2011-2012 Conditions at the Similans
- Thread starter lord khram
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LK, I've been trying to post a trip report from November 4-8, but I am stupidly busy and just can't find the time 
Conclusion: lots of nice "stuff", lots of fish, Richelieu as amazing as ever. Visibility was awesome, conditions benign. Octopi just about everywhere. Our guests were super-happy (most of them experienced dives with 300+ dives all over the world). Much of the coral is recovering already. Some of the hard coral believed dead is actually showing new growth. Yes, the staghorn have suffered, but still lots of life around them including turtles and sea snakes. My most positive observation: the sea fans, which appeared to be suffering, are wonderful and as beautiful as ever. East of Eden and Beacon Reef remain closed. Best description: we had a lovely couple on the boat, she had 800, he had 300 dives and they loved it so much that they booked a second trip back-to-back. Preferences are personal and I guess that's why trip reports are difficult to judge by.
Maybe I'll find half an hour to write an elaborate report and post some pictures........sigh..........
Karin
Conclusion: lots of nice "stuff", lots of fish, Richelieu as amazing as ever. Visibility was awesome, conditions benign. Octopi just about everywhere. Our guests were super-happy (most of them experienced dives with 300+ dives all over the world). Much of the coral is recovering already. Some of the hard coral believed dead is actually showing new growth. Yes, the staghorn have suffered, but still lots of life around them including turtles and sea snakes. My most positive observation: the sea fans, which appeared to be suffering, are wonderful and as beautiful as ever. East of Eden and Beacon Reef remain closed. Best description: we had a lovely couple on the boat, she had 800, he had 300 dives and they loved it so much that they booked a second trip back-to-back. Preferences are personal and I guess that's why trip reports are difficult to judge by.Maybe I'll find half an hour to write an elaborate report and post some pictures........sigh..........
Karin
OP
lord khram
Contributor
LK, I've been trying to post a trip report from November 4-8, but I am stupidly busy and just can't find the time
Maybe I'll find half an hour to write an elaborate report and post some pictures........sigh..........
Karin
Thanks for the info. I am thinking of doing a liveaboard in maybe January or february next year, not been on one for several years now. Not sure which one yet, suppose my choice will be restricted to current availability at the time as I am still unsure when I will be able to book.
Since the authorities announced the closures I had not heard if any had been re opened yet.
I look forward to your trip report should you have the time to do one.
John
Buadhai
Contributor
LK - I was on the White Manta last week for a four day Andaman cruise. The White Manta is a superb vessel, the most luxurious liveaboard I've been on. The cabins are big, the en suite bathrooms are spacious and fitted out like a hotel room. After every dive you get a big, fluffy towel fresh and hot from the dryer. The dive deck is well designed and has plenty of room for lots of divers. I'm not a fan of diving from an inflatable dingy, but the White Manta's size means that for some sites a dingy is the only option. The large boat crew is experienced and very good at making every dive as easy as possible. (I remain amazed at how much help some people need getting in and out of their gear and in and out of the water.)
Nitrox is available at 300 baht per tank or 3000 baht for the whole trip. I was a bit troubled by the fact that they use the same tanks for both air and Nitrox. Analyzers are, of course, available. Oddly, for the couple of dives on which I used air I found myself wanting to use the analyzer to see if it was really 21% oxygen....
If anything, the trip was a bit too organized. (Very Singapore, I'd say.) The dive leader, Chris, is quite knowledgeable about marine biology and gave excellent, detailed dive briefings. The dive guides all seemed to be good. My group had an experienced Thai guide named Ahn who is simply brilliant at finding and spotting things; especially the small stuff that I really like.
The food was excellent and included a good mix of Thai and Western dishes with fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Instant coffee, tea, Milo and water are all free. Soft drinks are 30 baht, beer is 70 baht and a bottle of wine is 750 baht. There is an expresso machine. I think that was 60 baht a pop.
As for conditions, I'll echo Karin: fine visibility (mostly) and no troublesome currents or foul weather. The sites she mentioned remained closed but, as you know, there are plenty of others. And, yes, Richelieu remains awesome. The only bad visibility we had was on the last day (last Friday) at the Boon Sung wreck. It was two or thee meters at best. I had done the Boon Sung that previous Monday and had excellent visibility.
I've been doing liveaboard in this region since the 90s. Although conditions have changed a lot since then, I still always have a good time.
Nitrox is available at 300 baht per tank or 3000 baht for the whole trip. I was a bit troubled by the fact that they use the same tanks for both air and Nitrox. Analyzers are, of course, available. Oddly, for the couple of dives on which I used air I found myself wanting to use the analyzer to see if it was really 21% oxygen....
If anything, the trip was a bit too organized. (Very Singapore, I'd say.) The dive leader, Chris, is quite knowledgeable about marine biology and gave excellent, detailed dive briefings. The dive guides all seemed to be good. My group had an experienced Thai guide named Ahn who is simply brilliant at finding and spotting things; especially the small stuff that I really like.
