Rob and Anna's travel adventure

Similan Islands, Indian Ocean, Thailand

Anna's entry:
Renowned by divers the world over, beautiful uninhabited Similan Islands lay 70 km offshore Thailand, in the Indian Ocean. Diving around Similan Islands was a major reason for us coming to Southern Thailand. With major global climate changes occurring in today's world, Rob and I decided to prioritize seeing the nature and wild life before it is completely gone.
We took a night boat from our previous point Ko Tao Island across the Gulf of Thailand, then a bus from Chumphon (East coast) across the peninsula to Khao Lak (West coast). From Khao Lak the only way to get to Similan Islands is by speed-boat (not enough time to explore islands and lacking adventure), or by three-day live-aboards diving boat (more expensive alternative, but more adventurous diving exploration). We decided to choose the latter, and found the diving company that offered type of a diving boat we were looking for. We didn't want luxury cabins, we wanted good diving, good crew, and pleasant diving companions. We got just that - there were only six of us and two diving instructors, a captain, deck hand, and a cook. The other four people in our group were French, who moved to Thailand two years ago. We had a great team of similar minded individuals, environmentally conscious diving instructors, and easy going crew. The boat was pretty small, no individual cabins - the divers and instructors slept side by side on the open deck, mattresses on the floor covered in impeccable clean sheets and pillows. At night the generator would be turned off, and we could here the sound of waves, and wind caressing the palm trees somewhere on the island rocky shores; the boat would be landed right in the middle of the ocean, between the islands, and a beautiful starry sky would be right above us unspoiled by the light pollution... Fresh meals would be cooked for us throughout the day, and sea turtles would come to the boat throughout the day to check if there are any treats for them as well. We had several dives a day, including two night dives. When we were not diving, Rob and I would just jump off the boat into the ocean and snorkel, or swim to the isolated beach. The natural beauty looked and felt like a paradise...
The diving itself was different. Prior to Similan Islands, Rob and I dived in the Caribbean - around the Roatan Island, Honduras; and in the Gulf of Thailand, around Ko Tao Island. Those were easy dives. Similan Islands were definitely more advanced and demanded a bigger challenge. On our first dive, the currents were pretty strong - it required a lot of work to swim against it (or even stay in the same position), the dives were deeper, required more air consumption, and more concentration. We also had a great reward right on the first dive - a huge manta-ray tracked us down, and kept swimming right above our heads as if inviting us to join in. With about 3 meters (9 feet) in wings span, it was a beautiful graceful marine animal - it was fantastic to watch it and being accepted by it. On other dives we saw hundreds of aquatic species, just a few to mention: giant moray eels, barracudas, blue fin travellies, lion fish, Napoleon wrath, scorpion fish, clown fish, sea turtles, pipefish, stingray, groupers, frog fish, unicorn fish, leopard blenny, shrimp, crab, octopus, and many many others to save on the writing space. This was also our first time for the night dives - we jumped off the boat in complete darkness with torches (submergible flash lights), it felt different, aquatic life and coral colors were different, and somehow the night dive wasn't as scary as I had thought it would be. I was actually quite comfortable with it - my diving buddy (Rob) and our great diving instructor John were giving me a high level of confidence and support. We were very fortunate with John - originally from UK, by now he had completed over 4,000 dives, he had a good disposition, was very approachable and supportive. John - if you happen to read this blog, we will always remember diving with you in the Similians!
We returned back to the main-land after a few days, and stayed in Khao Lak to catch up on some practical matters. Khao Lak was majorly affected of tsunami 2001, but it seems to have recovered by now. We stayed in a very tranquil place, offering free internet. We used Skype for calling, and were able to catch up with our dear friends back in the US, Russia and Europe.

posted by Rob and Anna @ 3:30 AM