marigodiva
Registered
Some of you have been wondering about keeping reservations to Phuket and diving in the Similans after the tsunami. I have one word for you: GO! Four of us just returned from a 3 day liveaboard from the Similans. We booked through Sea Bees in Kata on the Genesis. The length of the trip changed a little after the tsunami due to the damage in Khao Lak to the area surrounding the dive shop. The boat was actually suppose to leave from Tap Lamu near Khao Lak, but instead left from Chalong Bay at the south end of Phuket. So, our boat left on the 30th and drove during the night to reach the Similans. Nothing major. We did 4 dives the first 2 days and 3 dives on the last day heading back to Khao Lak, where we finished our trip.
The crew of the boat was amazing and so nice and helpful. The food was more amazing than I thought it would be. I am vegetarian and usually find enough to eat without having special meals made, which I told them, but the cook made special meals anyway, usually a meatless version of what everyone else was having. We ate 5 times a day with snacks and lots of fruit, very good. The sleeping quarters were tight, but functional. My biggest complaint were all of the other customers smoking on the boat, constantly. It gets a little old to the non-smokers. But, the second hand smoke did not impact the diving. Which takes me to the next point...
We dove at islands 3,4,5,7,and 9. We also dove at Koh Bon and the Boonsung wreck. The visibility was amazing. It was 90 feet! (30 meters) It was literally like swimming in a well stocked aquarium. There were countless tiny, small, medium and occasionally a big fish. Many schools, lots of clownfish in their anemones, so cute..., many sharks, leopard and white tipped reef varieties. On the last day at Koh Bon we actually saw a Manta Ray with a wing span of about 10-12 feet. It was great. We saw sting rays, moray eels, Sweet lips, lion fish, Scorpion fish, Sea snakes, puffer fish, parrot fish, just to name a few. I would definitely recommend those of you who are contemplating this trip to go. The dive sites were less crowded due to people canceling or just not booking their trips due to the tsunami, which was kind of nice to have them to ourselves. We visited a few islands and were able to go to the beach too which was fun to explore the islands a bit. The damage from the tsunami was localized just like we were told before making the trip. Sometimes at the end of a dive you could see where the coral had been busted off or torn through, but mostly everything was in tact. The only dive I wouldn't recommend is the Boonsung wreck. Maybe we hit it on a bad day, but visibility was about 3 feet. Hard to see anything, but we did see some tiny eels and lion fish. Our dive master, Mira, was great. She was informative, experienced and patient. The four of us who were on the trip together had her to ourselves and she was great. The other dive master, Christian was also very nice and informative. On the way back, we found a pod (?) of dolphins, maybe 100-150 all together. They were so playful and seemed to be swimming in every direction around the boat. It was very cool, they were jumping out of the water there were so many I can't even describe it!
As far as the beaches, they were relatively clean, Patong a little dirtier than the others, probably just due to the larger trafficed area. There was definitely damage to the businesses and hotels along the beaches, but there are plenty of areas to stay that are fine and it is easy to avoid the damaged areas, if you want to. We stayed in Bang Tao beach at the Allamanda which was nice. There are five hotels around a lagoon. This hotel was on the lower end of the five, but very nice for us. $120 US a night for a 2 bedroom room, very spacious. Bang Tao beach is a little out of the way of Patong which has its pros and cons. Far from the cheaper shopping and better selection of restaurants, but out of the way. It has a beach near, but is not on the beach. Bang Tao beach is reachable by water shuttle across the lagoon or by tuk tuk, all free of charge. The beach was very nice, 3 km or 1.4 (?) miles long, very clean and beautiful. We had beautiful weather and such a good time! Any doubts, ask me a question or two and I will try to answer. We are still in Singapore staying with or friends and will be going back to the US on Sunday. GO DIVE THE SIMILANS!
Mari
The crew of the boat was amazing and so nice and helpful. The food was more amazing than I thought it would be. I am vegetarian and usually find enough to eat without having special meals made, which I told them, but the cook made special meals anyway, usually a meatless version of what everyone else was having. We ate 5 times a day with snacks and lots of fruit, very good. The sleeping quarters were tight, but functional. My biggest complaint were all of the other customers smoking on the boat, constantly. It gets a little old to the non-smokers. But, the second hand smoke did not impact the diving. Which takes me to the next point...
We dove at islands 3,4,5,7,and 9. We also dove at Koh Bon and the Boonsung wreck. The visibility was amazing. It was 90 feet! (30 meters) It was literally like swimming in a well stocked aquarium. There were countless tiny, small, medium and occasionally a big fish. Many schools, lots of clownfish in their anemones, so cute..., many sharks, leopard and white tipped reef varieties. On the last day at Koh Bon we actually saw a Manta Ray with a wing span of about 10-12 feet. It was great. We saw sting rays, moray eels, Sweet lips, lion fish, Scorpion fish, Sea snakes, puffer fish, parrot fish, just to name a few. I would definitely recommend those of you who are contemplating this trip to go. The dive sites were less crowded due to people canceling or just not booking their trips due to the tsunami, which was kind of nice to have them to ourselves. We visited a few islands and were able to go to the beach too which was fun to explore the islands a bit. The damage from the tsunami was localized just like we were told before making the trip. Sometimes at the end of a dive you could see where the coral had been busted off or torn through, but mostly everything was in tact. The only dive I wouldn't recommend is the Boonsung wreck. Maybe we hit it on a bad day, but visibility was about 3 feet. Hard to see anything, but we did see some tiny eels and lion fish. Our dive master, Mira, was great. She was informative, experienced and patient. The four of us who were on the trip together had her to ourselves and she was great. The other dive master, Christian was also very nice and informative. On the way back, we found a pod (?) of dolphins, maybe 100-150 all together. They were so playful and seemed to be swimming in every direction around the boat. It was very cool, they were jumping out of the water there were so many I can't even describe it!
As far as the beaches, they were relatively clean, Patong a little dirtier than the others, probably just due to the larger trafficed area. There was definitely damage to the businesses and hotels along the beaches, but there are plenty of areas to stay that are fine and it is easy to avoid the damaged areas, if you want to. We stayed in Bang Tao beach at the Allamanda which was nice. There are five hotels around a lagoon. This hotel was on the lower end of the five, but very nice for us. $120 US a night for a 2 bedroom room, very spacious. Bang Tao beach is a little out of the way of Patong which has its pros and cons. Far from the cheaper shopping and better selection of restaurants, but out of the way. It has a beach near, but is not on the beach. Bang Tao beach is reachable by water shuttle across the lagoon or by tuk tuk, all free of charge. The beach was very nice, 3 km or 1.4 (?) miles long, very clean and beautiful. We had beautiful weather and such a good time! Any doubts, ask me a question or two and I will try to answer. We are still in Singapore staying with or friends and will be going back to the US on Sunday. GO DIVE THE SIMILANS!
Mari
