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!

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!

Some people want to see All of the Andaman Sea in a week on our 8d/7n North And South Andaman, other prefer to take there time and explore more dive sites in the same area. On this 7 days/6 night cruise we really have time to explore many sites in Surin and Similan islands and dive places we oversee on our more fast pace expeditions.
Our guests this week came from Germany, France, England, America and Israel to dive with us and we had a blast! Thanks again for choosing us. Also, congratulations to Aveline for her Advanced Open Water certification and a happy birthday to Ken!

It was nice to start this cruise from Ranong, our main port since 2012 and one we dont get to see much since COVID which gave some of our guests the chance to board from the paradisiac little island of Koh Phayam. We spent the first day in the Surin National Park where a Juvenile shaded batfish greeted us at Yellow Rock, such a graceful angel of the sea. A big blotched stingray was also sleeping under a rock on the same divesite and Pikachu nudibranch were in their usual location next to Torinla but we also really enjoyed the big school of sweetlips forming a ball on the satellite finger reef.

We embarked on a southward cruise to reach the Similan National Park, where we indulged in three unforgettable days of diving, completing a total of twelve dives. The water was crystal clear, teeming with a diverse array of marine life. Our underwater explorations yielded sightings of fascinating creatures like sharks, rays, and the adorable nudibranchs with their eggs.
We were fortunate to observe a large and striking spearer mantis shrimp, as well as a few ribbon eels, both the in black and yellow, as well as blue and yellow (did you know their colors tell their sex? more in the blogpost) . Additionally, we came across some multibar pipefish, carrying their eggs on their bellies.
Our experience at Tachai was particularly remarkable, with excellent conditions that allowed us to witness an immense school of barracuda, black tip reef sharks, and various species of trevallies hunting above the pinnacle. It was truly a remarkable adventure that we'll cherish for a lifetime.

One of the highlights of our trip was discovering a bright juvenile clown triggerfish nestled in the crevices of Koh Bon Pinnacle. However, the night and blackwater dives proved to be even more remarkable, as we encountered an abundance of fascinating marine life. We were thrilled to spot numerous nudibranchs and crustaceans, including the elusive slipper lobster and spider crabs, amongst the vibrant and diverse reef ecosystem.

What really captivated our attention were the peculiar creatures in their larval stage, which were drawn towards the bright lights of our bright pumpkin. It was an awe-inspiring sight that truly made the night and blackwater dives unforgettable experiences.

Our last day and a half was spent diving in the Surin National Park, exploring the world-renowned dive site of Richelieu Rock. As expected, the breathtaking underwater world left us in awe. The diversity of fish species was astounding, with schools of emperors, trevallies, and rainbow runners growing bigger and bigger by the day.
We were mesmerized by the stunning soft corals that adorned the reef in shades of pink, orange, purple, and blue, providing shelter to countless glassfish and shrimps. It was a truly spectacular sight that will stay with us for a long time to come.

On behalf of The Smiling Seahorse, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our very special guests for choosing us as your dive partner in the Andaman Sea. It was an absolute pleasure having all of you on board, and sharing this fantastic trip with us.

We would like to give a special shout-out to our returning guests Boris, Nicolas, and Philippe. It is always a joy to have familiar faces on board and to dive with passionate divers like you. We hope to see you again soon for more exciting underwater adventures.

This week marked our third collaboration with Thai Whale Sharks, as we welcomed Marine Biologist and the founder of the project, Kirsty Magson onboard for 8 days of diving as we explored the north and south Andaman on the lookout for the world’s biggest fish. Kirsty delivered daily lectures on all things' shark as she educated guests on Whale Shark Ecology, Shark Biology, Threats to Sharks, Ecotourism, Whale Shark Conservation, Whale Shark Feeding and the Process behind Whale Shark ID. The trip was built around dive sites that offered the best chance to spot some of these gentle giants, so a lot of time was spent looking in the blue, but how did we get on?

Departing from Phuket the first stop on the agenda was Koh Haa and Lanta National Park to dive Hin Muang and Hin Daeng. Theses dive sites famous for the Dendronepthya soft corals which give these sites their names offered a lot of very fishy encounters as we were surrounded by schooling jacks, emperor fish and some were lucky enough to find 2 stone fish relaxing on the reef. Unfortunately, no signs of anything big in the blue this day but we did encounter some very large sea hares (Dolabella auricularia).

Day 2 and 3, we headed to Tarutao National Park, for dives sites such as steps, 8 miles Rock and of course Stonehenge. These 2 days provided us with Frogfish, seahorses, cat sharks, sea slugs, a wide array of hard and soft coral diversity and even a quick hello from another of the gentle giants, the Manta Ray (unfortunately not in front of Franck's lense so no photo...)

Day 5 and we headed North to the Similans to explore Shark Fin Reef, Elephant Head and Three Trees. Octopus and Ribbon Eels were high on everyone’s list of must-see animals. The Similans also provided an opportunity to jump off the boat and feel sand between our toes as we headed to the beach at…….. and the chance of an encounter with the Nicobar Pigeon. We ended the day with a sunset dive at Koh Bon and a blackwater dive, the first for many aboard (and most certainly not the last) with snake blennies, paper nautilus and so much more being seen.
The next day brought us to Koh Taa Chai, encounters with Black Tip and White Tip Reef Sharks as well as Eagle Rays and the school of Barracuda made for some amazing diving.

