Ko Tao / Ko Samui

[Centrals]

No such issue with Master Divers. The dive boat is moored about 100m from shore. Divers and gears are transferred by long tail.

 

[Barmaglot]

No such issue with Master Divers. The dive boat is moored about 100m from shore. Divers and gears are transferred by long tail.

That is usually the case, but when I was there in late December, the longtail was broken down, so we had to use the main pier.

 

[chillyinCanada]

No such issue with Master Divers. The dive boat is moored about 100m from shore. Divers and gears are transferred by long tail.

That was how it was everyday except one and that was the one wherewe tied up to all of the other boays at the pier. It's been awhile but I think that it might have been because it was a night dive.

Keep in mind, that I was diving out of Sairee.

 

[Centrals]

Getting on the dive boat is NOT easy for some divers. The worst is getting back to the boat after a dive. And if the sea is rough and there are quite few divers waiting for their turn to climb back, it could be really uncomfortable. If the diver wants to remove the gear and hand it to the crew, the rough sea would add certain degree of difficulty.

 

[Barmaglot]

There's one or two liveaboards on the Andaman Sea side of Thailand that feature a lift platform that takes divers out of the water with zero effort. I don't recall the names; AFAIK those are boats catering mostly to Thai divers. Actually I'm not sure they're still operating it, as the current Similans national park rules prohibit diving directly from liveaboards; you're supposed to use a dinghy/dive tender for everything.

 

[Centrals]

Lift is the best but it is extremely rare in SE Asia.
However, if there are 30 divers in the water than it will take a while to recover all of them. The last one, usually the guide, could well be holding the drift line for at least 30 mins.

 

[Centrals]

as the current Similans national park rules prohibit diving directly from liveaboards; you're supposed to use a dinghy/dive tender for everything.

This remind me of Maldives. But the boats are so much bigger.
I did not notice any issue from diving directly from the boat in Similan yrs ago.
Perhaps the number of LoB boat is much bigger than 15 yers ago.

 

[Barmaglot]

This remind me of Maldives. But the boats are so much bigger.

I haven't taken any pictures, but quite a few Similans liveaboards are running big dive tenders these days. Instead of a zodiac, they have those big catamarans carrying up to a couple dozen divers at a time. I don't think it's quite like Maldives (you keep the dive gear on the tenders there, right?), but it's moving in that direction.

 

[Edward3c]

No such issue with Master Divers. The dive boat is moored about 100m from shore. Divers and gears are transferred by long tail.

I’ve had it a few time with MD, particularly if they’re running late on the am dive.

 

[Centrals]

I haven't taken any pictures, but quite a few Similans liveaboards are running big dive tenders these days. Instead of a zodiac, they have those big catamarans carrying up to a couple dozen divers at a time. I don't think it's quite like Maldives (you keep the dive gear on the tenders there, right?), but it's moving in that direction.

Yes, everything stayed on the "dhoni".
No wonder the cost of diving Similan has been increasing steadily.