Trip Report Wonderful North Andaman from the 28th November to the 3rd December

​Our last trip of November began beautifully at Tap Lamu Pier, where we welcomed a lovely international group from the USA, Australia, Canada, and China. Smiles, excitement, and dive bags loaded — we set sail toward the legendary Similan National Park, ready for a week of granite giants, lush reefs, and pelagic encounters.

Day 2 — Similan National Park

​Check Dive — West of Eden (Island 7)
The season opened gracefully: the reef was alive with movement, as schools of neon fusiliers, twinstripe fusiliers, yellowback fusiliers, and five-lined snappers flowed around the bommies like a perfectly timed ballet.
Bluefin trevallies, a massive giant trevally, and a sleek dogtooth tuna patrolled the edges while adult black-and-white snappers, oriental sweetlips, and a giant one-spot snapper added structure to the scene.
Down in the sand, a spirit mantis shrimp peeked from its burrow, surrounded by eager squat shrimps, while a banded seasnake weaved around the corals. A relaxed hawksbill turtle joined us mid-dive, followed by a charismatic octopus and a picture-perfect clown triggerfish.
A spectacular start.

Hawkbill turtle (photo from a previous trip)

Boxfish

Dive 2 — Elephant Head Rock
The underwater maze delivered its usual magic: harlequin sweetlips, elegant three-spot angelfish, curious coral groupers, and thick-bodied giant morays.
A scribbled filefish hovered among the boulders, while adult yellow cube-boxfish, blue-spotted puffers, and a hefty porcupinefish wandered peacefully.
Pelagic action was constant with giant trevallies, bluefin trevallies, and dogtooth tuna cutting through the blue.
Among the reef, colorful wrasses, dust-blue surgeonfish, and crunching parrotfish added all the texture you'd expect from a prime Andaman reef.
After lunch, we visited the iconic beach and viewpoint of Donald Duck Bay on Island 8 — a postcard of granite boulders, white sand, and turquoise pools.

Dive 3 — Three Trees
Soft sand, rich bommies, and life everywhere.
Garden eels rose and sank gracefully in the current, a blue-spotted Kuhl’s ray glided over the bottom, and schools of bluelined snappers, rabbitfish, and yellow goatfish swirled around the coral heads.
The hard coral formations here are beautiful — rounded boulders topped with staghorn, pore corals, table corals, and tiny damselfish, triggerfish, wrasses, and unicornfish dancing above them.

Night Dive — Koh Bon

Lights on — and the reef woke up. 
​
Octopuses displayed all their colors, big red crabs patrolled the rocks, and a massive giant moray hunted boldly out in the open.
A sleepy bicolor parrotfish tucked itself between two rocks, while yellowback fusiliers played in the beams. Close to the bottom we found marble shrimps, tiny spider crabs, and the ever-entertaining Durban dancing shrimps.

Video: Decorator Spider crab and hairy Hermit Crab scuttling across the reef

Day 3 — Koh Bon & Koh Tachai

Dive 1 — Koh Bon Pinnacle & North Ridge
A beautiful morning with banded seasnakes twisting through the corals, scorpionfish blending into the structure, and mackerel explosions over glassfish clouds.
A huge marble grouper lounged on the ridge near a shining giant clam.
Schools of barracudas, batfish, yellowback fusiliers, neon fusiliers, and a cast of coral groupers, Clark’s anemonefish, and tiny wrasses added color to the soft yellow, blue, and pink corals covering the area.

Dive 2 — Koh Bon West Ridge
Pelagics everywhere: giant trevallies, shimmering rainbow runners, and a curious giant moray.
Around the bommies: groupers, surgeonfish, tiny blennies, and damsels darting between the hard corals.
Clark’s anemonefish swayed in their soft hosts while cleaner pipefish zipped around.

Dive 3 — Koh Tachai Pinnacle
Action-packed as always.
We were greeted by giant marble groupers, clouds of bluefin trevallies, powerful godtooth tunas (the local spelling fun continues!), and a tornado of barracudas.
Schools of yellowback fusiliers, neon fusiliers, and bluelined snappers danced over the rocks.
Hidden between coral blocks we found lobsters, giant morays, batfish, diamond-shaped unicornfish, bigeye emperors, curious goatfish, and plenty of colorful angelfish, butterflyfish, wrasses, parrotfish, and surgeonfish.

Dive 4 — Tachai Reef or Blackwater
Tachai Reef offered a peaceful end to the day with checkered snappers, shy octopus, bridled monocle bream, Indo-Pacific sergeant, morrish idol, powder-blue surgeonfish, striped surgeonfish, Indian sailfin tang, golden rabbitfish, and a thrilling moment with two blacktip reef sharks hunting fusiliers in the shallows.

Blackwater Dive (off Koh Tachai)
A galaxy in motion: larval anemonefish, stargazers, eel larvae, pyrosomes, siphonophores, venus girdles, comb jellies, larval crabs, and larval triggerfish floating through the dark. Hypnotic. (photos below from a previous trip as out photographer was out of the water this week).

Day 4 & 5 — Richelieu Rock (Surin National Park)

The jewel of the Andaman, discovered by a Danish admiral of the same name — not the French cardinal!
Richelieu greeted us with purple soft corals swaying in the current, clouds of life pulsing around the horseshoe-shaped reef, and visibility that kept changing but always rewarded patience.

The reef was buzzing:
Octopus, elegant harlequin shrimps, a beautiful black-and-yellow ribbon eel, Chromodoris risbecia pulchella, blue dragons, and bright purple flabellinas.
Pelagic visitors included cobias, pickhandle barracudas, yellowtail barracudas, and « the gang » — the longnose emperors teaming up with rainbow runners and several species of trevallies (bluefin, giant, bigeye, golden…).
A courtship of golden trevallies was the highlight of the afternoon.
The clouds of life around the rock were incredible: yellowback fusiliers, two-spot snappers, twinstripe fusiliers, longfin snappers, and more — everything swirling through the soft coral fingers.
The night dive revealed hunting morays, crabs on the move, sleeping parrotfish, and surreal colors in the torch beams.

Four more dives full of action: endless trevallies, rainbow runners, fusilier storms, lovingly posing harlequin shrimps, macro critters hiding in soft corals, and the iconic purple landscape of Richelieu glowing in the morning sun.

Day 6 – Richelieu Rock Farewell & Return to Ranong

​For our final day, the ocean treated us to two beautiful morning dives at Richelieu Rock, its horseshoe-shaped reef once again buzzing with life. The soft purple corals were blooming in the current, glassfish shimmering over the pinnacles, and clouds of trevallies hunting in perfect coordination. A curious banded sea snake weaved through the sea fans, and our divers enjoyed long, colorful drifts through schools of rainbow runners and oriental sweetlips.
After these last immersive moments in Thailand’s most iconic site, we began our smooth cruise south toward Ranong. On the way, we made a quick stop at Koh Payam to drop off one of our guests—an unexpected but pleasant pause in this peaceful island paradise—before continuing back toward the pier, watching the sun lower itself behind the Andaman Sea.
 
We wrapped up the day with a calm sunset and a wonderful BBQ in Surin Bay, sharing stories under a sky full of stars.

Giant Trevallies hunt in a school of tiny bait fish 

A fantastic end to our Surin and Similan Liveaboard cruise

​Another beautiful trip filled with great dives, wonderful guests, and an ocean full of surprises — from tiny flabellinas to hunting trevallies.
Thank you to everyone on board for bringing such great energy and for the photos illustrating this blogpost!
​We can’t wait to have you back onboard for new ocean adventures!