Day 7 and it was off to Richelieu Rock for 4 dives, and what a day we picked. Conditions were incredible with amazing visibility, low currents and of course some of the best diving in Thailand. The schools of jacks, glass fish, rainbow runners and emperor fish meant there was activity all through the water column and closer to the ground, we found Harlequin Shrimp, Seahorses, Sea Slugs, Peacock Mantis Shrimp and more.

To round off the trip, we ended with 2 dives on the Boonsung Wreck ahead of landing in Khao Lak. The wreck was destroyed in the tsunami, but offers a wide array of marine life living in all the nooks and crannies that can be found. Cat sharks, sea slugs, cuttlefish, and the honeycomb moray eel were favorites of the day and a great way to round off the trip.
Whilst we weren’t lucky enough to encounter any whale sharks on this trip, we were fortunate to enjoy some incredible diving with some amazing marine life. So, until our next adventure, thanks for reading. 

Wanna learn something new from Kistry on our next Whale shark and marine bio expedition?! 
​Save the date for the next edition!

2023 started with some fantastic photo opportunities as we ran 2 photo clinic back to back with our special guest Alex Tyrrell from Dive4photos. The first one was our dedicated blackwater expedition with blackwater dives planned every night (click here to read the trip report). Our second cruise of the year was dedicated to getting the best photos Thailand's Andaman Sea can offer and this is why we decided to focus on thailand's best dive site and one of the World's top 10: Richelieu Rock for most of the cruise. 
Underwater photographers from Thailand, India, England, America, South Korea and France enjoyed daily presentations by Alex in order to get the most out of their cameras!

We found the delightful pikachu nudibranch and pretty yet oh so mean harlequin shrimps.
We witnessed clark anemone fish's parents nurturing their eggs under the protective skirt of their anemone.

Our wide angle captured amazing action with huge ball of jackfish dancing on the reef. There was so much marine life that we didn't know where to look at. School of trevallies, fusillier, yellow goatfish, emperor, batfish, barracuda and glass fish all of this with the pretty pink soft coral that gave Richelieu rock its name! 

The days were bright and colourful but that didn't stop us from running a few night dives, especially blackwater dives for which The Smiling Seahorse became Thailand's expert!
We tried a new spot near the Surin islands, where we installed two lines to accommodates all the divers more comfortably and what great encounters we had!

What a pleasure it has been to welcome all these talented photographers! Thank you all for coming diving with The Smiling Seahorse, the choice liveaboard for Underwater photographers in Thailand!

It is with 11 guests that we are setting sails. Four of them are return guests, which is for us the best review we can hope for! Among them, Pook is taking her photo skills to a new level and signed up for a full on photo coaching with Alex for the whole trip, while Nicolas is getting started with his brand new TG6 and signed up for 4 dives photo coaching with Franck.

The trip started from Phuket and after everyone checked in we enjoyed our first shared diner and started cruising toward Koh Haa, where we planned to have our first dive the next morning.
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The first dive to be the  check dive we picked the Laguna and had a nice and relaxed dive to start with allowing everyone to get back into diving mood and getting comfortable with the gear again…
We then went further south to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang for the rest of the day. Even though this is a famous dive site for manta sighting we were not lucky enough to spot one, but instead we were the happy witnesses of a big underwater ballet where the actors were trevallies, mackerels and tunas hunting into massive bait balls of glassfish moving like clouds again and again.

It was time to sail overnight to Koh Lipe where we planned the morning dive at 8 mile rock…
The visibility was great, allowing us to see this abundance of life and magnificent soft coral covering the entire reef. 

Huge schools of yellow tail barracuda, jacks and giant trevallies are a regular there, the very mild current let us cruise around the pinnacle freely, we had 2 dives there exploring a bit further we found 2 ghostpipe fish ;)

Everyone was particularly blown away by the beauty of Stonehenge in the afternoon were on top of the vibrant colours we found the cutest baby seahorse! It is a dome like coral garden at about 20 m for the deepest part going all the way to 6 meters.
The site is covered with corals of all sorts mixed with barrel sponges and various clown fish inhabited anemones: it is an explosion of colours!  Absolutely stunning! Cruising the dive site we bumped into a massive school of chevron barracuda, it was the cherry on top making it a fantastic dive!

For the 4th and last dive we picked Koh Taru, a nice drift dive going with the current over the sandy patches looking for critters hiding there and in a lovely coral garden covered in yellow snappers, scorpion fish and fusiliers! 

After a well deserved night's rest, we headed back East for 3 more dive at Hin Daeng / Hin Muang before having the sunset dive at Koh Haa neua, aka the chimney! Everyone had a blast there, playing in the swim-through!

The end of the cruise was coming and for the last day and we start with koh haa yai, aka the cathedral, a very scenic dive with a massive cave in front of a rich coral garden.
The last group got lucky seeing a curious whaleshark! But as not everyone had seen it, we decided to stay for one more dive giving us another chance… unfortunately, that whale shark must have been in a rush because it did not hang around and Franck not being part of the lucky divers, we have no photos to illustrate this fantastic encounter. We were really close to the reef, finding tiny nudibranch one after the other when it came right up to us to say hello! 

Our last dive, the 15th of the trip, was at Koh Bida Nok, a nice and easy spot inhabitted by a group of resident black tip reef sharks!
Turns out, every guest got to see them! Some of us were lucky enough to have a good look at them while they were cruising in front of us, others only got a furtive glance as they were running away from the bubbles...

Phuket was only a 3 hours ride away, giving us plenty some time to look at the pictures of the trip and say good bye to everyone…

Thank you all for coming, we had such a great time! we hope to see you again very soon!

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