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!

This week we started with a beautiful day in Surin National Park with a very international group of divers from France, Japan, Belgium, China, Germany, and the United States. As usual, Richelieu offered us some amazing dives, and we got lucky, witnessing a ghost pipe fish releasing its eggs and a harlequin shrimp eating a sea star. The reef was alive with big fish hunting in schools of glass fish.

Entering the Similan National and spending the second day in Koh Tachai and Koh Bon for 4 great dives including a night dive. Turtle, lobsters, barracudas, trevallies, fusilliers and some spanish dancer eggs. Cruising south in the archipelago and diving Three trees, Elephant head rock and West of Eden. We love those dive sites for the macro, nudis, crustaceans.

The following 3 days we dive around Lanta and Tarutao National Park. The dive sites are always wonderful, the amount and the diversity of the coral reef impress us every time.

Last day in Phi Phi island and shark point with black tip reef shark, lots of beauty nudis and flat worms. Congratulations to Coralie, Anthony, and Phoebe for their Enriched Air Nitrox course and Kevin for the double certifications (Enriched Air Nitrox & Advanced Open Water course)
Thank you all for choosing The Smilling Seahorse!
​Hope you had a great holiday!!

We welcome this week 14 guests from Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Finland, Japan, United States and England and we had a blast, both on the boat and underwater. Thank you for choosing the MV Smiling Seahorse to “pass the cap” on board. 

Starting the trip in the Surin National Park, the highlight of the first day was a curious guitar shark visiting us on our very first dive! 

Big school of fish, trevally, barracudas and fusilier were  present around the famous Richelieu Rock. Looking on the reef we could spot ghost pipefish, a seahorse and 2 pairs of harlequin shrimps for the pleasure of all!

Cruising down south to the Similan National Park for the next two days, everyone really enjoyed Koh Tachai pinnacle which was teeming with life. it’s always great to see the diversity of this ecosystem and two dives are far from enough to see it all. 
The first night dive was at Koh Bon where we saw the tinniest Pygmy squid, plenty of moray eels hunting (some where huge!!!), cool crabs like anemone crab or decorate spider crab. The reef was alight with shrimps eyes shinning in our torches and getting closer we recognised Durban dancing shrimps, transparent cleaner shrimps, marble shrimps and tapestry shrimps (both are saron shrimp and oh so colourful!)

A smooth cruising down south to Koh Lanta National Park where we dove the next day around Hin Daeng and Hin Muang, including a wonderful night dive! On this second night dive this week we encountered many crustaceans and morays including another pair of harlequin shrimps!

Despite being tired by 4 dives that day, quite a few guests and most staff were also up for a big new year celebration, starting with a succulent barbecue and ending up dancing on the sundeck with music, hats and party favors! We all ended up drinking champagne (courtesy of the smiling seahorse) with  bright hats on our head, blowing party horns to the sea breeze :) Fun times! 

Back to Lanta National Park, the cameras flashed again in front of harlequin shrimps, a massive stone fish and the amazing wall full of soft coral of Hin Daeng (Red) and Hin Muang (Purple).
We spent the rest of the day in Koh Haa, hunting a variety of nudibranch that even some guides had never seen before ! We went through the scenic Cathedral and Chimney perfect prop for our annual group picture!

Last day but not least, Bida Nok with its many black tip reef sharks and their dense school of yellowback fusilier.
Last dive before heading back to Phuket was at Shark Point with the perfect finish to this wonderful cruise: a long and chill encounter of a Zebra Shark !
 
Stay tuned for our next adventure ! Thanks for reading, more fishy stories for you next week !

Merry Christmas to all, we had a really amazing Christmas trip and hope you also enjoyed the festive season with your loved ones. We had 15 fantastic guests coming all the way from France, Switzerland, Germany, Canada, and Sweden to visit the best spots of the North Andaman Sea of Thailand: Similan National Park and Surin National Park for a 7 day- cruise. What a blast!

Unfortunately Franck took the week off to enjoy Christmas at home with the kids, which was a treat for our family but means no underwater photos this week! Thanksfully our dream team took over with lovely photos onboard and it looks like everyone had a fantastic trip without us (Camille and Franck).

Great dives were had with lots of schooling fishes, cute nudibranch, octopus, and black tip reef shark. Torinla Rocks, In surin islands, were amazing this week, with Pikachu in their trees (hydroids) and kuhl's stingray flying over a bunch of garden eels.

