Question Thailand Liveaboard suggestions (March/2025)

[Rafael Moreira]

Thank you, everyone, for the responses. I've booked The Junk and am very excited for this trip. The videos I saw and the feedback from people who have been there are amazing.

 

[noserider]

Thank you, everyone, for the responses. I've booked The Junk and am very excited for this trip. The videos I saw and the feedback from people who have been there are amazing.

That's a good shout, you will have an amazing time. I think the leading boats are The Junk, Phinisi, Smiling Sea Horse and the Blue Dolphin and all have advantages and disadvantages but you will be surrounded by good divers and great crews on any of thee boats

 

[buddhasummer]

Space is pretty tight in most of the rooms...think bunk beds on the quad rooms. I was in a twin share room and I ended up sleeping up on deck due to the small bed and engine noise. However, I was perfectly comfortable sleeping under the stars with the waves gently lapping alongside the boat.

Me too, I always sleep on top deck. The rooms, cupboards, I've had on boats I've used are both tiny and stuffy.

 

[JonnieB]

That's a good shout, you will have an amazing time. I think the leading boats are The Junk, Phinisi, Smiling Sea Horse and the Blue Dolphin and all have advantages and disadvantages but you will be surrounded by good divers and great crews on any of thee boats

The Mandarin Queen folks just launched the Mandarin Queen 9 Liveaboard for Similans this season and it has been getting very good reviews. Built from ground up as dedicated LOB with two tenders.

 

[Centrals]

Seven boats sink in Gulf and Andaman Sea in four days, eight people still missing - Thai PBS World

Six tour boats and a fishing vessel have sunk in the Gulf and the Andaman Sea in the past four days. Two passengers, a skipper and five crew are still missing.

www.thaipbsworld.com

SIX tour boats and one local fishing boat.

That boat(Bundhaya 19) was supposed to be the "newest and the best"!!! But did not survive on one rough trip.

You have to make your own decision and do not expect the operator to cancel the trip because of rough sea or whatnot.

 

[bavdg]

We are doing a 6 night trip Similan/Surin trip on the Junk in March ( just 8 weeks away!) We have a double room. It is our first liveaboard so we are very excited but I'm also a bit nervous.
I will definitely post after the trip. Of course, if you have already booked your trip, it sounds like you are set.

 

[Rafael Moreira]

We are doing a 6 night trip Similan/Surin trip on the Junk in March ( just 8 weeks away!) We have a double room. It is our first liveaboard so we are very excited but I'm also a bit nervous.
I will definitely post after the trip. Of course, if you have already booked your trip, it sounds like you are set.

I see you are from Houston!!! I'm from Katy... I would love to see your posts... What Liveaboard did you got? The Junk as well?

 

[bavdg]

I see you are from Houston!!! I'm from Katy... I would love to see your posts... What Liveaboard did you got? The Junk as well?

Yes! We are diving on the Junk and counting down the days. My husband actually did his open water course up at the blue lagoon. I must say Thailand will be a huge upgrade from local diving.

 

[Centrals]

LOBs for south Andaman leave from either Phuket or Hat Yai (Koh Lipe).

No LoB for Southern Andaman ever leaves DIRECTLY from Hat Yai which a landlock city and is in different province(Songkhla) than Koh Lipe(Satun).
Losin is in the other side of the Kingdom.

 

[bavdg]

Wanted to give you a little update as we just returned from our trip on The Junk. It was incredible. So, the good things first:
The crew is amazing. You set up your gear at the beginning of the trip and after that the crew really helps with everything. As soon as you get out of the water from a dive there is a hot/cold drink waiting. They take your wetsuit and rinse and hang it. They refill tanks between dives. If you are diving nitrox then you just analyze before each dive and there is a clip-board on deck for you to log.
The food is fantastic and plentiful. Morning snack, breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner. So much food. The Thai food is exceptional. They did a few western dishes which I could have done without but everything was really good.
We had a double cabin and it was perfect. The two quad cabins did look a bit tight. Especially when people are trying to shower at the end of the day. There are two additional heads with shower on the main level as well. We appreciated the AC at night so always slept in the cabin.
Koh Tachai was absolutely my favorite site and I wish we had done a few dives there.
The only negative parts of the trip had nothing to do with the boat. The thermoclines were crazy. We had only 3-4 dives without thermoclines and they definitely impact visibility and the current made things more challenging.
I did appreciate that there were a max of 4 divers per divemaster. The small groups were really nice and you stay with the same group for the whole week. We had 15 people on our trip and that was a really nice number.
Richelieu is amazing. The number of fish is incredible, the soft corals are beautiful. But there are soooooo many people. Our fist day there were 9 boats. We did 2 dives at Richelieu on day 4 and 2 dives on day 5. I would have gladly taken another 1-2 dives at Tochai.
At any rate, hopefully you will have an amazing trip. I know the hardest part is just waiting for it. Now that we are back we are already trying to plan our next liveaboard but we feel like The Junk sets a pretty high bar.