Trip Report March/April 2025: Andaman Sea, Phuket day boats, The Junk liveaboard, Similan Islands, Richelieu Rock

[Globalcitizen]

Thank you for your detailed report! Super helpful! I’m almost ready to book the junk for the upcoming December. But the negative aspect you mentioned made me pause. Haha.

On the dive deck, is there bucket to rinse the wetsuit after each dive?

And not gonna lie, not having AC in the lounge is almost a deal breaker for me. But in the meantime, based on your report I kinda don’t wanna pay a more premium price for the lob on junk’s sister boat Phinisi, which is now Thailand Master.

 

[Cornbread O'Malley]

On the dive deck, is there bucket to rinse the wetsuit after each dive?

Yes, there is a bucket to rinse wetsuits. You can see the bucket in pic #14. Behind the guy sitting at the table in the picture you see a wetsuit rack. Below the rack are some blue buckets. The large rectangular bucket is for cameras. The big round bucket further left is for dunking and rinsing wetsuits. The water is changed quite often during the day. The bucket to rinse wetsuits is separate from the bucket to rinse oneself. I didn't take a pic of it, but towards the bow there is a big ceramic pot with plastic lid that held the fresh water for rinsing yourself after dives. There are also two heads and showers for the crew to use to rinse off and change clothes.

Thank you for your detailed report! Super helpful! I’m almost ready to book the junk for the upcoming December. But the negative aspect you mentioned made me pause. Haha.
...
And not gonna lie, not having AC in the lounge is almost a deal breaker for me. But in the meantime, based on your report I kinda don’t wanna pay a more premium price for the lob on junk’s sister boat Phinisi, which is now Thailand Master.

I'm glad you found the info helpful. I should have clarified in post #8 that there is an A/C unit mounted on the wall inside the lounge area. But the unit was off for the duration of my trip and all the doors and windows open for airflow. I don't think that one A/C unit is enough to cool the lounge especially during the hottest part of the day. The lack of lounge A/C is just something to think about for those who are more sensitive to heat and humidity.

 

[Scuba John]

Great report! If you ever return to Phuket, try a south Andaman LOB (Koh Haa, Hins Daeng & Muang, and Koh Lipe/Tarutao marine park. More soft and hard corals and 8 Mile Rock rivals Richelieu Rock as a premier dive site.

I just got back from HD and HM last night on this boat. We only dived those sites once each, then we left. I tried to ask why we left and the cruise director said "We have to stick to the itinerary." I said "But the vis is 40 meters, the seas are flat, the conditions are excellent, why leave?" "We have to follow the itinerary. The captain decides." Is the captain a diver? Of course not, he probably can't even swim. Conditions are rarely as good as what we had yet we left.

So we dived at Koh Ha the entire day. Only one dive site, Koh Ha Yai, where the caverns are, has any live coral. The other dive sites are just dead coral. At least the vis is good there. Then we went to Phi Phi with lousy vis and dead coral and dived four times. Bida is OK, but then they took us to Viking Cave and then Monkey Beach in Ton Sai Bay where the vis is normally about 1-2 meters. Why would they dive there?

The crew is not serious about diving. They think that if they serve Thai food then that makes up for offering crappy diving. Unbelieveable. I have been diving in Thailand for 37 years and I have never been on a worse trip.

 

[Centrals]

The poor captain and cruise director are only answerable to the BOSS.
Respect to authority is Thai working culture and you should aware of that.

 

[Scuba John]

The poor captain and cruise director are only answerable to the BOSS.
Respect to authority is Thai working culture and you should aware of that.

Very aware of that. That’s why boats in Southeast Asia including Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines usually put a foreign cruise director on the boat, either European, American, Japanese or Chinese depending on their clientele. Usually these leaders can make diving decisions. They have work permits.

The owner of the boat is Dutch. The cruise director was Irish. The captain was introduced but he never showed his face.

Usually the idea is to put divers on the best dive sites they can as long as conditions warrant it. They certainly did. We don’t get better weather than what we had.

 

[Centrals]

The owner of the boat is Dutch. The cruise director was Irish. The captain was introduced but he never showed his face.

Usually the idea is to put divers on the best dive sites they can as long as conditions warrant it. They certainly did. We don’t get better weather than what we had.

I assumed all the divers would like to stay behind and dived the Purple and Red Rocks.
So the Irish cruise director did nothing.
Did you contact the senior management afterward?

 

[Scuba John]

I assumed all the divers would like to stay behind and dived the Purple and Red Rocks.
So the Irish cruise director did nothing.
Did you contact the senior management afterward?

That's correct. I tried very hard to get them to change the diving schedule. They refused and said "The itinerary cannot be changed, we don't do that." The owner has not contacted me even though we are acquainted.

I wonder if we had seen five whalesharks or manta rays if they would have woken up. Instead we went to Phi Phi and did four dives in zero vis with dead coral. Very strange trip.

The good news out of all this is that HD and HM are in wonderful shape. I had not been there in maybe 10 years. There is no bleaching, the coral is healthy, vis was 30 m/ 100 ft or more. Plenty of fish. It's always been one of my favorite dives in TH. Personally I think it's better than Richelieu or Tachai but that's my personal opinion.

 

[Centrals]

HD and HM are great dive sites but getting there can be challenging if nature has other idea.
We booked a day trip this Feb but before the speed boat set off, we had been warned that the trip might have to be diverted to Koh Haa. Luckily the condition was not too bad albeit a bumpy ride. A lot better on the home bound journey.