Just debarked from a lovely 5N4D liveaboard to Similan.
The trip was spontaneous organized by wife, so we did not know what to expect, she just thought it could be a nice idea and booked the same day, no time for preparations: we always have a set of summer gear packed and ready for travel, just added a couple of t-shirts, plane tickets and off we went.
We had 14 dives at various Similan Islands no.4 - no.9, a day at the fabulous Richlieau rock, and the last day a couple of dives at the Bin Soon wreck (hope I spelled it right) of which I'll refer to later.
The dives were all relaxed, good visibility most sites ~20m, reefs are abundant with healthy hard corals (negligible signs of bleaching, if any at all), soft ones and gorgones. Although we met a couple of turtles, Manta ray and Napoleon wrasse, this is not the place to see big encounters. It is for the huge schools of snappers, fusiliers, trevalies, jackfish, Moray eels of different types, and lots of nudibranches, spiny lobsters, crabs and so on. The dives are exceptionally beautiful and abundant with life. Personally, I feel that floating motionless inside a huge school of snappers, circled by hundreds of barracuda, trevalies and jackfish- this is one of the best feelings that I love in scuba.
If you are looking for Mantas and Whale sharks, then Maldives. If want to combine beautiful diving with a nice land vacation and great food, then Thailand is as good as any. Period.
As to the boat: I am quite a seasoned liveaboard diver, and DiveRace actually surprised me, as it stands out in two things (at least for me):
a) the divers are divided into small groups, we were 17-18 divers with five guides. This is actually really nice. My wife, son and me with guide.
b) The food is not served in a buffet, like most LOBs I have been to, but restaurant style. They accommodate the food for each diver's taste ("no spicy", "no seafood", "vegetarian" etc. imagine 20 guests each with his own preferences), and not only the food was delicious, it was beautifully arranged in the plates, just like a good five star restaurant. If I plan another LOB in Thailand, definitely with them. If they had a fleet in other destinations I'd try them too.
Briefings were excellent, the dive guides, dingy crews, everybody were friendly, professional and the whole experience was excellent. Four one-hour dives a day is tough, but organization was excellent and executed in a way that allowed adequate surface intervals and resting.
Richlieau Rock for sure the best site, although visibility was only about 10m to 15m in the last dive, the diversity and amount of fish was impressive! But we enjoyed all other dive sites in the itinerary, which I assume is pretty standard. They tried to time the dives in Richlieau to minimize the crowds of daily boats, first dive felt crowded, you see as many divers as fish, the rest we were almost alone. Other dive sites were not crowded, sometimes and additional boat or two, but there are many dive sites and not crowded at all. Richlieau is superb and there are no other nearby sites, so can get busy.
Cabin was huge, briefing room easily accommodated all the group.
Overall, it was a 10/10 experience, if I had to find something to criticise, then there was nothing to hold the toothbrushes in the toilet room sink, and that's about it...
Oh, about this Bin Soon wreck: people told us it is a boring one, and as a wreck of some old floating factory- perhaps, and that fishermen frequently visit the site (which usually means less fish, lots of fishing line and pieces of ripped nets everywhere) but we were overwhelmed by the amount of fish: probably more than in Richlieau, the schools of Barracudas, Snappers, Batfish were a spectacle one doesn't see very often. Also the large population of honeycomb morays, and porcupine fish floating in groups of dozens etc. We really enjoyed these two dives as a nice grand finale for this short trip.
Cudos for DiveRace, they were great and best experience. I have read some good mentions in other threads, and can only agree and add my compliments
The trip was spontaneous organized by wife, so we did not know what to expect, she just thought it could be a nice idea and booked the same day, no time for preparations: we always have a set of summer gear packed and ready for travel, just added a couple of t-shirts, plane tickets and off we went.
We had 14 dives at various Similan Islands no.4 - no.9, a day at the fabulous Richlieau rock, and the last day a couple of dives at the Bin Soon wreck (hope I spelled it right) of which I'll refer to later.
The dives were all relaxed, good visibility most sites ~20m, reefs are abundant with healthy hard corals (negligible signs of bleaching, if any at all), soft ones and gorgones. Although we met a couple of turtles, Manta ray and Napoleon wrasse, this is not the place to see big encounters. It is for the huge schools of snappers, fusiliers, trevalies, jackfish, Moray eels of different types, and lots of nudibranches, spiny lobsters, crabs and so on. The dives are exceptionally beautiful and abundant with life. Personally, I feel that floating motionless inside a huge school of snappers, circled by hundreds of barracuda, trevalies and jackfish- this is one of the best feelings that I love in scuba.
If you are looking for Mantas and Whale sharks, then Maldives. If want to combine beautiful diving with a nice land vacation and great food, then Thailand is as good as any. Period.
As to the boat: I am quite a seasoned liveaboard diver, and DiveRace actually surprised me, as it stands out in two things (at least for me):
a) the divers are divided into small groups, we were 17-18 divers with five guides. This is actually really nice. My wife, son and me with guide.
b) The food is not served in a buffet, like most LOBs I have been to, but restaurant style. They accommodate the food for each diver's taste ("no spicy", "no seafood", "vegetarian" etc. imagine 20 guests each with his own preferences), and not only the food was delicious, it was beautifully arranged in the plates, just like a good five star restaurant. If I plan another LOB in Thailand, definitely with them. If they had a fleet in other destinations I'd try them too.
Briefings were excellent, the dive guides, dingy crews, everybody were friendly, professional and the whole experience was excellent. Four one-hour dives a day is tough, but organization was excellent and executed in a way that allowed adequate surface intervals and resting.
Richlieau Rock for sure the best site, although visibility was only about 10m to 15m in the last dive, the diversity and amount of fish was impressive! But we enjoyed all other dive sites in the itinerary, which I assume is pretty standard. They tried to time the dives in Richlieau to minimize the crowds of daily boats, first dive felt crowded, you see as many divers as fish, the rest we were almost alone. Other dive sites were not crowded, sometimes and additional boat or two, but there are many dive sites and not crowded at all. Richlieau is superb and there are no other nearby sites, so can get busy.
Cabin was huge, briefing room easily accommodated all the group.
Overall, it was a 10/10 experience, if I had to find something to criticise, then there was nothing to hold the toothbrushes in the toilet room sink, and that's about it...
Oh, about this Bin Soon wreck: people told us it is a boring one, and as a wreck of some old floating factory- perhaps, and that fishermen frequently visit the site (which usually means less fish, lots of fishing line and pieces of ripped nets everywhere) but we were overwhelmed by the amount of fish: probably more than in Richlieau, the schools of Barracudas, Snappers, Batfish were a spectacle one doesn't see very often. Also the large population of honeycomb morays, and porcupine fish floating in groups of dozens etc. We really enjoyed these two dives as a nice grand finale for this short trip.
Cudos for DiveRace, they were great and best experience. I have read some good mentions in other threads, and can only agree and add my compliments
