Similan/Richelieu in late October

[ross9]

Hi - I'm going to be in Thailand at the end of October visiting family. I'm looking at ducking away for a liveaboard trip to the Similan islands but given it'll be the start of the season, will it be worth it?

I've read that some of the smaller boats might be called off if the weather is bad - is that only day boats or can the LOBs be cancelled at that time of year too?

 

[stevenl]

If the weather is bad everything can be cancelled, daytrips or liveaboards. Of course liveaboards will be bigger and more stable, so chances of these being cancelled are much smaller. I don't recall any recent liveaboard cancellations, but there is a chance you will not be able to reach Richelieu. I had customers who that happened to in May 2019. They still had a nice trip, but without Richelieu.

 

[Divemaster No.1]

You can often get some great walk-in deals that time of year, as the boats are half empty. Usually the DMs haven't worked our where the more elusive creatures are lurking yet, but as long as the weather holds up then you should be fine with last minute booking.

If weather is bad it's a great time to dive Koh Tao, October is often the best month to see whalesharks around there.

 

[ross9]

Great, thanks both. I've dived Koh Tao before so my preference would be to try something else. But if I can wait to book last minute I guess I could see how the weather pans out.

Would you book last minute online or in person? Where are the majority of the operators based?

 

[stevenl]

Boats mostly depart from tap lamu just to the south of Khao Lak.

Operators are based in Phuket and Khao Lak.

Booking online or on the ground will be the same.

 

[String]

As above, the beginning of October is right at the start of the season (the parks are closed until mid October).
You may or may not get lucky with the weather - ive seen horrible, howling rain and wind constantly but ive also seen calm winds, blue skies and perfect conditions.
As the day boats are all speedboats these will cancel in weather that would still allow liveaboards.
Richelieu has no shelter at all so sometimes you might not get there in bad weather - it happens 2 or 3 times a season roughly.

The only LOB cancellations that time of year might be ones without the number of bookings to make it viable to actually run a trip.