One night liveaboards from Khao Lak?

[Buford of Arabia]

Hello all,

I'm going on a family trip to Khao Lak next November. We are most likely going to be staying at the Khao Lak Ramada. I'm looking to find a Similan liveaboard for only one night. My wish would be for a six dives over two days. I'd prefer a 'higher' end boat rather than a budget boat. Does such a thing exist? I'm going to be on holiday with my non diving wife and two young children so a longer liveaboard probably wouldn't work for us.

If there is no such thing, does anyone have recommendations for daytrip operators? I've been searching on tripadvisor.com and there seems to be no shortage of operations to choose from. Seadragon, Wicked Diving, and Liquid Adventure seem to get the most positive reviews on that site. Anyone with personal experience have any opinions?

Thanks to all for your replies.

 

[aquamarin]

Buford, there are a couple of options, and personally I'd obviously recommend 2 days & 2 nights on the Oktavia (7 dives) - but I'm biased Actually, I'd recommend bringing your wife and kids along as well; we have very good experience with families on the boat - we have toys for the kids, masks and snorkels, body boards, life vests of course and we take the kids (and adults) to the beaches as well for some playtime. Just saying

There a some very good and reliable day tour operators, many companies don't have their own boat though - they operate as agents for other companies. I do the same. The companies I work most with are IQ and Big Blue. There are other good ones as well, they are just the ones I've chosen to work with

Greetings from Khao Lak
Karin

 

[Batfish]

There is a kind of hole in the market there.. boats doing short trips tend to be lower budget. The one we sell for overnights is South Siam 3 (Similan Liveaboards - Dive with the South Siam 3) - sleeps up to 28 people and takes extra day trippers. You might also consider staying on the Similan islands in an aircon bungalow, that's great for the non divers who can get beach time, go snorkeling etc... Several companies out of Khao Lak do those trips, we sell one that's run by Siam Adventure Divers (Similan Islands Scuba trips - Overnight Diving Tours to the Similans). Only issue is the bungalows - this season the National Park decided to start renovating right at the start of the season , so just when we had requests there were no bungalows, only tents!

 

[Terryb]

Hey Buford,

I just got back from a 4 night LA (Pawara) with DeepBlue divers out of Khao Lak. I know they have day trips, so they might have something you could be looking for. Anyhow they were an excellent organization and very safety conscientious. I would dive with them again.

Have fun

 

[Buford of Arabia]

Thanks for the advice all. I guess a one night liveaboard isn't really the done thing...
Thanks for the input.