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Blog about diving in Burma and Thailand

Surin Island National Park, best in Thailand

25/11/2012

2 Comments

 
Surin Islands National Park
Surin Islands
We just had a fantastic dive safari, 3 days and 3 nights around Surin Islands and Richelieu rock : awesome !

We leave Ranong in the afternoon of the 18th of November and after a little ceremony to Buddha, we are off to the National park of the Surin islands. We have a great dinner onboard with massaman curry, my favorite and some crunchy pork, yummy! Its with a full tummy that we go for a good night sleep, a big day awaits us tomorrow.

We wake up in the early morning to discover a dream-like landscape, the virgin forest  covering the islands looks impenetrable, there must be so many birds and animals hiding in this green! We only see a sea eagle and some white sea birds but here a jungle melody and I’m sure there is more to Jungle cicadas make a very loud and strident noise.

We jump in the water at 7:30 AM, late start for a first day, but we have all day. We finish to wake up underwater even though diving feels like a dream. I love this feeling of floating half awake in the middle of fish morning frenzy. Its time for them to find their breakfast and they are busy at it.
Bat fish
Bat fish
We see some beautiful nudibranchs on this first dive and the fishes are so numerous, we don’t know where to look, small shinny blue ones hold my eyes for a little ones, when a big puffer fish come in the background to steal the show. Some huge barracudas are floating on top of us, not afraid by our bubbles, they seem intrigued.

We spend 2 days on Surin island and have the time to go around the island to many different dive sites. One is covered by yellow soft coral and I enjoy spotting the small sea snails hiding and laying their eggs of the same color in it. On another dive, we spend more time on sandy parts at the bottom of a sloppy wall, garden eels look at us from the far and I wouldn-t have seen them if the visibility wasn’t so good as they are getting back to their hole as soon as we get closer. I must say we are very lucky about the clarity of the water, which we could see even before rolling out of the dingy. We see some blue spotted sting ray hiding in the sand only to get away when we get too close.

The variety of fish is remarkable: a school of bat fishes are looking at us curiously, a turtle take of before our eyes and circle around before flying away. We also see some sweetlips parked behind a rock as to be sheltered from the current.
Pipe fish
_I spot many mantis shrimps on this trip, some going as quickly as they can back to a safe spot from where only two curious eyes can be seen, other mind their own business sorting through rocks and coral particles on the ground to see if they find anything interesting.

Looking in the cracks, we can also see many shrimps, mostly Durban dancing shrimps, but also cleaner shrimps and transparent ones, those are a wonder to me, they can swim like if they were walking on the water and still you can see through them!

There are many moray eels around the national park and we don’t look at them much anymore but from time to time, I like looking at them for a little longer and feel privileged to assist to their toilet when cleaner shrimps climb on to them, they open their large mouth and the shrimp get busy cleaning the inside, then the shrimps gets to the top of its head and enjoy her price.
In between two dives, we go explore some white sanded beach and a sea gypsy village. Its funny how they have houses made out of palm tree leaves but still have one satellite dish for TV on every one of them powered by solar panels. Kids are just out of school and play in the sea in front of us when we set foot on land.
Picture
In the afternoon of the 2nd day, we set sails towards Richelieu Rock, still Thailand’s best rated dive site to do our night dive there. We are lucky to be alone on the site for our first dive there, it’s a real aquarium.
Cuttlefishes
We dive 3 more times around the rock on the following day and can see several pairs of mating cuttlefishes , we spot a pipe fish, barely visible on its rocky background.

For more fishy story, keep tuned!

Our customers reviews

Koh Surin and Richelieu: beautiful places...

"Thank you for this nice trip to Ko Surin island and Richelieu Rock. Was fantastic finish fr our vacations. Really beautiful places you have showed us."
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Camille Fogarolo 

Camille has been traveling the world since her mid twenties and dived many seas before finally settling down in Thailand in 2012. With her husband Franck, they opened The Smiling Seahorse liveaboard to offer cruises in the most unexplored area of South East Asia and became quite the experts when it comes to diving in Myanmar! Proud mother of two she still travels as much as she can and usually joins a dive trip to Mergui Archipelago every month.

2 Comments
Tom link
24/12/2012 09:09:35 pm

I guess you diving is just fantastic over there !
Recommend The Smiling Sea Horse to other divers by sharing a review on their Ediving.com's wall:
http://www.ediving.com/thesmilingseahorse/

Thanks for sharing and good dives...

Hope I will make it soon to dive with you

Tom

Reply
Camille link
25/12/2012 09:12:39 am

Hi Tm,
Thanks for looking at my website and blog and I hope to have you onboard soon for some fantaistc diving :)
Cheers,
Camille

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    The Smiling Seahorse Diving Blog

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  • When & Where
    • Schedule and Prices
    • Destinations >
      • North Andaman Thailand >
        • Similan Islands
        • Surin Islands >
          • Richelieu Rock
        • The essential Underwater photo Guide to diving Thailand
      • South Andaman Thailand >
        • Phuket & Koh Phi Phi National Parks
        • Koh Lanta National Park
        • Koh Lipe and Tarutao National Park
      • Mergui Archipelago >
        • Liveaboard diving holiday in Myanmar
        • Burma's best dive sites
        • The Ultimate Underwater photo Guide to diving Burma
  • ABOUT
    • Our Boat >
      • DELICIOUS FOOD
    • Diving in Thailand in 2024-2025
    • Diving in Myanmar/Burma in 2024-2025
    • Blackwater diving in Thailand and Myannmar
    • Marine life in Thailand's Andaman Sea
    • Marine life in Mergui Archipelago
    • Dive Courses >
      • Learn to Dive
      • Continue diving education
      • Rescue diver
      • Professional Dive Courses
      • Hone your dive skills with a specialty course
      • Photo coaching in Thailand on the Smiling Seahorse
    • Guest Book
    • FAQ
  • Plan your trip
    • Our hotels recommendations
    • Khao Sok National Park
    • Taxi services >
      • Taxi services to and from Ranong
      • Taxi services to and from Phuket
      • Taxi services to Tap Lamu and Khao Lak
    • 10 things to do around Ranong
  • PROMO
    • HOT DEALS
    • Special Expeditions >
      • 8D Special Marine Bio with Piers Baillie - 10 Nov 2025
      • 8D Whale shark expedition - 20 March 2026 - North and South
  • gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • CONTACT
  • BLOG
    • Most popular posts