Similans Day 1

What can I say? It really was a dark and stormy night. We set off from Chalong pier last night after dinner on the boat. Unfortunately, no sooner did we have the lights of Patong behind us than the seas started to get rough. It was certainly the worst seas I’ve ever been in, and everyone on board, including the crew of the Colona VI, looked it little green this morning.

But, by the time I can bring myself to get out of bed this morning, we’re anchored in a very calm bay, and it even looks like the sun will come out. My first dive of the day is East of Eden, off Similan Island 7. This is quite a sprawling site, but I manage to see a lot of it, including its most famous resident, “Emma” the moray eel. She lives under a large table coral that just out of the sandy bottom. We also see a number of clown triggerfish and parrotfish.

The second dive is on Three Trees, on the north side of Island 9. This particular site isn’t well mapped, but it’s between the better-known sites of Breakfast Bend and Rocky Point, and quite similar to both. Currents we rather strong, but we have the luxury of drifting and having the boat pick us up where-ever the tide takes us. I see my first turtle, as well as a lot of surgeonfish and some baracuda.

We move back to Island 8 to moor for the night, and make a night dive – my first – on Beacon Reef. I spot a few lobsters out and about, as well as some parrotfish sleeping in the nooks and crannies of the coral. Later, back on the boat, the lights attract a large school of squid.