Diving in April

[ehudco]

I'm starting to plan a holiday for April 2016, and would like your advice -

Background -
I'm a pretty begginer AOW (~20 dives), taking with me my 13 years old son who will just complete junior AOW [I think limited to 18m due to age]. Both of us are pretty sensitive to motion sickness (usually I take half a drammamine before getting on a boat).

What would be your advice on which part of Thailand would be best in April, and on day trips vs. live-on-boat taking? I'm thinking on 5-7 days.

 

[stevenl]

Only half a dramamine, not that bad then .

Year round: best diving you'll find in the Andaman Sea, which will on top of that still be in season in April so your choice there is IMO easy. Liveaboard diving is by far the most comfortable way of diving. The depth limit of you son (21 meters) means there will be limitations though, I would not recommend diving at Koh Tachai e.g.

So if I were you I would look at the liveaboard options. Preferably do that in combination with first a relaxed daytrip, so you both can get used to the local habits. E.g. a daytrip to the Racha Islands and after that a 4 day liveaboard trip to the Similans etc.

 

[Divebooker.com]

In April it's good to dive in the Andaman Sea, if you prefer daily diving, you can check available options here: Diving in the Andaman Sea . Although if you travel by a speed boat to the dive site, youcan get pretty seasick as well, because the smaller the boat, the more the swelling. In case you decide to consider liveaboard trips, you can check the options available here - https://divebooker.com/boatsearch?et=2&e=3980&ym=201604. Some boats also offer 5 nights / 4 days safaris except for the regular 7-days ones. I think a liveaboard trip will be something that will give you a possibility to see more distand dive sites with more comfort.

 

[ehudco]

I thought of writing a short memo here for the community, as I've finally (although 4 years later) was on a liveaboard booked with Steven who was patient enough with me over the years when I started planning but then cancelled several.

This time I was on South Siam divers boat #4. As some wrote here before it's not your "standard" liveaboard. It stays in the diving area, and a speed boat brought us in. The pros are that it's very flexible on schedule, the cons is that sometime it is crowded with divers coming for daily trips and on the exchange days.

However, deapite the crowd, the staff knows its way around, and it has not impacted the diving experience at all. 4 dives a day is enough for me, and I was in a group with a guide with 2-3 divers.

Richelieu Rock was spectacular, and it was an overall very positive 3 days experience.

Only half a dramamine, not that bad then .

Year round: best diving you'll find in the Andaman Sea, which will on top of that still be in season in April so your choice there is IMO easy. Liveaboard diving is by far the most comfortable way of diving. The depth limit of you son (21 meters) means there will be limitations though, I would not recommend diving at Koh Tachai e.g.

So if I were you I would look at the liveaboard options. Preferably do that in combination with first a relaxed daytrip, so you both can get used to the local habits. E.g. a daytrip to the Racha Islands and after that a 4 day liveaboard trip to the Similans etc.

 

[Centrals]

This time I was on South Siam divers boat #4. As some wrote here before it's not your "standard" liveaboard. It stays in the diving area, and a speed boat brought us in. The pros are that it's very flexible on schedule, the cons is that sometime it is crowded with divers coming for daily trips and on the exchange days.

This remind me of the old MV Scubacat in those bygone days.

 

[stevenl]

South Siam has the much nicer boats. But will also have more people overnight and cater to more people during the day.

ScubaCat stayed more or less in the same place all season (was really too slow for any movement), South Siam boats are normal diveboats that will move from place to place. Transfers are much faster as well by speedboat, ScubaCat used to use one of their old slow boats for that.