After spending dives and dives for the 2 PADI certifications I wanted to really enjoy some fun dives and boarded for a liveaboard (boat trip) in the Similan islands marine park for 4 days and 4 nights with SeaDragon. We dived in the Surin islands, on Richelieu rock, Ko Bhon, Ko Tachai, Similan islands. The good thing was the after-effect of the Bangkok’s airport troubles. Since it happened there aren’t as much people as it should be in Thailand. It’s even a bit empty depending on where you are. On the boat with beds for 20 clients we were only 12 so we had room :-)

On the boat it was a mix of German, Dutch, French, Swiss German, Belgium, Swedish and Thai people. We left the harbor around 10pm to cruise to the first dive site during the night. The boat had AC cabins but I didn’t want to sleep in them, and we could be on the deck, soooo nice! I spent all the night sleeping outside in the marine air with a 360°C of islands & sea sunrise every morning. What could I ask more? And it wasn’t cold at all, warmer than in the AC cabins, around 28°C, and no mosquito.

Each day, the program couldn’t be simpler, wake up at 6.30am, coffee/tea with dive briefing, dive at 7.30am. When we were done it was time for breakfast and some rest before the next briefing and dive at 11.30. Followed by the lunch and some rest/snorkeling/chats. Next dive at 3.30pm with some snacks after, and a night dive at 7.30pm with the diner when we’re out of the water. Each dive was at another site with either too many divers like on Richelieu rock (a nightmare) or no one like on Ko Tachai and some of the best spots of the Similan. Despite the visibility wasn’t great a few times, we could see many different things. The highlights of the dives were sharks (black tip, white tip, and leopard), napoleon, huge sea snakes, octopus, huge barracudas, turtles, a rare tip of gobies... but still no manta rays.

Except of the diving, the islands are just amazing. The color of the water is the one you have in your dreams, and it’s not cold even though you’re wearing a wetsuit. On Surin island, you can camp in tents or bungalows, which must be so nice. Imagine to wake up in the morning and what have you in front of you... A perfect bay, exactly this one

And each sunset and sunrise are magic...

This diving trip is really beautiful and I’ll try to do it again next time I’m going in Thailand.

All the pictures are at this address http://photos.shakeyourlife.com/Thailand/KhaoLak%20And%20Similan/