Similan Liveaboard in March 2011-suggestions?

[outpost31]

Many thanks Quero, OTS, Stevenl, Batfish & SDiver for your time and very good suggestions for my needs. Cheers!

atm I'm considering combining Manta 6day Similans/Surin with Mermaid 4days in the South..
...or Oktavia 5day Similans/Surin with the Mermaid 4days in the South...

Both of those give me about 10days with 24 dives for just under £1000 (minus fees and such).
What do you guys think? Am I missing any better deals for price/No.ofDives?

Thanks again for your help guys!

 

[stevenl]

Black manta is offering 4 day trips, not 6 days. Mermaid's soutgern trips are 2 days. For 6 days similans etc, check Colona and Nautica. Discovery has 3 day southern trips, but is more basic than the other mentioned boats, offering 2 day trips.

 

[outpost31]

Hi Steve,

According to "Dive the World" website there is a 6day/18dives/Similan/Surin on the Manta and 4days on the Mermaid for just the south:

Thailand Liveaboards - MV Black Manta Trips, Prices, Scheduled Departure Dates and Itineraries

Dive Safari Thailand - MV Mermaid II Trips, Prices, Scheduled Departure Dates and Itineraries

I hope all this info is correct, i haven't contacted them yet.

 

[stevenl]

I am at home at the moment so don't have access to the schedules. The trips you mention are not the standard, but could be exceptions, but by heart I don't think so.

 

[Quero]

Chris, I am looking at the actual operator-published schedules now (which they send to their agents for our reference), and Black Manta's March trips are all what we normally call 4d/4n. In other words, there are four diving days and four sleeping nights aboard the boat. What DTW seems to be doing is counting the boarding day (usually actually at night) as a "day" and calling it 5 days/4 nights. A bit of marketing voodoo. Black Manta itself markets the trip as a 14 dive, 4d/4n trip.

Mermaid is actually 3 days and 3 nights according to the operator itself, but in fact there are only two dive days of four dives each. Again it looks like DTW is counting both the "day" of the late evening boarding as one day and the "day" of the morning disembarkation after breakfast as another day.

If you combine these two trips, you will have a total of 22 dives, a total of 6 dive days, and a total of 7 nights aboard a boat.

 

[outpost31]

Hi Marcia,

many thanks for the clarification. I was looking at the Similan Safari 5N (6days/5night-18dives) but on closer inspection that trip is only available in December, so my bad.

Well, I think I may do the Oktavia Similan/Surin 19 dives trip & the Mermaid South 8 dives Trip.

Has anyone been on these boats? Were you happy with them?

Does anyone have any alternative trips/better offers that they can recommend?
Cheers

 

[funrecdiver]

Hi Outpost,

Do you want recommendations from dive center operators who are also selling liveaboard trips or from customers who are like you?

I think you should be clear when seeking opinions who you want opinions from. You will get very different opinions from people selling trips than people who have actually paid for the trip and been on the boat as a customer.

 

[outpost31]

Hi FunRecDiver,

Well, i mostly want opinions from customers as any offers from operators will obviously be taken with a pinch of salt but if they do have any info on special deals i will look into them if they suit my requirements.

So far I've got some very helpful comments from both types which i really appreciate
Cheers

 

[funrecdiver]

Great! Sometimes it is confusing, since the folks who reply in forums like this often don't take the time to fully disclose why they are replying (a dive center, a customer, etc.) and what their position and interest might be.

 

[stevenl]

I think that would ne nice trips you mention, although personally i would prefer colona over mermaid. Better value for money imo, especially right now with 10% discount option.