Similans and newbie divers.

[Prabang]

Hi all.
My partner and i have recently completed our OW and looking forward to our first 'qualified' dives here in Thailand.
The plan was a 4 -day Liveboard in The Similans. However, when i did some research on the sites 2-3 of the sites - it was suggested - were suitable only for advanced divers.

If any of you guys reading this have first hand experience/knowledge of the sites and can shed more light on them, i would truly appreciate it. We have no dive experience apart from OWD Training so are real newbies i guess.

The sites are: Koh Bon, Tachai and Richelieu Rock.

Thanks guys and good to have found you all

 

[BigJeff]

Sounds like good advice to me, but every diver has different levels of skill and experience and you may be surprised how often "new" divers do better than "experienced" ones.

In your position I'd go for a trip that covers the Southern part only.

But if you really want to try make sure the Tour Leader is aware of your experience and be prepared for either a challenging dive or having to sit a few out on the boat.

Sea conditions and currents can vary anywhere from zero current to "ripping", especially on those three sites where there are fewer alternatives for dives.

 

[ayeshacantrell]

I think most operators will strongly recommend that you take the Deep Dive of the Advanced Course or thee full Advanced Course on board if you plan to do this trip....but others will be able to tell you the requirements better....

 

[lord khram]

Sounds like good advice to me, but every diver has different levels of skill and experience and you may be surprised how often "new" divers do better than "experienced" ones.

Quite right, there is nothing better to improve your diving skills than having time in the water, particularly with a more experienced diver which you can observe and learn from. I have seen so many divers with a vast aray of cert cards that have little dive experience other than doing courses and all too often their basic diving skills leave a lot to be desired.

 

[Prabang]

Sounds like good advice to me, but every diver has different levels of skill and experience and you may be surprised how often "new" divers do better than "experienced" ones.

In your position I'd go for a trip that covers the Southern part only.

But if you really want to try make sure the Tour Leader is aware of your experience and be prepared for either a challenging dive or having to sit a few out on the boat.

Sea conditions and currents can vary anywhere from zero current to "ripping", especially on those three sites where there are fewer alternatives for dives.

Thanks for the replies guys.
Jeff, do you mean Southern Similans or South Andaman (PHI PHI ETC) ? Maybe at this stage we would be more suited to base ourselves in Khao Lak for a week and do some day trips with a dive school. That way they can prob match our needs better. What are all your thoughts on this? Maybe we are not ready for a Liveboard yet.

Agree also about the practical experience. My school keep asking me to do the Advanced, but i have no intention till i get some real diving experience and can actually 'dive' competently.

Thanks again.

Prabang.

 

[Quero]

Sawadee-ka from Phuket!
For a liveaboard trip to the Similans, I always recommend Advanced Open Water training, though you can complete this on any of the boats as well. The reason being that the dives tend to be deep (so air consumption becomes a concern, and inexperienced divers typically use their air faster than experienced divers), you will have night dives (which in themselves are not hard, but it's nice to do your first one with an instructor), and you will need good buoyancy control for some of the sites that have more current, such as the pinnacles at Tachai, Richelieu and Koh Bon. Richelieu is only the pinnacle with no alternative dive site in the area, but both Koh Bon and Koh Tachai have dive sites on the fringing reefs of the two islands that are not on the deep pinnacles--Tachai Pinnacle and Koh Bon Pinnacle are the advanced sites; the reef sites are accessible to inexperienced divers.

 

[lord khram]

Thanks for the replies guys.
Jeff, do you mean Southern Similans or South Andaman (PHI PHI ETC) ? Maybe at this stage we would be more suited to base ourselves in Khao Lak for a week and do some day trips with a dive school. That way they can prob match our needs better. What are all your thoughts on this? Maybe we are not ready for a Liveboard yet.

Agree also about the practical experience. My school keep asking me to do the Advanced, but i have no intention till i get some real diving experience and can actually 'dive' competently.

Thanks again.

Prabang.

In my mind you are exactly right to get some dives under your belt before doing the advanced course. Once you have fine tuned your diving skills and you feel more comfortable in the water you will be in a better position to learn from your advanced course and enjoy the dives on the course. Cert cards alone do not make competent divers.
With regard to the liveaboard trip, you would certainly get more from the trip with a little more prior experience, or you could look at the liveaboard as a way of gaining some experience, only you can decide that one. But if you do decide on a liveaboard trip, ensure prior to booking that the operator is aware of your diving experience levels so as you do not end up on a trip where you will have to sit out too many of the dives. Maybe some of the agents who post on here could advise you on specific trips that would best suit you.
What ever you decide I am sure you will enjoy as there is some excellent diving in the area you are planning to visit.

 

[ocdiver1]

Ive done a liveaboard in the Similans/Surins and don't recall any one dive that was incredibly deep or challenging with ripping currents, etc, and there were a few people on our boat that were not particularly experienced divers. While one trip in the area certainly doesn't make me an expert, I personally learned more "by doing" when I started and on trips with more experienced divers than on any amount of training dives. To me, if you describe your experience level to the boat operator, get their input on the sites you are going too, and find if you can get special assistance...like your own dm on some of the dives or something, and they agree...go for it. Maybe it turns out they won't feel all dives are suitable but at least you could do a lot of them. Richelieu Rock in particular is a fantasic dive and it'd be too bad to miss it by virtue of not doing a LOB.

 

[Buadhai]

I did a liveaboard in the Similans last February (MV Queen Scuba). Looking at my log book I see the deepest dive was Koh Bon Pinnacle at 37 meters. None of the dives were extremely difficult although surface conditions made it necessary to do a negative entry a couple of times. Several times the dive guides offered easier dives for those who didn't want to deal with the depth and current of the scheduled dive.

Remember: You don't have to do every dive.

 

[watboy]

I did a liveaboard in the Similans last February (MV Queen Scuba). Looking at my log book I see the deepest dive was Koh Bon Pinnacle at 37 meters. None of the dives were extremely difficult although surface conditions made it necessary to do a negative entry a couple of times. Several times the dive guides offered easier dives for those who didn't want to deal with the depth and current of the scheduled dive.

Remember: You don't have to do every dive.

Second's Buadhai's comment that you don't have to do every dive. If you go the liveaboard route, try not to feel pressured to do a dive because you already paid for it. 4 dives a day for people who don't dive frequently, can get surprisingly taxing for even fit people. Its very common for people to skip the evening dive or sleep in and skip the first dive.

If you up for day trip diving, I think the south andaman (from Phi Phi, Krabi, Koh Lanta) has the best day trip diving. My favorite remains the Koh Haa group, which both great for beginners and being a great dive with much to see. Also a great site for beginners is the the Koh Bida group. Both of these sites have plenty to see above 18meters.