Affordable Similan liveaboards?

[pakman]

I've been on South Siam 3 and 4 the last two years....great boats, good people, excellent diving....and a freaking ZOO in the middle of the day when the high speed boat comes out to bring out new people who overload the boat for the next two dives until the high speed takes away the divers leaving that day....you can have 30-40 divers on board for a few hours...never again for me!! Of course, they are the cheapest boat, too.
You get what you pay for!!

Hot dang, 60 on the South Siam 3 or 4? LOL... I'd love to see that... Oh wait, I don't want them anywhere near me if they're dropping that many divers in the same spot as our boat...

 

[JohnCarpenter]

UploadI dived this year with Similan Diving Safaries in Khaolak, but can not recommend them. They are cheap, but there boat is always overbooked. You end up with too many divers on an old wooden boat. The kitchen was dirty and had a huge bug problem, when i was there. There rental equipment was old, and in bad shape.

Next time i would spend a little more for a better divecenter.

 

[Diver_City Boys]

I heard their babbling monkey telling a freelance instructor they had record high 86 divers

 

[Ringo]

I heard their babbling monkey telling a freelance instructor they had record high 86 divers

:laughing:

 

[stevenl]

I heard their babbling monkey telling a freelance instructor they had record high 86 divers

He must have been new on the boat this year.

 

[Batfish]

I have to say though that despite the fact that the boat is crowded, people do come back happy. The problem arises when customers book and are not told about the capacity of the boat.

 

[stevenl]

The problem arises when customers book and are not told about the capacity of the boat.

At the peak of the high season divers are still surprised though. You can warn them beforehand, but experiencing 80 divers on a boat is different from hearing about it.

At the moment the number of divers on the boats is no problem at all.

 

[Bowmouth]

Hi,
Any thoughts or suggestions?

OCEAN ROVER! No bugs, no cattle, no babbling, no sinking AND up to 5 dives a day.

 

[planetary soul]

I dove with Similan Diving Safaris on the MV Dolphin Queen in December and I had a great experience. www.similan-diving-safaris.com It was affordable and the DMs were good. I had no problems at all and would definitely dive with them again. Unlike JohnCarpenter, I thought the rental equipment was fine and there was actually fewer people on the boat than capacity. Joe, the owner, was very accommodating and helpful when my dive group was uh... less than ideal. Great value and great service.

It was my second trip to the Similans and the first liveaboard I went on was with Manta Point (who are no longer in business I believe). This was also very affordable but the quality of service was quite poor. It was similar to what DiverDave65 described - one main boat with day trippers coming in by speedboat. Not a good experience. Sleeping quarters were ridiculously hot and claustrophobic and things were generally hectic. Thumbs down for them.

 

[bubblemonkey]

if you want cheap and no frills try these http://www.aladdindivesafari.com/ the start out of Ranong in Thailand and have no more that 25 people on the boat and that includes the staff, the boat is small but comftable and the cook makes really good food in a really tiny kitchen, The captain knows the waters very well and is able to come and get you and park the ladders right next to you, the boat boys are great aswell helping you both in and out of the water the cabins are not worth bothering with if you are on your own just sleep upstairs or even under the stars. I can vouch for this boat and this company as I spent 15 days on the 'flying carpet' in February of this year.

although all of the guides speak english and are all very nice in toatal on the boat were 4 Thais, 2 brits, 1 dutchman, 1 chinese the rest were all German......