Similans and newbie divers.

[BigJeff]

I was thinking of Southern Similan, there are a large number of liveaboards to choose from and they offer more diving per day than you'll get by staying on land.

I think I may have painted a slightly poor picture of the Northern sites, they can be tougher sites to dive but most of the tour leaders will avoid the peak current times whenever possible.

It's really up to you and your partner, a risk free trip to the South or include the North with what I think is one of the best in Thailand (Richelieu Rock). The northern sites will still be there next time.

Nothing wrong with the diving around Phi-Phi and Phuket either, but you will have better visibility at Similan.

 

[drbill]

Welcome to SB. I spent a very enjoyable month in the Land of Smiles back in 2001 diving Koh Tao, Koh Lanta and Koh Phi Phi.

 

[watboy]

In my opinion, North Andaman is best done by live aboard and the South Andaman can easily be done as day trips. Phi Phi is close to so many good to great dive sites, that you can be based their and do 4 dives a day. The most famous dive site, Hin Daeng/Muang, is really only accessible as a day trip from Koh Lanta. However, this may be beyond your skill level, and many operators will require Advanced cert with 20-40+ dives as a requirement. I would suggest you consider staying in a hotel and diving the south andaman. You will have the flexibility to do a lot of diving as well as taking a day off and bumming it on the beach or relaxing at the spa.

 

[Prabang]

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.

Thank you heaps for your advice Quero. What would you recommend then for 2 newbies doing their first post-cert. dives. Jeff on the Thailand forum suggested Liveboard Similans without the northern sites i listed. Are you recommending that a Liveboard of any sort , anywhere in the Similans is a no, no at this stage of our diving careers?

I am open to all advice/suggestions as we just want to go somewhere (Dec) here for 3-4 days good diving that will also see us gain good skill knowledge as well as have a good time.


p.s.Hi back at ya, Dr Bill.

 

[aquamarin]

Congrats on your OW certification and welcome to the wonderful world of diving

It's difficult to voice my opinion without some degree of advertising...... ............but......... I would do a live-aboard which starts in the south (Similans) with the option to stay on the boat for the northern part if you feel comfortable. That way you'll have 6-8 additional dives before making your way to Richelieu Rock etc. Conditions can be absolutely benign (I just came back from one of those trips) or sometimes more hairy. I have had newly certified OW divers with me on both Tachai and Richelieu - and I have also cancelled dives on both dive sites for experienced divers, because conditions were too rough in my opinion.

Different boats have different rules. We have max depth of 18 meters for our OW divers, but do offer the deep adventure dive on board. Also, OW divers have to opt for the sunset dive as the 4th dive of the day - unless they do the night adventure. As mentioned, the important thing is to mention your cert level in advance, so that you don't end up on a boat with 14 massively experienced divers plus you

Personally, I'd prefer live-aboard dives in the Similans instead of day trips. There's much less stress, it's cheaper and you have the option to do 4 dives per day instead of 2. Besides, you learn a lot from hanging out with other divers - maybe you can try out some gear, get advice on dive destinations etc. That's just personal though I did my advanced course after about 50 dives, and it would have made much more sense for me to do it earlier - with about 20 dives. That's individual though. Main thing is to take things step by step, at your own pace, without feeling pressured into anything you're not comfortable with.

Whatever you choose, I wish you a wonderful time down here
Karin

 

[Quero]

You know, there are many, many sites in the Similans that are just fine for inexperienced divers, and in fact, most sites on the east sides of the islands are gentle sloping reefs that would be great for you. But there are also a good number of deeper and more challenging sites in the Similans--sites like Elephant Head Rock, Christmas Point, West of Eden and others that I would hesitate to plop brand-new divers into outside an instructional framework. Every Similans liveaboard I've ever been on (and I've been on lots of them) does a mix of the gentle and the challenging sites. Nobody will prevent you from booking these boats or doing the dives, but I just wonder whether it's biting off more than you're ready to chew (because once you're on a boat, it's pretty hard to say no to a dive!). If you're anxious to build on your dive history, why not start out a little less aggressively--say an overnight trip to Phi Phi for 7 dives--just come down for a long weekend, for example and get some dives under your belt before you get on a longer trip?

 

[Quero]

I've merged the two threads (one was originally in Intros and Greets) since they start out the same. Now all the advice is on one single thread.

I agree that you shouldn't feel pressured to do every dive, but it's also true that it's not easy to say no to a dive when you've already paid for it and you're on the boat while everybody else is excited about the dive.

While it's fine to get some diving experience before doing additional courses, the diving from a liveaboard to the Similans will offer mostly dives beyond what you've been exposed to thus far since most dives will be beyond 18 meters, and a number will be at night. If you've really only done the training dives up to now and never have done a fun dive, getting on a liveaboard is quite a commitment, and you might find that your dives are relatively short compared to other divers because you're still in a steep learning curve in your diver development.

I would advise doing a 2-day trip first, either to the Southern Similans or to Phi Phi. Once you've done that, you'll have a better feel for whether getting on a longer trip is the right way for you to develop your dive skills.

 

[Prabang]

Thanks Quero for merging the threads and a big thank you to everyone who has contributed to the thread.

I (we) have decided to wait a while for the northern dives. I have my partner (and buddy) to think about too and don't want to put her off diving before we even get started. So, i think now we are looking at a 3/4 day liveaboard around Phi Phi or lower Similans (though lower Sims does seem a rare option as the ones i've looked at to date all seem to go up to the northern sites also) .

Next question therefore is, can anyone recommend an operator ? Preferably a smaller boat with a company that is known to be fully aware of and pay extra attention to newly qualified divers. (A big nudge, nudge,wink,wink to Quero here i guess . I have searched one site (not sure if i can name on here? LOS - Scuba dot com) and found one that does 3/3 Hin Daeng, Muang, Koh Haa etc for 22,000 . Is this a reasonable price? Trouble is the site doesn't name the boat! We would be looking to leave around 18/19th/20th Dec.

Thanks again guys.

 

[Quero]

Well Aquamarin's boat has a nice southern portion for the Similans, and there are a couple of two-day trips out of Phuket for islands south of here that I can recommend. Now that I've been nudged and winked at, let me say that I'd be more than happy to help you find the right option. Check your PM box for a short message.

 

[richh32]

hello
i just returned from a 4d/4n liveaboard on the hallelujah. i think you would be fine doing the normal northern route. for me it was almost like a natural progression from easier sites to a little more advanced as the days went on. the divemaster changed a couple sites do to current, so nobody would feel uncomfortable. you can have currents everywhere, so why short-change yourself. if you are paying 22,000 baht for a 3/3 you are almost right there for a 4d/4n and you will be going to the creme de la creme of dive spots. if you dont want to do a dive on a particular day dont do it. there were a couple of people who didnt want to do a 2nd night dive so they opted out. dont try to predict the future just go for it. just my 2c.