Similan Islands too busy over New Year?

[miniwid]

Hi all.

I'm looking for a New Year dive trip in Asia that's accessible from Hong Kong and the Similan islands liveaboard seems to fit the bill. Flights to Phuket are pretty cheap from HK. I'm an experienced diver in Asia (mainly Philippines and Indonesia) and certified Advanced.

I know very little about the Similan islands so I guess my 2 questions are:

1) Would New Year be crazy busy at the dive sites and ruin the experience?
2) How many days liveaboard is recommended? Looks like choices are from 4 days to 8 days. I could probably do 7 days/6 nights at a max but not sure if it's worth doing that long.

Thanks in advance for any advice. LoB boat recommendations also welcome.

Cheers

 

[Centrals]

1. Flight will be more expensive even by HK Express over Christmas period.
2. Similan is always very busy. You really need to book months ahead especially for reputable boat. There are enough posts about LoB boats in SB for you to digest.
3. North and South in one trip but requires longer time.
4. Use Khao Lak as base instead of Phuket. You have plenty of time to travel from HK to Khao Lak within the same day.

 

[JonnieB]

The Similan islands are too crowded all diving season...do a south Andaman LOB instead (better diving too).

 

[jezscuba]

longer trips let you see more sites, but 4-5 days is usually enough.

 

[Centrals]

@miniwid
Never ever waste your money and time diving(day trip) from Phuket.
Not that many LoB would had gone south as far as Koh Lipe.
Instead of LoB, Koh Lanta is a godd base to dive around the area(excluding sites at Koh Lipe). However, all the sites around Koh Lanta are far so the daily rate is unusually high for just 2 dives but are still far better than those in Phuket.