Phuket & Similan Pictures (Maybe too many pictures...)

[BigJeff]

Have just returned from Phuket (again!) and am suffering a little from Work Shock, so I thought it’s time to post some pictures.
All the diving both day and live-aboard was done with Sea Bees Diving, and all the sleeping was done with Palm Garden Resort and the live-aboard Marco Polo.

Started off with some day diving from Phuket and during a week visited most of the local sites, I was making and effort this trip to use my wide angle more but this is quite visibility dependant so of course ended up using a mix of Macro/Intermediate and a few Wide.

Around Phuket the visibility was the reverse of what it normally is, with the Eastern sites having better visibility then the southern ones. Still lots of nice things to see in the area, and as this was February there were large numbers of Ornate GPF’s around.

Right, enough talk – into the pictures…

Seahorse - Anemone Reef

Reef – Shark Point

GPF’s – Phi-Phi

Chromodoris geminus – Phi-Phi

Crab (not sure which) – Phi-Phi

Leopard Shark (with Macro Lens) – Phi-Phi

Next was a 6 day trip out to the Similans and the northern sites, have to say Richelieu Rock is still my favourite.

More Pics!

The Boat – Marco Polo

Mike – Tour Leader with Private school of fish

Huby – Tour Leader with Diver growing from his back (it’s strange what you miss when composing a picture)

General Scenery (Thanks to Mike for taking this, I’m too lazy to walk up the hill)

The trip started in the North, and then worked it’s way South until return to Phuket on the last day. We were lucky with the weather and it was great all week.

Trigger Fish – Koh Bon

Puffer – Koh Bon

Lion Fish & Friends – Koh Bon

Small Fishies – Koh Bon

Batfish – Koh Tachai

Seahorse (working on the next generation) – Richelieu Rock

Pineapple Fish (aptly named) – Richelieu Rock

Harlequin Shrimp - Richelieu Rock

Pipehorse – Breakfast Bend

Blenny – Turtle Rock

Robust GPF’s – Christmas Point

Longnose Hawkfish – Anitas Reef

We did not see the “Big Two” on this trip, so here they are from a previous trip on the same boat
Richelieu Rock

Koh Bon

Hope You Enjoyed them, I certainly enjoyed taking them.

 

[Nitro91]

nice shots, thats a monster rig you must lug around.

how much did the trip cost ?

 

[BigJeff]

The Live Aboard was THB 48,000 for the 6 day trip in AC room and including Nitrox.

This is slightly less than their advertised price, it was offered in the resort for a couple of trips so I signed up for one.

The setup can be a pain to travel with internationally, but it does have it's benefits.

 

[Taliena]

Very nice.
How big is the chance to see sharks on phiphi or de similans?
We go to the similans in april.

 

[BigJeff]

That is an impossible question to answer, very few of the sightings are reliable.

Best advice is not to focus too much on the sightings of a few big animals, enjoy the other things as well. I’ve seen people leave liveaboards grumpy and unhappy because they didn’t see a Whale Shark even though the weeks diving was great.

Having said that, there are things you can do to improve your chances….. (as well as being “Lucky”)

There are a couple of sites around Phi-Phi near to Maya Bay where reef sharks are common, but they are nervous. Snorkelling at the sites when there are no divers (between dives) is the best way to see them.

Leopard Sharks can also be found around the area, best to be the first divers in the water as they often move away when if disturbed.

Phi-Phi is not known for Mantas, but they can turn up anywhere. Best chances are probably around Hin Daeng / Hin Muang near Phi-Phi, Racha Noi near Phuket and Koh Bon in Similan – when I say best chances that means a lot less than 30%.

Whale Sharks, again anywhere is possible but recently it seems Hin Daeng / Hin Muang are seeing more than Richelieu – for those you have to be REALLY LUCKY, single digits percentage.

 

[Quero]

It's always a pleasure to see your images up in the forum. Thanks for posting them for the rest of us to enjoy!