The food was excellent and included a good mix of Thai and Western dishes with fresh fruit and vegetables every day. Instant coffee, tea, Milo and water are all free. Soft drinks are 30 baht, beer is 70 baht and a bottle of wine is 750 baht. There is an expresso machine. I think that was 60 baht a pop.
As for conditions, I'll echo Karin: fine visibility (mostly) and no troublesome currents or foul weather. The sites she mentioned remained closed but, as you know, there are plenty of others. And, yes, Richelieu remains awesome. The only bad visibility we had was on the last day (last Friday) at the Boon Sung wreck. It was two or thee meters at best. I had done the Boon Sung that previous Monday and had excellent visibility.
I've been doing liveaboard in this region since the 90s. Although conditions have changed a lot since then, I still always have a good time.
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OP
lord khram
Contributor
Thanks for the info Buadhai.
Pdouble0k
Registered
I was on The Lanta Diving Safaris last month and load of fishes around Koh Haa!
and my second Liveaboards trip will be around 25-Jan with White Manta.. =D
and my second Liveaboards trip will be around 25-Jan with White Manta.. =D
red_barbarian
Contributor
I just got back from my live-aboard trip. Each day we did 1 shallow (20M) dive and two deeper dives (40-60M). East of Eden and Deep Six were probably the nicest of the deeper dives. The granite ridges, fan corals and good numbers of medium sized fish made for really nice diving. Fish traps were found on about 1 in 3 deep dives. Viz ranged from great to good, 1 dive required lights for swimming through the boulders as it got a bit dark. The boat was fine (Manta Queen 3), booked it through Blue Label diving. The crew was noteworthy, very helpful to tech divers and they quickly figured out what they needed to do to help make gearing up easy for the divers.
Uber
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I was pretty disappointed in the Similans....I guess the fishing boats have paid the same marine park fee? I was wondering what I paid $70usd for when the liveaboard moored next two two fishing boats ....and there are nets on Richelieu....
I was there mid-november and had one dive out of 11 that I would describe as "good viz".... just my luck I guess
The liveaboard I was on also had divers with as few as 8 dives under their belt.....and others who I would describe as "anarchic"..... mind you....thanks to their wonderful diving skills I witnessed many floating anemones......and may favourire....a group of 3 Russian divers hanging onto a Leopard Shark for photo ops..... after that trip I was just about ready to hang up my fins!!!
I was there mid-november and had one dive out of 11 that I would describe as "good viz".... just my luck I guess
The liveaboard I was on also had divers with as few as 8 dives under their belt.....and others who I would describe as "anarchic"..... mind you....thanks to their wonderful diving skills I witnessed many floating anemones......and may favourire....a group of 3 Russian divers hanging onto a Leopard Shark for photo ops..... after that trip I was just about ready to hang up my fins!!!
I agree that there should be tighter control of fishing in the marine parks, but I have always believed that the nets that end up on Richelieu get there because they went adrift in the ocean and simply got caught on the rock. Boats fishing in open ocean unprotected areas sometimes lose their nets. I'm not saying that no fishing boats are in the area near Richelieu, but early in the season is when we find these nets since they drift in over the monsoon season.
I also agree that divers should be somewhat experienced before going on a typical Similans liveaboard, but there are plenty of ops that will do even Open Water courses aboard the boats. The ones that are conscientious will only take inexperienced and student divers to areas they can't trash too badly, but others will just take anybody anywhere. And the Russians? They're "special" to most of us, and not in a particularly positive way. I have some Russian colleagues here who are careful and wonderful divers, but the visitors are often not so respectful of the ocean and its inhabitants. One Russian woman I was on a boat with once said, "What's the difference? It's just a FISH!"
This is where an in-depth understanding of the operators and the boats comes in handy. Next time, get some good local advice before you book. By the way, what boat were you on?
I also agree that divers should be somewhat experienced before going on a typical Similans liveaboard, but there are plenty of ops that will do even Open Water courses aboard the boats. The ones that are conscientious will only take inexperienced and student divers to areas they can't trash too badly, but others will just take anybody anywhere. And the Russians? They're "special" to most of us, and not in a particularly positive way. I have some Russian colleagues here who are careful and wonderful divers, but the visitors are often not so respectful of the ocean and its inhabitants. One Russian woman I was on a boat with once said, "What's the difference? It's just a FISH!"
This is where an in-depth understanding of the operators and the boats comes in handy. Next time, get some good local advice before you book. By the way, what boat were you on?
OP
lord khram
Contributor
Unfortunately my observations would concur. I have observed such behaviour from many Russian divers countless times in Thailand and also on my past visits to the Red Sea.
Mind you I have also observed many Russian tourists who have no respect or consideration for other people around them or the environment in general. So why would the divers be any different?
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