Similan Islands Phuket, Thailand


Submission by: Carlos Hessler.
Carlos is an avid cold water diver. Originally certifying in Alaska he has spent the last year living and working off the Oregon/Washington coast.
For more information on Carlos and his photo submissions click here.

Directions:
Go that way by plane for about 36 hours.

Conditions:
The water was 82+ degrees F. We did experience quite a bit of current on a couple of the dives, but most were relaxing and effortless. If you are going on a live-a-board, plan on doing four dives a day. The dive guides incorporate this into planning the intended depths throughout the day’s dives. NITROX is available with many of the companies. Do your research because some companies will include it into the price. Regarding your decision of using NITROX or not, four dives a day, you figure it out.

Level of experience:
The dive groups where organized by experience levels. We had fellow passengers with experience levels ranging from instructors and Dive Masters to one person beginning her open water certification on board.

Visibility:
The visibility varied from 60’ to well over 200’.

Entry and Exits:
The VSL I went on had a full dive deck and entry was from the dive platform. Most post dive recoveries were with the VSL itself, a couple of the recoveries were conducted with a chase boat.

Recommended Shop:
The company I used was Siam Adventure Divers. There are many others to choose from and I couldn’t possibly suggest one over the other. Shopping for equipment shouldn’t be needed because all of the companies provide pretty decent rental equipment for customers. For people who intend on using their own equipment like I did, they will fully incorporate you’re wished. If you’re talking about gifts and local merchandise, there are more shops that the eye can see on the main Island of Phuket. It’s also tons of fun practicing your bartering skills.

Wild Life:
You’ll see almost every possible tropical species you can imagine from large to small. The possibilities encountering Mantas and Whale Sharks are very good. Unfortunately, luck was not on my side because I didn’t see either. The folks in one of the other dive groups did see a manta though.

Comments:
The Similan Islands are located about fifty NM northwest of Phuket and are composed of nine islands. Similan comes from the Malay fisherman who named it "The Nine Islands" Sembilan is nine in Malay and the islands are identified by a name in Thai and a number. For example; Ko Huyong (Island #1), located at the southern end of the chain or Ko Miang (Island #4) located in the middle. The islands have achieved national park status and are fully protected under Thai law. Recently, the islands have come to the special attention of the Thai Royal Family which further protects them from abuse. The only negative thing I have to share about the trip was the amount of other divers. Pretty much every one of the dive sights had several other liveaboard dive tours in the area. Fortunately for the attention to detail by the guides and strict enforcement of local regulations, I was unable to see any sign of human presence, other than other divers themselves. If you’re into underwater photography, be sure to have plenty of space on your memory card because you won’t possibly be able to take enough. If you’re not into underwater photography, you will be!

Websites to visit:
www.divetheworldthailand.com/thailand-scuba-diving-dive-sites-similan-islands.htm

www.phuket.com/diving/sites/similan.htm

siamdivers.com/sites/similan.htm

www.mvjazz.com/

www.siamadventuredivers.com/

www.diveasia.com/index.htm