MV South Siam III - anybody used this 'liveaboard'?

[mmmbelows]

MV South Siam III seems to be a moored boat that you take a speed boat out to. You can choose to stay on board and dive 1,2,3... days apparently the speed boat transfer comes out twice a day from the main land?

They say they dive Similan, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai & Richelieu Rock, so how does it work? Koh Bon is 10 miles away from the Similans, Tachai is 20 miles away and Richelieu Rock is 30 miles away? Is the boat moored at the Similians or not? They aren't taking you to Richelieu rock in a RIB???? I don't get it.

Also if you've done this or know how it works, how long is the transfer from Khoa Lak to the Similian's by there speed boat?

 

[Batfish]

South Siam 3 (and also the sister ship the South Siam 4) are not moored. They move around. You can transfer most days, but not every day - on South Siam 3, Monday and Thursday are non transfer days because the boat is at Richelieu Rock. For South Siam 4 the non transfer days are Sunday and Wednesday. The speedboat transfer is one time per day in the morning, it should depart from Thap Lamu port (just south of Khao Lak) about 8:30am. Speedboat about 90 minutes to reach the liveaboard. Transfer to the port can be from Phuket (which takes anything from 1 - 2 hours depending where in Phuket you are) or from Khao Lak. Not all hotels have free pick up, be sure to ask first. If you want to dive Similan Islands, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock you need at least 3 days/2 nights. You can start such a trip on a Wednesday or Sunday on South Siam 3, or Tuesday / Saturday on South Siam 4. The boats are lower budget, sleep up to 28 guests, cabins with twin or double bed, shared bathrooms. Because of the way they do transfers, you have more divers during the day, as some people arrive and others depart later. Plus they add on some day trippers too. Not uncommon to have 50+ divers on the boat. At peak times even 60+. If you want a quiet boat, this is not the one for you, but 99% of the time it all runs smoothly. We have been booking people on these boats for 10 years. Most suits people on a budget, or people with very limited time and not enough time for a 4 night liveaboard on a nicer boat. You can even do 1 night trips on the South Siam boats, but these do not reach Richelieu Rock.

 

[stevenl]

For practical information, see Jamie's answer above.

When are you going? I just returned from this boat Saturday, on Friday we had 12 people staying overnight, on Saturday there were only 8. So really very nice and quiet at the moment. Boat #4 had even less people.

 

[mmmbelows]

Looking at this January.
Thanks for the detailed info, just what I was looking for.

We have limited time to dive and this seems like the most flexible way to dive what looks like the best dive sites in Thailand from what I've read.