Trip Report North Andaman Bust - February 2023

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Buadhai

Contributor
Messages
816
Reaction score
281
Location
Korat, Thailand
# of dives
None - Not Certified
Did a four day North Andaman live aboard trip last week. Although conditions were OK, there just wasn't much to see. I usually make a highlight video of dive trips but this time I'll be hard pressed to find much in the way of highlights. My wife concurs: "It just isn't as beautiful as it used to be." We spoke to a couple of dive guides who all noted that recently it has become very rare to see "big stuff" like Mantas and Whale Sharks. In fact, I searched my dive log (via the wonderful Subsurface-Divelog) and found that the last time we'd seen Mantas or Whale Sharks was in March of 2019.

In any event, it will be a while before I do another North Andaman trip.

I guess these days are over:

 
Your health is no longer an issue so just enjoy one of your favourite sport. I have lowered the expectation considerably over last several yrs!
 
Your health is no longer an issue so just enjoy one of your favourite sport. I have lowered the expectation considerably over last several yrs!
You're absolutely right. In fact, I enjoyed the trip very much, in spite of the less than spectacular diving. I'm happy to just be out on the water for a few days and to have a few interesting folks to talk with.
 
That's too bad the trip didn't live up to your prior ones...as a Phuket based dive professional, I concur that north Andaman liveaboards can be hit or miss. If people ask me, I always recommend a southern Andaman liveaboard to Phi-Phi, Ko Haa, and Lipe as the better option.
 
That's too bad the trip didn't live up to your prior ones...as a Phuket based dive professional, I concur that north Andaman liveaboards can be hit or miss. If people ask me, I always recommend a southern Andaman liveaboard to Phi-Phi, Ko Haa, and Lipe as the better option.
If it were up to me I'd always dive the South Andaman. Trouble is, it's not easy to find South Andaman trips. We were scheduled for one last November, but it was cancelled because over half the crew tested positive for Covid.

Koh Ha is one of my favorite spots. Hin Dang and Hin Muang rarely disappoint. I also like spots further south such as White Rock and Stonehenge.

We're now hoping for a South Andaman trip in April or May. (Note that my wife is Thai and much prefers diving boats that cater to Thai divers. I don't speak Thai so on those trips just about everything said remains a mystery to me.)
 
If it were up to me I'd always dive the South Andaman. Trouble is, it's not easy to find South Andaman trips. We were scheduled for one last November, but it was cancelled because over half the crew tested positive for Covid.

Koh Ha is one of my favorite spots. Hin Dang and Hin Muang rarely disappoint. I also like spots further south such as White Rock and Stonehenge.

We're now hoping for a South Andaman trip in April or May. (Note that my wife is Thai and much prefers diving boats that cater to Thai divers. I don't speak Thai so on those trips just about everything said remains a mystery to me.)
That's one of the reasons I prefer going south...less well known so fewer boats/divers at the sites. There are fewer southern trips but there are several boats that make regular trips there during the season. Similans gets all the marketing so a lot of people want to go there. I can't tell you the number of people who come into my shop for their OW cert and with 5-6 dives under their weight-belt dash off on a Similans liveaboard 🙄

Living in Thailand for so long, I actually prefer the company of Thais than most farangs...but eating somtum for a week isn't on 😅
 
That's one of the reasons I prefer going south...less well known so fewer boats/divers at the sites. There are fewer southern trips but there are several boats that make regular trips there during the season. Similans gets all the marketing so a lot of people want to go there. I can't tell you the number of people who come into my shop for their OW cert and with 5-6 dives under their weight-belt dash off on a Similans liveaboard 🙄

Living in Thailand for so long, I actually prefer the company of Thais than most farangs...but eating somtum for a week isn't on 😅
We saw 1 whale shark in my December 22 live aboard, well I missed it :-(

The boat I was on was talking about doing an end of season North and South Andaman trip over a week or 9 days and that certainly got me interested
 
We saw 1 whale shark in my December 22 live aboard, well I missed it :-(

The boat I was on was talking about doing an end of season North and South Andaman trip over a week or 9 days and that certainly got me interested
I would do the LoB to Similan and then land based in Koh Lanta.
Time is your consideration.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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