Manta Rays

[The Hamburger]

I have just got back from a 4d5n Similan dive trip.

I thought I knew what to expect having been on a similar trip in December.

By the end of the trip we were getting quite blase about seeing sharks .We saw five different kind of sharks. Leopard sharks that would let you settle in the sand right next to them, one followed my buddy just above him for about a minute. Six Black tip juveniles swimming in formation. The only Shark that we didn't see that we wantedto was a whale shark.

But by far the most spectacular things we saw were the rays.

On four different dives dives we saw Manta Rays (koh Bon and elephant head areas) we saw Jenkins Rays down at about 45ms blue spotted and banded rays by the dozen but what was most spectacular for me was a 3m (wide) Eagle Ray that came within about 2m of me when we had viz of about 50m.

Absolutley brilliant.

Octopus ,Cuttlefish ,Dragon fish ,Lobster ,Morays by the Bucket, Turtles , Barracuda.

So much more that you see evry dive that it seems hardly worth talking about.

Diving this weekend in Pattaya is just not going to be quite the same.;-0

By the way if anyone wants aa recomendation about a boat to do a liveaboard on you could do much worse than the Kingfisher.

Max 12 divers, great food and very flexible .

 

[Natasha]

Great report! Sounds like the dives of a lifetime.
If you have pictures be sure to link us to them.
:gorgeous:

 

[neilstewart]

Thanks for the report. I shall be heading to Phuket, Similan liveaboard and Phi Phi this Christmas and hope I am as lucky as you. I also agree that Eagle Rays just the most brilliant creatures, I have a fantastic picture. PM me with email address if you would like it.

Neil

 

[Sea Squirt]

Hamburger

Keralucu and I have also just got back from 4d5n in the similans. Don't tell me you were on the Kingfisher boat that was following us around for a couple of days??? We were on Jonathan Cruiser.

 

[The Hamburger]

Yes,

That was us!

I didn't see the Jonathan though?

13-18/2 yes?

Are you sure you weren't following us?

Did you see the mantas too? Hope you did then people will not think that i'm a bigger bull****ter than I realy am

My buddy said just before the last dive "if we see a whale shark now thats it I'm selling all my gear, I'll have seen everything!"

Then on the way back we had dolphins escort us for a while!

just couldn't have been a better tip, well theaircon could have been a bit more efficient, then again I slept on deck every night.

Cheers

 

[The Hamburger]

Which was your favourite dive site?

 

[keralucu]

Welcome to the boards, and whereabouts in Bangkok are you??

You're right, we were following you - well, not exactly, as our trip went from 16-21 Feb, but we spotted Kingfisher several times.

Talk about blase! Sea Squirt & I were hoarse from screaming at each other under the water after our very first dive... less than 10 minutes into it we'd had a close encounter with a turtle, immediately followed by our very first manta slowly 'flying' past us... not to mention the myriad triggers, fusiliers, box fish, etc etc, the likes of which we haven't seen in the places we usually dive. By the time we'd snorkelled with THREE mantas for a good 20 minutes at Koh Bon, we didn't even bother to look when we heard divers from other boats yelling "MANTA!"!!

All the dive sites were amazing - I'd have to say the first one at Beacon Point made the biggest impression on me (first time diving in such BLUE and clear water), and the one I liked least was Elephant Rock - currents too difficult and unpredictable, although that was where we saw our first shark - white tip.

Aaanyway, my report coming in a separate thread, hopefully with links to the first of our pics too.

Wish we were still on the boat..... *sigh*

 

[Sea Squirt]

Originally posted by The Hamburger
Yes,

That was us!

I didn't see the Jonathan though?

13-18/2 yes?

Are you sure you weren't following us?

Did you see the mantas too? Hope you did then people will not think that i'm a bigger bull****ter than I realy am

My buddy said just before the last dive "if we see a whale shark now thats it I'm selling all my gear, I'll have seen everything!"

Then on the way back we had dolphins escort us for a while!

just couldn't have been a better tip, well theaircon could have been a bit more efficient, then again I slept on deck every night.

Cheers

Nahh - you guys were following us! We saw at least 3 if not 4 mantas during 3 dives at Koh Bon. DUring dive 3 the big manta from dive 2 circled around us at least 4 times. It was about 4m...the smaller ones were a lot more shy and kept their distance but this one was really curious and completely unphased by all the divers, coming in really close.
We had a dolphin escort back to Similan that night - they were very small - did you have the same ones??

I'd say my favourite dive sites were Snapper Alley and Koh Bon Pinnacle. Snapper Alley because of the glorious 35m viz and gently sloping sand - it was like being in a swiming pool teeming with fish. Koh Bon Pinnacle was just an awesome, spectacular dive site (and I spotted the manta first!) - it was like diving something in outer space! Saw 2 bit leopard sharks snoozing on the bottom there.

By the way - very, VERY jealous that you got to see the Eagle Ray....lucky you!

 

[The Hamburger]

K,

I live on Phrom Pong , often to be found in The Dubliner just at the end of the road more or less.

When I was there at Christmas though the viz and sea life mas much better than Pattaya....... when we saw the water this time it was incredible the colour ....... the viz (about 50% better than lst time and then it took our breath away).

My favourite dive site was Elephant Head Pinacle (close to EH) thats where we saw all different Rays and sharks on the one dive. We also enjoyed EH but we got there at slack tide. Koh Bon Pinacle was also pretty good.

Cheers

PS Did I say we saw mantas on four different dives in 4 different sites !!!!!!!!!!!


PPS one of the dive sites with mants was Elephant Head Pinacle

The Dolphins were quite small Golden Brown Jobbies.

Can't wait to go again

 

[neilstewart]

Hi girls,

Sounds like a terrific trip and I look forward to your reports. No mention of "WS" Alison or are you holding back the highlight of your trip.

Neil