Category:

Christmas gifts on this North and South Andaman cruise! 18-25 Dec 2021

10/1/2022

The best Christmas gifts ever: 2 whale sharks!

Have you been good this year?? What did you get for Christmas?
We have probably been very good this year, cause Santa brought us a whale shark!!!

This trip was just awesome! We left Phuket on the 18th of December with 15 fantastic guests and explored Thailand's 4 best Marine National parks.
We started down south, near the Malaysian border with Tarutao National park next to Koh Lipe, also dived in Koh Lanta National parks around Hin Daeng, Hin Muang and Koh Ha before going around Phuket island to explore the North Andaman National parks of Surin and Similan islands next to Myanmar border! What an adventure!

The Smiling Seahorse Christmas tree

Batwing sea slugs

The 2 whale sharks were not the only gift we got on this trip, there were a rainbow of criters in all shapes and colours from this wonderful Batwing sea slugs (top right) to pretty Harlequin shrimps (below) read more about these Anibal lector of the sea in this dedicated blogpost.

Arlequin shrimp in her colorful environment

We found a Mama Clown fish (clark to be precise) eye to eye with her nearly hatched babies.

Mama Clown fish (clark to be precise) and babies

Several Ghost pipefish on our North and South route as well as Napoleon fish and reef steaming with life!

Napoleon fish

Ghost pipefish

Black water diving on every trip: We love it!!!

Just like on every other trip, we did an optional Blackwater dive and met a myriad of Fish larvaes, all cutest than can be as well as cephalopods and drifting crustaceans in various stage of development.

blackwater diving cephalopod in Thailand

There was also plenty of schools of fish to keep our eyes and cameras busy around the reef.

But I must admit my favorite this week were the two whale shark and this shy tigertail seahorse.

The gentle whale shark...

Subscribe to our blogpost to receive regular update and more illustrated fishy stories directly in your inbox :)

0 Comments

First North and South Andaman cruise for The Smiling Seahorse...

27/12/2021

0 Comments

A fantastic expedition all over the Andaman Sea (North and South) from Ranong to Phuket, through 5 of Thailand's best Marine National parks...

Our very first North & South Andaman cruise will be an adventure we will remember for a long time… bad weather, waves, changes of itinerary and quite a few unpredictable adventures… but also our first Manta of the season and awesome divers onboard. We made the best of it!
Thank you all for being such fantastic guests!

Psychedelic batwing slug

Waves stopped us from diving Richelieu Rock but disappointment was offset by very beautiful dives in Koh Surin and the Similan islands during which we were able to admire ribbon eel, psychedelic nudibranchs, schools of majestic fish like Sweetlips. A large male green Turtle came to say hello around the boat when we were moored, and dolphins gave us a magical moment while cruising.

Female Ribbon eel

Barracudas

Yellowtail fusilier

Explosion of life around coral reef

Sweetlips

Blueline snapper

Colorful and lively coral reef

In Koh Bon, we had excellent visibility, and the waves gave us enough of a break to run a cool black water dive.

baby Crab

Some more weird stuff

Fish larvae

baby flounder

After the long crossing between Similan Islands and Lanta national park, we arrived in Hin Daeng and Hin Muang where some of us had the chance of seeing our first Manta ray of the season. One more manta ID shot for Mantatrust database :)

our first manta ray of the season

One more manta ID shot for Mantatrust database :)

West of Hin Daeng, we found lots of nudibranchs, ghost pipefish, and spearing mantis shrimp.

Ghost Pipefish

Goniobranchus geminus

Phyllidia elegans

Cool flat worm

Hypselodoris maculosa

Pikachu nudibranch

We already knew 10 of the 14 guests who joined us for this great adventure, which made the atmosphere nice and warm. What a pleasure to see you all again. 2 guests did the last trip. 6 are doing the next one. And welcome to the 4 new divers joining us for the very first time, we hope you will also come back for more adventures soon...

always amazed at the beauty of coral

Redtail butterfly fish

Clown triggerfish

Lionfish ready for Fashion Week

lovely coral covering the reef

Juvenile angelfish

Now, another departure for the South Andaman for new adventures from 7th to 11th of February with better weather awaits… keep tuned for more fishy stories.

And you, where in the world are you? Answer in comment section...

0 Comments

Back from the first Black Water Diving cruise on The Smiling Seahorse !

