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!

The first couple days, we were at Surin National Park and after an easy check out dive around surin islands, we headed straight out to swarms of fishes at Richelieu Rock. A giant grouper is staying around the rock this month, it is HUGE!!! We had 3 dives to explore the dive site from all sides and saw it on every dive. What a treat! About 100 kilograms and so chill, really makes you feel like a prehistoric creature!
Groups of long nose mixed with trevally were hunting all over the rock and a big school of barracudas could be seen hanging out in the bay. Unfortunately we dont have many photos this week but we have a video and its worth a thousand words!

​Last but not least, we offered two amazing blackwater dives during this cruise, a great experience to see these pelagic and deep sea creatures we would never otherwise see. We saw a paper nautilus, flouders, juvenile squirelfish, floutemouth, moray eels, Salps and jellyfish in all shapes, and so much more! 

Our guests this week came from France, Austria, Germany and switzerland to dive with us, and we had a blast!

First day of diving, we were at Surin National Park and it was incredible! We saw some reef sharks and a lot of school of fishes.
​The Surin Islands (Thai: หมู่เกาะสุรินทร์, Thai pronunciation: [mùː kɔ̀ʔ sùrin]) is an archipelago of five islands in the Andaman Sea, 60 km from the Thai mainland. Administratively, the islands are part of Tambon Ko Phra Thong, Khura Buri District, in Phang Nga Province, Thailand.

The following days we were at Similan National Park. The visibility was good about 20 meters +.
The Similan Islands (Thai: หมู่เกาะสิมิลัน, RTGS: Mu Ko Similan, Thai pronunciation: [mùː kɔ̀ʔ si.mi.lan]) is an archipelago in the Andaman Sea off the coast of, and part of, Phang Nga Province in southern Thailand. It was established as Mu Ko Similan National Park in 1982 by the forestry department.

​We saw a group of long nose emperors, group of blue fin trevally, big eye trevally, fusiliers, glass fish everywhere, a group of banner fish, and much more.

For the first dive and the sunset dive, there always have a lot of action. It's the time that all the fishes come out and feed themselves and the dive will always make you think that you are in the heaven (surrounded by tons of fish).

This trip was amazing, the diving itself, the food, and we’re trying our best to take an excellent service to make our guests have the most wonderful vacation with us… MV The Smiling Seahorse.

Thank you for choosing us.

Hope you all had a good one.

Cheers!!

Big moments this weeke  were a big jenkins whipray chilling on the sand, nudibranch all over the place, harlequin shrimps eating their seastars, tons of bluespotted stingray cruising over the garden eels, and the amazing special appearance of an eagle ray at night on Richelieu Rock.

The Similans also didn't disappoint with Hawksbill turtles, banded sea kraits, maldives sponge snails and great barracudas spotted at Koh Bon. Octopus mating on Tachai Pinnacle, giant lobsters resting under the rocks, one carrying its eggs on its belly. Pipefish, nudibranchs, cowries and lots of fusilliers and trevallies.

While critically endangered, The Hawksbill Turtles are the most frequently encountered turtles on our cruises, today let's learn about hawk-billed turtle or Eretmochelys imbricata...

We also celebrated a birthday on this trip, happy birthday Sergey!

And a big congratulation to

• Lucas for your Advanced Open Water certification!
• Miles and Christine for your Adventure Deep Dive!

Unfortunately Franck is out of the water due to an ear injury so not many underwater photos this month!

Full boat cruising in the North Andaman sea from Tap Lamu to Ranong with a full boat from French, America, Canada, Germany and Australia.

Congratulations to Britanny for your Advanced Open Water certification and to Olivier, Emmanuel, Luc and Carole for your Enriched Air Nitrox certifications.

Diving in the Similan National Park for the first days, starting with Shark Fin Reef, West of Eden and Elephant Head Rock to finish the day with a night dive in Turtle Head Rock. Many crustaceans, beautiful fish, some nudibranch, ribbon eel, and the reef full of fish...

Apart from their gorgeous colouring and their many shapes and sizes, nudibranchs have some special tricks up their sleeves that really sets them apart.    
Although they are small, they have developed some very industrious techniques to protect themselves. Many nudibranchs display bright colours for a multitude of reasons. Some practice what’s called aposematism which is colouration to suggest to predators that they aren’t tasty or can be toxic. This is a technique used by the Phylidiidae family that we often see in the Indo-Pacific.

Cruising north to explore the north side of the island number 9 with its beautiful Three Trees, North Point and Christmas Point. 4 white tip reef sharks, turtle, lots of bluespotted stingray, school of barracuda and some garden eel...

Do you know garden eels? They are strange tropical fishes with snake shaped bodies and puffy faces with big eyes making them, overall … super cute.
They live in large colonies oscillating like whip coral in the currents and disappear like a mirage when you approach.
Take a look at this garden eel FAQ...

Next day around the two islands of Bon and Tachai was incredible. 6 octopus matings, turtles swimming around the pinnacle. A pregnant lobster was still carrying its eggs. Huge groupers hiding between the rocks and lot of action during the sunset dive on Tachai Pinnacle.

To finish this trip we were lucky to dive on the famous Richelieu Rock. Pregnant ghost pipefish, seahorse, peacock mantis shrimp, an amazing amount of glassfish. The huge school of trevallies, emperors, rainbow runner were hunting around the rock.
Thank you for choosing us and looking forward to diving again together.

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!