Our divers hailed from all over the world—France, Switzerland, the USA, and Germany—and were joined by special guest, professional underwater photographer Alex Tyrrell. Alex brought his expertise to the trip, sharing valuable tips on how to get the best shots, especially on blackwater dives and sharing with us some unforgettable moments.
Blackwater diving is a thrilling night dive that takes place far from reefs and shore, in the open ocean. Divers descend along a suspended line with lights, attracting deep-sea critters that migrate to the surface at night. This unparalleled experience offers a glimpse into the bizarre, larval-stage creatures and deep-sea life that thrive in the darkness, seldom encountered by divers.
Day 1 : Diving in the surin islands
For the second dive at Yellow Rock, we enjoyed sightings of blue-spotted stingrays, oriental and black-spotted sweetlips, schools of yellowtail barracuda and yellow pompanos, along with flabellinas, giant moray eels, and blue-spotted pufferfish.
At Ao Pakkard during the third dive, we were treated to razor wrasse, a school of baby blackfin barracuda, imposter sabertooth blennies, and striped eel catfish. After a night dive on the reef, back at Ao Pakkard, we were ready for offshore blackwater adventures on subsequent nights. Jenkins stingrays, xenocrabs, hermite crabs, coral crabs, cleaning shrimps, and blue-spotted stingrays provided a magical underwater experience.
Day 2 : Richelieu Rock
We finally could jump into our first blackwater dive that night, and what a treat! We spotted many interesting post-larval critters such as octopuses, lobsters, squid, and flying gurnards drift past our lights drifting past our lights.
Day 4 : More of the Similan National Park
In the afternoon, the team prepared for two more blackwater dives off the back of Island 8 due to still strong eastern winds, which made open ocean conditions less favorable than usual. Despite this, the dives were successful with only about 70 meters of water under the boat, we met post-larval creatures like flying gurnards, butterflyfish, mantis shrimp, snake eels, and flounders made for an enchanting and surreal experience
Day 5 : Similan National Park
The morning commenced with a dive at West of Eden, a vibrant site where Simon spotted a rare sea moth and many pretty psychedelic sea slugs! More common but still exciting where sightings of giant trevallies, peacock mantis shrimps, and colourful nudibranchs, while a small hawksbill turtle leisurely swam by. Adding to the scene were blue-lined groupers, adorned wrasses, and a myriad of anemonefish darting among the corals. |
Day 6 : Koh Bon Pinnacle and Ridge
This trip was a perfect blend of vibrant reefs, fascinating macro life, and the thrilling mystery of blackwater diving.
Our divers captured stunning photos of their underwater experiences, some of which you can see in our album here. We look forward to welcoming more divers aboard for our next adventure and more blackwater diving in the Andaman Sea!