one of the best sites on our trip. Franck decided to stay back on the sunset dive to grill up an epic Christmas Eve barbecue. The whole boat was rocking as we ate, drank and danced the night away! It was definitely a Christmas party that nobody will forget.

time for celebrate Christmas eve in style!

Christmas buffet on the Smiling Seahorse

we danced the night away and had so much fun!

On Christmas morning we received the gift of Richelieu Rock! This was the highlight of our trip as we donned our Santa hats and dived through mind-blowing schools of chevron and pick handle barracuda, huge red snappers, and flashy rainbow runners.

Hello! Can you see me?

Mr frogfish

We saw lionfish, frogfish, and scorpionfish as we cruised around the craggy site, and could not hold back our excitement at seeing a guitar shark join the party. After we passed some mating cuttlefish, we found a magnificent seahorse. A perfect ending to our holiday trip.

Our festive cruise had come to an end so we headed home, dropping Wendi off at Ko Phayam.

Thank you to all the divers who made it so memorable! And a big congratulations to Gabriella for her junior advanced open water diver certification, to Sylvia and Ben for their advanced open water diver certification, and to Nici for her advanced open water diver and nitrox certifications!

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10th to 13th of December: a busy weekend on the Andaman Sea

17/12/2020

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This weekend was a long weekend due to constitution day and National Father’s day on the 10th and 11th of December which brought many divers and boats flocking to the national park. Busy, busy! We had a lovely group of Thais and expatriates from Bangkok, Rayong and Hat Yai that were not bothered by the crowds and were mesmerized by the treasures we found.
The sea was as flat as a lake and the sun was beaming during this fantastic cruise and we had some great dives.

This time we saw two ribbon eels (black and blue) at Koh Chi in Surin National Park as well as 5 Pikachu nudibranchs and a giant school or rainbow runners and trevallies! We were entranced by a cute yellow box fish and all the colorful tropical fish in the coral garden.

A myriad of nudibranchs welcomed us on the night dive as well as hunting moray eels and a crocodile fish with its hypnotic green eyes. We enjoyed looking at a feather star taking a stroll as well as many scorpion fish and lionfish hiding amongst the corals and sponges.

School of yellowback goatfish

Blue trevallis and emperors hunting together

Koh Bon pinnacle was covered in schooling fish : jacks, big eye trevally, fusiliers and so many grouper species. We also fell in love with juvenile angelfish and sweetlips as they showed off their wiggly moves.
Barracudas formed a tornado around us and we ogled Andaman sweetlips with their mismatched stripes and spots.
At the Reef we saw lobsters, batfish, snappers, trevallies, Maldive sponge snails, many nudis, grumpy titan triggerfish and groups of long faced emperors hunting and changing colors.

schools of lionfish this season also gathering for father day :)

a banded sea crate, always nice to meet a sea snake!

Great macro life in Surin island this season. check out this Orangutan crab!

Koh Tachai was a magnificent fish soup yet again with batfish hovering in the current, unicorn surgeonfish, many sweetlips, a huge crack full of lobsters, Napoleon wrasse and even a very brave and curious octopus to name a few.

a curious Cuttlefish came to say hello

We began the 3rd day at Torinla in a veritable ray paradise. Over the course of one dive we saw Kuhl's rays playing in the sand, a massive Jenkins whiptail ray hiding under a rock, and even an eagle ray and fantail ray cruising past. There were also many cute boxfish, whip coral cowries, and garden eels shyly poking their heads up when they thought no one was watching.

Jenkin whiptail ray hiding under a rock

We had such a lovely group of thai divers this week

On our surface interval we paid a visit to the Moken tribe settlement in the Surin national park to snap some photos, chat with the locals and bring some gifts of snacks and smiles to the children. Our charming boat crew even joined us for their first visit to the village.

Surin islands sea gypsies moken village and dinghy

coming back from the Moken village: the Andaman Sea gypsies

Richelieu rock was rocking and rolling with many boats and divers for our last 3 dives, but despite the crowds we saw some amazing things! Ornate ghost pipefish frolicked in the fan corals while a banded sea snake bumped into a diver on its way up to the surface for a breath startling it into changing its mind and retreating back to the depths. A massive school of chevron barracudas greeted us in the bottom while huge pickhandle barracudas came within mere centimeters of our mask during the safety stop.

porcupine fish

Moray eels hunted through the nooks and crannies, colourful nudibranchs munched on yummy hydroids and decorator crabs got creative using cuttlefish eggs to adorn their carapace. Love was certainly in the air as cuttlefish courted and fought to impress the discerning females. Some were more curious than others and one came in real close as if to offer a little kiss to an elated diver! The icing on the cake was a quick fly by from a speedy eagle ray during the safety stop of the night dive.

the reef was alive with glass fish this week

Many thanks to this incredible group of divers for making this weekend memorable and sharing these delightful encounters with us.
A massive congratulations to Aaron for completing his advanced open water certification as well as to Jerome, Amelie and Blaize for becoming certified enriched air divers!

