We woke this morning to another beautiful day. We head back to Similan 9 for our first dive. We dive North Point, just a little west of the Three Trees site we dived yesterday. I’m doing my Advanced Open Water course on this trip, and this is going to be my deep dive, so we head down to 30 meters first. After the mandatory deep dive exercises, we head back for shallower water and enjoy the scenery. There are more clown triggerfish, as well as Moorish idols and bannerfish. I also spot a lion fish or two.

After breakfast we head off to Koh Bon for our second dive of the day. We go down on the west ridge. The currents are brisk, as are the thermoclines. I pass through several of these as we drift up and down over the boulders. They don’t affect visibility, which is excellent, they just make the dive a bit more “refreshing”. The actual temperature difference is not much – just a degree or two. Enough to feel, but it won’t give you the chills. We see many varieties of surgeonfish, as well as more Moorish idols and some sweetlips.

Next we head of to Koh Tachai. I decide to skip the Tachai Pinnacle, as I’m still not very good in strong currents, but we do have enough time in the day to dive Leopard Shark Reef on the north side of Koh Tachai. It’s near dusk, too late for the reef fish to be out and about, and too early for the night critters to be around. But the thick forests of staghorn coral are a fantastical sight.

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.