14/12/2021

0 Comments

To accompany us for this seventh cruise of the season and our very first blackwater diving expedition, we had the pleasure of welcoming back for the very first time international guests coming all the way from France, they braved the travel restrictions and traveled to Thailand to come and do this very special cruise with us. Thank you! We haven't seen any guests from abroad since March 2020 and it was amazing having you back!
Among these amazing crowds, we had a diving legend, 81 years-young, who was amongst the first underwater photographers ever and still dive like a fish!
Conditions were not easy on this trip as we had strong wind and waves which made it tricky to get back onboard, we had to change our itinerary slightly to find some shelter and explored new areas around the similan we never dived before.

We were surrounded by a team of extremely well-equipped underwater paparazzi. Our Photo Room has never been more crowded by camera, cables, chargers and hundreds of batteries!

We didn't do as many blackwater dives as we would have hoped because of the weather but here are a few of the best shots we took this week on the blackwater and bonfire dives:

Jellyfish

Baby Squirel fish

Another cute baby

Sea Butterfly

Such a pretty Jellyfish

Thousands of Shrimp swam in our torches

Diamond squid

Juvenile lezardfish

Salp

Mantis shrimp

Diamond squid

Juvenile bobbit worm, how cool!

This worm can live up to 100 years according to scientists, and some think it can grow up to 9 meters. At night, the bobbit worm pops its head out of its burrow, standing upright with part of its body exposed. If a small sea creature swims near, the worm launches a snake-like strike at its victim. It has four long, hooked jaws that clasp around prey, two of which are barbed to prevent a victim from escaping. The bobbit worm strikes with such force that some small victimes are sliced in half when the predator strikes.

A tiny crab larvae

Some cool phosphorescent crustaceans that can turn on and off on demand!

As I said, the weather was not on our side this time, which prompted us to modify our itinerary . When life gives you lemon, make lemonade, this was a perfect opportunity to try bonfire dives sheltered from similan islands.
Bonfire dive is similar to blackwater diving in the sense we use powerful lights to attract plankton and larvaes at night but while the blackwater dives are done drifting offshore over very deep water, bonfire is done closer to the reef, over a sandy slope with a static line.
In the yellow colors, we found a few seahorses on Richelieu Rock this week, as well as this cute yellow boxfish and some big Pikachu nudibranch.

Yellow pygmy seahorse

Yellow boxfish

Pikachu nudibranch

We also had the chance to photograph 2 pairs of ornate ghost pipefish, porcelain crabs in their anemone and clownfish eggs guarded by their parents.

Porcelain crab

Ornate ghost pipefish

We explored the west coast of Koh Tachai and discovered a side of the island we never explored before and the sea quieted enough to allow us to do our last dives once again alone on a Richelieu Rock full of life!

Massive lobsters on Tacha Pinnacle

Barrel sponges

Barrel sponges and soft coral in the simila

Hard coral are the ultimate reef nurseries

...emperors, trevallis...

Clown fish in their beautiful purple anemone

Banded sea krait says"cheese"

The weather looks better, we are heading back south! What about you? How are you wherever you are and when are you coming for some underwater adventures?

0 Comments

The exclusivity of Surin Islands for this VVIP trip

25/11/2021

0 Comments

A very intimate atmosphere for this last cruise in the Surin Islands: indeed, we welcomed 4 guests who had the chance to enjoy the boat and the crew to themselves! And since we were the only boat on a cruise this week, we also got to enjoy being the only divers underwater, from the first to the last day.
The sea was lovely and calm, life under the water buzzing and amazing.

The Smiling Seahorse now offers blackwater dives on every cruise and this week, our blackwater dives were a success: We were able to observe many species at the larval and pelagic stage: flounder, jellyfish, pineapple fish, nudibranch, squids, shrimps, trigger fish, barracudas, worms ...

Larvae flounder

Jellyfish

Barracuda

Undefined worm

Scribble Filefish running after a jellyfish

Pelagic nudibranch

Sea butterfly larvae

Squid

Pineapple fish

Baby trigger fish

Shrimp

Pelagic sea snake

We also twitched our itinerary slightly this week, in order to be able to do a twilight dive at Richelieu Rock: a magical moment! The colors under and on the water were fabulous, to the delight of all our photographers on board.

Jellyfish have many enemies but I love them equally!

Spanish dancer eggs ribbon, a wonder to see underwater. New spot for blackwater diving?

Scorpion fish

All photographers onboard used our dedicated photo room and we shared some editing moments to share our shots and tips to improve our underwater and blackwater photography.