Can't wait for the next trip!
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December 2020 dive trip review The Smiling Seahorse

liveaboard review surin and similan 2020 december 13th

Thanks for the lovely reviews! We can't wait to have you back onboard! ❤️❤️❤️

The smiling seahorse review december 13th 2020

avis sur le Smiling Seahorse croisiere de plongee de Ranong

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4th to 7th of December: A cruise fit for Royals...

13/12/2020

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This weekend was a very special trip for the 4 guests who had the rare opportunity to have their very own private VIP cruise around the Surin and Similan national parks. Talk about exclusivity at its best! (sorry for the delay, I haven't posted this before the last trip... keep tuned for next trip report coming soon!)
These lucky divers accompanied by two guides were blessed with a few lucky finds during their cruise...

4th to 7th of December, the private yacht experience :)

On the very first dive at Koh Chi a blue ribbon eel was spotted by a group, while the other found a turtle sleeping under a rock.

Peek a boo!

Small but mighty

Koh Bon had great visibility and so many fish! A massive school of fusiliers blanketed the whole reef while colorful goat fish, trevallies and jackfish danced amongst them.
Some tunas swam by ahead while an octopus and sea snake crawled around beneath us.
At Koh Tachai we saw a napoleon wrasse and even more huge groups of schooling fish. Some of the giant trevallies were as big as dolphins!

Mermaids and Mermen are real!

Richelieu Rock delivered once more with schools of rainbow runners and tunas in the blue as well as another visit to the giant frogfish who has been hanging out at the bottom of the pinnacle. This week he even made unlikely friends with a baby seahorse reminding us that life is always better with a buddy!

Ribbit :)

Along the way we met some mantis shrimps, kinky cuttlefish and a pair of ghost pipefish and our safety stop offered the bonus of a curious eagle ray cruising by. We were also very excited to find the eggs of a spanish dancer nudibranch which sparked much excitement for future encounters with their mom!

Spanish Dancer nudibranch eggs similan islands

Spanish Dancer eggs

Have you ever seen a cowrie so pretty?

Small but oh so pretty we also found baby boxfish and some tiger egg cowries. What a trip !

8 staff for only 4 guests: That's called luxury!

Finally, a huge congratulations to Pascal for completing his Nitrox certification ! We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon!

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Thanks for the kind words Susidda! ❤️

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Our 28-30 november Thailand cruise

10/12/2020

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4 days of diving bliss in Surin and Similan national parks, November 2020

What a way to kick off the season aboard the MV Smiling Seahorse! Although international travel is still at a standstill and we couldn't visit our beloved Mergui Archipelago there is nothing to do but make the most of it! We had a magnificent tour through the Thai Surin and Similan Islands with a multicultural group of local vacationers happy to be on the sea away from the hustle and bustle of life. We have been waiting for this trip since Covid stole our heart and sea in March!

Very happy divers take the pause...

The first day was blessed with a gorgeous sunrise to set us off on our merry way. A bit of cloud cover over the course of the weekend made for very pleasant weather to go along with the up to 30m visibility and fish soup underwater.

Giant Seafan and diver...

Butterflie fish in front of glass fishes

We had a beautiful second day at Koh Bon and Koh Tachai where we got swarmed by fish, found gorgeous Nudibranchs and harlequin shrimp and one group even sighted the first Giant Manta ray of the season!

Our first Manta of the years! Thailand...

The last day of the trip brought big wind and waves so we headed to Surin island for a quiet night and first dive. We started the day at Yellow rock, with a lovely appearance from an Octopus and so many sweetlips everywhere. We then moved over to do two marvelous dives at Richelieu Rock featuring cuttlefish, ghost pipefish, giant frogfish, seahorses and all of the beautiful usual suspects.

Ghost pipefish

Giant Frogfish

We ended our cruise night diving in the Surin islands where we had the chance to encounter a shaded batfish, a little party of pipefish, some nice nudibranchs and cuttlefish!

Sweetlips

Photographer at Richelieu Rock

Special mentions and a HUGE congratulations to Menno and Sanne for becoming Advanced Open Water divers and also to Claire and Eva for completing their Enriched Air Nitrox course while on the trip! Happy future bubbles to you all!

Saron Shrimp

Very photogenic parrot fish...

Also wishing Sawittree all the best on her birthday! Thank you so much for choosing to celebrate with us!
Thanks for all the fish, friends. Hope to dive with you again soon!

Gorgeous buffet on the MV Smiling Seahorse

What a delicious salad!

Where are the best dive sites in Thailand? Discover the Surin and Similan Islands in the Andaman Sea… The best of Thailand the MV Smiling seahorse way!