Convince me it shouldn't be missed!

[littleguppie]

We are heading to Thailand in a week and while I was initially so excited to dive, now I'm reconsidering. We don't have time to do a liveaboard (no sense in even trying to convince me b/c our flights are all booked and we simply can't squeeze it in). The most we can do is a day trip to the Similians, a day of rest, followed by a day trip to Richeleiu.

Couple things are causing me to reconsider...cost! It's going to be about $600USD for the 2 days out for me and my husband. I think that is very pricey!

Second, due to the remote nature of the sites we will be on a speedboat for 3 hours for the first day and nearly that on the 2nd day as well. I understand that is why it's so pricey, but it's a lot of wasted time on a speedboat.

I'm starting to wonder if it's really worth it?? We are staying in Khao Lak for 3 days and Phuket for 4 days so we can dive for either location. We had planned to do the diving all from Khao Lak to dive similian and richeleiu. I guess an option would be to just do a day trip that is closer once we are in phuket? Just really thought the BEST sites were similian/surin?

Am I crazy to skip diving in Thailand?

 

[Bowmouth]

...Am I crazy to skip diving in Thailand?

I think both yes and no.

NO: Personally I do not like to dive from speedboats; let alone spend hours "enjoying" a roaring and bumpy ride at sea.

YES: Not diving for at least one day of your holiday when here does sound a bit crazy to me. There is some very good diving to be done and you really do not want to miss out on that! I think a very good alternative for you is to consider doing a day-trip to Koh Bon with one of the local diveshops in Khao Lak. Koh Bon has some very good diving and is one of the better places to see manta rays and zebra (leopard) sharks. If the big animals are not showing then there's still plenty of other creatures to look out for. Egg cowries, Pharaoh cuttlefish, banded sea kraits, octopi, giant moray eels, nudibranchs, porcelain crabs and good schooling fish are nearly always to be found at Koh Bon. I can highly recommend you to join a daytrip with "Seabees". They have a spacious comfortable boat, good food, good Divemasters and are a professional and excellent dive operator.

 

[jkaterenchuk]

There are 3 times the number of fish species in Asian waters then you will find around the Caribean. You should not miss seeing it at least once. If nothing else it will give you personal knowledge to know what to do if you decide to visit again in the future.

John

 

[stevenl]

Couple things are causing me to reconsider...cost! It's going to be about $600USD for the 2 days out for me and my husband. I think that is very pricey!

Second, due to the remote nature of the sites we will be on a speedboat for 3 hours for the first day and nearly that on the 2nd day as well. I understand that is why it's so pricey, but it's a lot of wasted time on a speedboat.

That is extremely expensive (presuming you're talking per person). Including equipment rental and national park fees one daytrip Similans and 1 Richelieu Rock could be in total 12,200 Baht per person, so about 400 US$. If the 600 US$ is in total, you have a very, very cheap offer.

Yes, the islands are quite far. Ruichelieu Rock is really worth it, this time of year I would recommend the Similans way over Koh Bon, I totally disagree with Bowmouth there. It is too early in the season for manta rays, and without these I don't like Koh Bon and would prefer 1 day Similans and 1 day Richelieu Rock.

But also from Phuket there are some nice daytrips, plus it will be a more comfortable trip without speedboat ride and cheaper as well. So you could very well decide to do a daytrip to Richelieu Rock from Khao Lak and a daytrip to e.g. the Shark Point area from Phuket.

 

[watboy]

An alternative is instead of spending 4 nights at phuket, take a ferry over to phi phi or koh lanta. From there shark point, koh bida and koh ha can be reached via normal boat in under 2 hours (i think its 30mins from Phi Phi to Bida). From Koh lanta, you can get to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang from the southern tip by speedboat in an hour and those are spectacular sites. I personally have never gotten bored at the Bida's or Koh Ha. A friend of mine saw a whale shark at shark point last week (whilst i was diving Pattaya !)Those trips should be about $100/person all in with gear, guide and food. I also don't like taking speed boats for trips longer than an hour, the ride can be rough, and its inevitable that someone gets sea sick, can i can never get myself to use the head on those little boats.

We are heading to Thailand in a week and while I was initially so excited to dive, now I'm reconsidering. We don't have time to do a liveaboard (no sense in even trying to convince me b/c our flights are all booked and we simply can't squeeze it in). The most we can do is a day trip to the Similians, a day of rest, followed by a day trip to Richeleiu.

Couple things are causing me to reconsider...cost! It's going to be about $600USD for the 2 days out for me and my husband. I think that is very pricey!

Second, due to the remote nature of the sites we will be on a speedboat for 3 hours for the first day and nearly that on the 2nd day as well. I understand that is why it's so pricey, but it's a lot of wasted time on a speedboat.

I'm starting to wonder if it's really worth it?? We are staying in Khao Lak for 3 days and Phuket for 4 days so we can dive for either location. We had planned to do the diving all from Khao Lak to dive similian and richeleiu. I guess an option would be to just do a day trip that is closer once we are in phuket? Just really thought the BEST sites were similian/surin?

Am I crazy to skip diving in Thailand?

 

[Bredman]

I'd say that it depends on your experience. If your previous dive experience has been in Florida or the caribbean, you should absolutely withoutadoubt dive in Thailand. Having done both, I can tell you that the Andaman is far superior IMO. More variety, good vis, and possibilities to see large things. If, however, you are expecting to compare it to Palau or one of the high end areas of the world, perhaps not.

A liveaboard is the best, but Koh Bida/Hin Daeng areas are quite nice too and more available for day trips. Its up to you, but if you love diving, I think you'd be nuts to miss out on diving on the indian ocean side of Thailand. Overall, the value for your money is very good IMO.

 

[Bowmouth]

.... It is too early in the season for manta rays, and without these I don't like Koh Bon...

Sorry to hear you do not like Koh Bon.

Although manta's tend to be seen more frequently at Koh Bon a bit later in the season they still now and then show there this time of year. (I do keep an extremely detailed dive-log which shows sightings of manta rays at Koh Bon and Koh Tachai from previous years in the month of November)

 

[stevenl]

Glad to hear you like Koh Bon. Always personal these kind of things.

2 weeks ago there was even a manta ray at Racha Yai, so year round there are chances of them at all divesites.

 

[stevenl]

Watboy, what would a day travel to Lanta or Phi Phi add for the op? They can dive Similans etc. from Khao Lak, and all the other sites mentioned here (like Shark point area, Hin Daeng, etc.) on daytrips from Phuket. It makes much more sense to accept the slightly longer travel time to a divesite from Phuket over a days travel first to save maybe 2 hours travel time the next day. Plus they'd also have to come back.

 

[vladimir]

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