Similians vs Ko phi phi vs ..?

[AceszHigh]

Have 2-3 days to dive in Thailand at the end of this month. I was originally thinking of a 3day/2night liveaboard out of phuket to the Similians. How does the diving in the similians / surin compare to the dive sites near ko phi phi?

 

[BigJeff]

Similan is better than Phi Phi.

 

[Wingy]

Similans for sure..try and get out to Richeleui Rock - great dive site.

 

[gekodivebali]

My favorite dive sites in the Thai Andaman Sea were in descending order:

Hin Daeng/ Hin Muang (South dive able from lob or day trips from lanta/Krabi)

Richelieu Rock
Koh Tachai Pinnacle (both on the itinerary of good Liveaboards to the Similans although they are not technically in the Similans. I think Sea Bees also has day trips from Khao Lak)

Bida Nai/Nok (Phi Phi)

Shark Point (Phuket)

Liveaboard itineraries going the South route have more hits from this list. The actual Similans dive sites are not very impressive IMHO.

Please note that I have not dived Thailand for 5 years. Things may have changed since.

 

[AceszHigh]

So what exactly is it about that Similans that makes people like the diving there so much? I'm a photographer so I just want to see some sharks, lots of sea life, nudibranchs, and if I'm lucky some manta rays or whale sharks (but I wouldn't make a trip to an otherwise boring dive site just in hopes of seeing one).

 

[gekodivebali]

Similans have got some lovely scenery both above and below water. Lots of swim-throughs and interesting topography.
Corals took a hit through a warming event in 2010. i hope they have somewhat recovered since, but i expect hard corals to be still damaged. there is great macro on selected sites including Richelieu. Apparently this year was great for whale sharks.
IMHO it's great for beginner to intermediate divers. Divers with more experience may find better dives elsewhere.
Again I find the south itinerary more exciting...

 

[Buadhai]

I've been diving the Thai Andaman sea since the mid 1990s and continue to do two or three trips per year. (I live in Thailand.)

I am in agreement with gekodivebali's list with the addition, perhaps, of Koh Ha. For the past couple of years I have been leaning toward live aboard trips that give the Similans a miss and on which the South Andaman is at least part of the itinerary.

The advantage of a live aboard in the South Andaman is that you can get to the dive sites early enough to do a couple of dives before the day trip boats arrive and a couple more after they leave.

I've asked several dive operators why they don't do more live aboard trips to the south. The answer is that the Similans are famous and that's where the customers want to go. I was on a week-long trip last month that was originally scheduled to do the north and south sites on gekodivebali's list (plus Koh Ha). But, so many of the customers wanted to do at least one Similan dive that we made a detour in order to accommodate their wishes. Still, the best and most uncrowded diving on that trip was in the south.

As usual, all of this is a matter of opinion and personal preference.

 

[Aghoree]

We did 4 dives (Phi Phi, Bida Nok/Nai) at the end of March. Stayed at Lanta Castaway and dove with Dive and Relax. We are novice divers but husband has been taking a camera on all dives since almost the beginning. We saw black tip reef sharks on each dive - they moved too quickly for him to get pictures but maybe an experienced diver/photographer may do better? We also saw octopus (only one), lobsters, turtles, sting rays, schools of barracuda and other fish feeding in the current, moray eels etc in addition tons of little(r) life: cleaner shrimp, banded coral shrimp, anemones, bubble coral etc. Just as an FYI, visibility wasn't stellar until you hit a patch of water with sunlight on it.


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---------- Post added April 15th, 2014 at 07:49 PM ----------

The other groups diving with us also saw leopard sharks.


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