Trying out the blurry effect. What do you think? Tell us in the comments below.

Another very nice group with whom we really enjoyed diving and living on the boat. Thank you to this team from all over the world for these few days.

If you would like more information about our itineraries, our boat or our various training courses, do not hesitate to contact us.

0 Comments

Schools of Trevallies on Richelieu!

28/4/2021

0 Comments

We set off from Ranong in the afternoon of April 19th for a 3-day dive trip in the Similans and Surin National parks. We made a stop on Koh Phayam to pick up a few guests, and then headed straight for the Surin Islands, Koh Chi specifically, for our first dive of the trip.

School of fish on richelieu rock, thailand

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise on April 20th and were in the water by 7am! The water was beautiful, and visibility was particularly good! One group spent a wonderful 10 minutes with a hungry turtle munching on some coral. If was certainly not shy and did not mind divers around it!

Divers with a friendly turtle

After our first dive, with all groups comfortable in the water, we decided to head to Richelieu for the following 3 dives of the day. There, we were greeted by schools of trevallies, and more great visibility, with only a few areas of thermocline.
We were lucky not to face any current and the water was very calm, allowing us to dedicate our time underwater to admiring the wonderful corals, schools of trevallies, barracudas, and fusiliers.

We also visited our regular friend the giant frog fish who was not in his usual spot but on a new rock this time. The harlequin shrimps were also there, and we were delighted to see that the pair had a tiny cute little baby, and we also spotted the baby seahorse which we had found on our last trip!

Giant Frog Fish Yawn

Curious Clown Fish

After this excellent day of diving, we set off for the Similan National park starting at Koh Bon, where we dove twice in the morning of April 21st. On the first dive, all groups decided on the pinnacle dive, where we marvelled at schools of glassfish as they spread and regrouped around hunting emperor fish. On the second dive, most groups set out for West Ridge in the hope to find one of the resident octopuses. No Manta today, but instead, cute baby box fish were spotted, as well as marble shrimp.

School of Trevallies

School of Fusiliers

On the following two dives, we headed to Koh Tachai, were once again, we were lucky to escape the currents and had very peaceful and pleasant dives. The schools of fish were plentiful, and the barracudas seemed to be waiting for us at the safety stop!

Ready for the sunset dive!

On the last dive of the day, some of our experienced divers decided to go diving without a wetsuit. Some say naked diving is a rite of passage for someone’s 100th dive, but who said we need an excuse for having fun? A word of advice for those wanting to try this: daytime is probably warmer than evening, and stay away from the thermocline 😊

On our last day, we dove Richelieu Rock twice before sailing back to Ranong and reached the pier around 7pm. On the way back, we were lucky to see some dolphins swimming next to us, and the captain slowed down so we could follow them for a while. It was a lovely way to end the trip .

Thank you for joining everyone and hope to see you again soon!

0 Comments

Whale Sharks for Songkran!

19/4/2021

0 Comments

Oupsi it looks like I have been a bit late publishing this one...

We departed in the evening of April 13th for a 4 nights / 3 days trip over the Thai Songkran holiday. Leaving in the evening allowed us to sail at night and wake up bright and early for our first dive at 7am on Koh Chi Island, Surin. This is our usual spot for the first dive, aka “check dive” of the trip.
The peanut shaped island has a slopping reef going from 5 to 18 meters, finishing on a sandy bottom, and is great for finding bentstick pipe fish, sea moths, Pikachu nudibranchs, as well as turtles, black tip reef sharks, and parrotfish.

While the visibility was not the best for Surin on our first 2 dives, (10 to 15 meters) several groups were happy to spot 2 turtles, a pipefish, a baby box fish and lots of colorful angel and butterfly fish.
On the agenda for that afternoon, a visit to a Sea gypsy village and a night dive on Surin before departing for Koh Bon in the morning…or so we thought…

Instead, we received a tip after our 2nd dive that a whale shark had been spotted on Richelieu Rock, so submitted our itinerary to a vote and a unanimous decision was reached to sail to Richelieu Rock that afternoon for 2 afternoon dives.
We were excited and had high hopes of encountering the much sought-after sea giant, and were rewarded almost instantly after jumping in the water: it took us a few minutes to realize from the sighting frequency and the trail of fish following the whale shark that is wasn’t one but two that were swimming around Richelieu Rock! How amazing!

