Season Finale aboard MV Smiling Seahorse:
Best of Similan & Surin – April 30 to May 7, 2025
These two marine parks are crown jewels of the Andaman Sea. The Similan Islands, renowned for their dramatic granite boulders, swim-throughs, and endless schools of fusiliers, offer breathtaking topography and pelagic action. Further north, Surin National Park is home to colorful coral gardens, rare macro life, and the legendary Richelieu Rock—one of the best dive sites in Southeast Asia.
Day 1: Similan Beginnings
At Boulder City, the massive sea fans created a forest beneath the sea. Squat shrimps and Durban dancing shrimps swayed with the current, while giant groupers hid in the crevices. Fusiliers flowed like rivers, and we were treated to a turtle sighting once more.
Statue Bay and Hideaway revealed the wreck and stunning hard coral formations shaped like layered flowers. Schools of yellowback fusiliers swirled around us, and we found a tiny juvenile sweetlips bobbing near the coral—an adorable reminder of reef life’s fragility. A giant moray peeked from his lair while an octopus changed color before our eyes.
We ended the day with a peaceful night dive at West of Eden, where the coral glowed under our lights and crustaceans crept out into the night.
Day 2: Pinnacles and Swim-Throughs
Elephant Head Rock gave us both drama and beauty—giant sea fans waved beside the towering swim-throughs. Blacktip sharks cruised the deep, while batfish posed at safety stop depth. Schools of snappers, scissortail fusiliers, and trevallies zipped by. A pregnant pufferfish hovered in the current, accompanied by her always-alert boxfish companions.
The night dive at Donald Duck Bay was full of life: spiny lobsters, scallops pulsing open and shut, and a nail sea star caught mid-feeding.
Day 3: Heading North
En route to Koh Bon, we were met by a pod of dolphins—an incredible mid-ocean surprise.
At Koh Bon Ridge and Bay, we spotted a baby blacktip shark, potato groupers resting on the reef, and schools of longnose emperors hunting alongside giant sweetlips, redtooth triggerfish, coral groupers, and flocks of masked rabbitfish.
That night, the blackwater dive offered up the strange and wonderful: a blue-ring octopus, baby jacks hiding in salp chains, squid, and translucent larval crabs drifting in the dark.
Day 4: Barracudas and Batfish
At Koh Tachai, the reef exploded with color. Blacktip sharks circled the pinnacle. Schools of barracuda glimmered beneath the sun’s rays. Bigeye jacks formed a living tornado, while lobsters filled every rocky crevice. Between enormous orange seafans and pink coral towers, we admired juvenile angelfish, bicolor cleaner wrasses, yellowtail wrasses, and tiny jewel fairy basslets fluttering among the purple soft corals. The third pinnacle glowed during our final dive, with batfish forming a stately procession across the reef top.
Day 5: Surin's Soft Side
At Torinla Pinnacle, we found two elegant black ornate ghost pipefish dancing among the gorgonians. A baby white-tip reef shark rested beneath a ledge, and a giant pufferfish lazily floated by with its ever-present remora. Among the coral, a tiny Thecacera—or pikachu nudibranch—entertained macro photographers.
Days 6 & 7: Richelieu Rock Grande Finale
These last dives were the perfect conclusion to our season—a celebration of life, color, and the unmatched magic of the Andaman Sea.
As we returned to Ranong, the sun dipped behind the mangroves and the MV Smiling Seahorse entered her summer rest. But in our minds, the ocean is still alive with swirling fish, curious sharks, and coral gardens dancing in the current.
Until next season, happy bubbles from all of us aboard!