Richelieu was incredible, we saw a seahorse, few ghost pipefishes, ribbon eel, zebra moray and a huge amount of fishes dancing over the rock, trevallies, barracudas, fusiliers, rabbit fishes, batfishes.

In the Similans, Three trees had strong current, but the school of barracudas were hovering over the reef which gave us a magical show!

Fun was had onboard, especially during Christmas eve as we enjoyed a wonderful Banrbecued Lamb shank and a few drinks! Thank you to our lovely guests for joining us this Christmas ! A

​ll the Smiling Seahorse team wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !

Do you know how the Christmas Trees tradition started?

Long before the advent of Christianity, plants and trees that remained green all year had a special meaning for people in the winter. Just as people today decorate their homes during the festive season with pine, spruce, and fir trees, ancient peoples hung evergreen boughs over their doors and windows. In many countries it was believed that evergreens would keep away witches, ghosts, evil spirits, and illness...

Looks like our tree brought us luck this week and kept bad spirit away :)

How was your Christmas? Did you take a holidays?  Did you go diving somewhere cool?
Or did you stay home?
Did you get fun scuba-diver gifts under the tree?
Tell us all in the comment section!

A small group for a big trip, this week MV Smiling Sea Horse had 7 lucky guests, coming from United States, France, Singapore and Israel. Franck, our co-owner and onboard photographer wasn't onboard this time so a big thank you to Boris Mekler for illustrating this blogpost with fantastic photos. Thanks a lot for coming back with us for the sixth trip in a year! It is always a pleasure diving with you! 

We start the trip cruising south from Lanta National Park, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang to Tarutao National Park. Harlequin shrimps were present for our first night dive in Hin Daeng, a big school of barracuda and some nice nudibranch. A Mobula rays few by us on 8 miles, next to koh lipe and a we also found a sneeky frogfish hiding in plain sight!

Blackwater this week was fantastic so most guests asked to make a second black water dives this trip. We saw so many cool and weird creatures. The first blackwater dive was loaded with baby puffer fish blowing up in front of our masks as well as a baby stargazer! The second BW dive was full of baby Moray eels with long transparent bodies and sharp/tinny tooth! All the energetic babies were quite fast moving and so hard to photograph so we can't show you unfortunately this time, you'll have to come see for yourself! 
But we can still show you flying guenard, anemone, baby squids and octopus and a sea elephant.

After the crossing overnight from south Andaman to North Andaman contouring Phuket, we spent the second part of the trip between the Similan and Surin National parks. Visibilty was great, especially around Koh Bon and koh Tachai. 

Great trip starting from Khao Lak with 13 guests coming from US, Belgium, Canada, England, and French. The first place we dive was in Koh Chi in Surin National Park were the wonderful pikachus welcomed is in colours and after that, we went to Richelieu Rock for 3 more dives that first day!

Then we moved south towards Similan National Park for a day split between Koh Tachai and Koh Bon. We saw a nice school of pickhandle barracudas in the blue and on the reef found Maldives sponge snails, the eggs of Spanish dancer (aka the reef rose) and a beautiful green turtle.

The 3rd day, we were at three trees, elephant head, and west of eden for some great dives. We saw a curious octopus, a couple of blue ribbon eels sharing the same hole, and loads of beautiful nudibranch. I still wonder why two blue ribbon eels shared the same house as color usually determine the sex of these drag queens...  if you know or wanna guess, let us know in the comment section!

Similan delivered some fantastic dives but so did Lanta National Park! We got lucky to see our first manta ray of the season but unfortunately no photo this time! sad...
​Then we made an exploration dive around Koh Rok before going south to Tarutao National Park. 

Full day around Koh Lipe to dive 8 Miles, Stonehenge, Koh Yang East and Sawang. 8 Miles dive site was amazing with huge school of trevallies (some were huge!!!), barracudas and for the two frogfishs hiding in the middle of it all!

That night was black water night and was really good, Franck managed to catch a picture for the first time a Tonguefish.

Last day, first dive in Bida Nok and second in Shark point. We saw some black tip reef sharks, cuttlefish and beautiful tiny squat shrimps.

Thank you Timothy and Emmanuelle for choosing us to celebrate your honeymoon! wishing you many happy dives together!

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. 

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 !

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.

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. 

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

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. 

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