Wave of glass fish on Koh Bon pinnacle

Whale shark on Richelieu Rock

Managing our depth for a better air consumption, we managed to spend the whole hour with the whale sharks coming and going while we watched in awe. Needless to say, that made for some very happy divers!
As we also had 2 snorkelers onboard, we used the surface interval between dive 3 and dive 4 to snorkel above Richelieu Rock, and there again, were able to spot the friendly giants.
For our sunset dive, we were pleased to spend another 60 minute dive with regular whale shark encounters while we were also admiring the barracudas and giant trevallies.

In the evening, we decided to pursue our dive schedule for the next day and sail for Koh Bon, where we dove twice in the morning, followed by Koh Tachai, for one afternoon and one sunset dive.
On Koh Bon, the highlight was diving with a very friendly octopus for a while. We were mesmerized as it moved in the water and we witnessed it change color several times. On Koh Tachai, there was a decent amount of current, ensuring a lot of action! It’s always a pleasure to admire the school of barracudas and giant trevallies hunting, as well as the peaceful batfish.

School of barracudas

Batfish on Koh Tachai

Diver with Clown Fish

After a full day of great diving, we went back to Surin for 2 morning dives, were we drifted with current on Torinla and finished the trip off with 2 dives on Richelieu Rock. There, the currents had cleaned the plankton from the water, improving the visibility considerably back to it’s normal self, and we had two great dives, visiting our regular friends, the giant frog fish, ghost pipe fish, harlequin shrimp and we even found a new baby seahorse!

Diver with Giant Frog Fish

In the evening, we celebrated our successful trip with a Barbecue and Ti Ponch cocktail and sailed back to Ranong in the morning.
What a lovely way to spend Songkran, we are glad we were so lucky to have you all with us on this trip!

Group picture onboard the Smiling seahorse so much fun

the famous barbeque night!

0 Comments

New moon over Surin and Similan islands

13/4/2021

0 Comments

Our most recent trip took place from April 9th to 11th; we departed Ranong in the evening 9th to wake up in Surin National park, ready for 3 full day of diving, 4 in the Surin islands, followed the next day by 2 dives on Koh Bon and 2 dives on Koh Tachai and ending with 3 dives on Richelieu Rock the following days.

8th to 12th f April 2022 diving expedition on The Smiling Seahorse in Thailand

On this trip, we had 2 advanced open water students and a majority of young divers, many who experienced night diving for the first time during this trip. We are happy to report they both graduated with honors and everyone loved night diving!

PADI advanced open water in surin and similan islands

3 newly certified Advanced Open Water - Congratulations!

When jumping in the water on the morning of our very first dive of the trip, the first group spotted a turtle swimming at a very shallow depth of 3 to 4 meters and decided to follow it for a little while. It proved to be a great idea as behind the turtle, they discovered 3 baby black tip reef sharks circling around the reef. Later on during the same dive, another group spotted an eagle ray passing by. What a fantastic way to start our journey!

Divers on Koh Tachai

During the rest of the day, Surin made for incredibly lovely dives, with some coral dives mixed with a drift and muck dive, all the group saw blue spotted sting rays sleeping in the sand, some cuttlefish were spotted, a juvenile pipefish, and even a hump head parrot fish!!

The following day, we sailed to koh Bon for 2 morning dives. The visibility was great and currents allowed us to do 2 dives on the pinnacle. Some of us chose to dive the West ridge and got to hang out with one of the resident octopuses, saw lots of shrimps, nudibranches, while others dropped on the pinnacle, traversed to west ridge and spotted a black tip reef shark.

While Koh Bon had only mild to no current, koh Tachai had stronger currents bringing in a plethora of barracudas, jacks and the usual schooling batfish. On our sunset dive, we sought shelter from the current and began our search for small creatures and found plenty of nudibranchs, lobsters, box fish, baby scorpionfish and more.

In the evening, we feasted on our usual Barbecue, and played a really fun game called the box game. We’ll let you figure out the rules for yourself, photos are better than words sometimes! With all the young and flexible guests onboard, it made for a lot of laughs and good vibes. The cocktails might have also helped.

On our last day, we dove 3 times on Richelieu Rock before setting back to Ranong. On top of the usual harlequin shrimps, ghost pipe fish, frog fish, tiger eye coweries, we were lucky to spot another eagle ray, who came to see us off until next time. No Whaleshark this time, but we are keeping our fingers crossed for the next time.