| |
|
Similan & Surin Islands
The Similan Islands, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, Richelieu Rock and the Surin Islands are located to the Northwest of Phuket, about eight hours sailing, and to the West/Northwest of Tap Lamu, the Khao Lak harbour, about five hours sailing with a liveaboard safari boat or two hours by speedboat (on the diving daytrips and overnight trips).
One can stay overnight at the Similans and Surin Islands, but there is no scuba diving gear available on the islands. This means that by far the best way to dive here is by boat, either by daytrip, overnight trip or liveaboard, with departure from Tap Lamu (Khao Lak) or Phuket.
|
| |
Similans divesites
|
| |
North Point North Point is located on the West side of Similans island number 9 with dramatic underwater views of gigantic boulders with canyons and swimthroughs. During the descent often batfish and in the canyons napoleons. In between the canyons grow big gorgonias with beautiful soft corals where harlequin ghost pipefish like to hide. Also keep an eye on the blue where regularly manta rays pass by. Maximum depth 35 meter, medium to strong current.
Christmas Point Boulder formations, swim throughs in the deeper parts of the divesite. On the walls mainly soft corals. A very colourful divesite with several species parrotfish, surgeonfish, in the deeper parts gigantic seastars and seacucumbers. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium to strong current.
Breakfast Bend On this divesite you have the nicest light penetration in the morning. The shallow part of the divesite has a sandy bottom with coralblocks, further away from Similans island number 9 is a 45 degrees drop off to the bottom at about 30 meter. The best diving here you will find at the drop off, with beautiful hard and soft corals and an abundance of marine life. Maximum depth 25-30 meter, medium current.
Snapper Alley Beautiful reef drop off, followed by boulders spread out over the sandbottom. Rich in all possible kinds of marine life. Maximum depth 28 meter, light to medium current.
Donald Duck Bay Coralblocks spread out over a shallow sandy bottom. On the Westside more interesting boulders offering a very nice landscape and a great variety in fish. Excellent divesite for a nightdive. Maximum depth 20 meter, slight current.
Turtle Rock Big underwater boulders offering a lovely landscape with lots of swimthroughs. Good marine life. Unfortunately there are remainders of anchors and dynamite fishing still to be seen, but despite that this is a nice divesite and certainly worth a visit. Maximum depth 25 meter, slight current.
| 
Similans divesite map; scuba diving Similans Thailand with Phuket dash Scuba dot Com (divingsimilans.eu)
|
| |
Fantasy Reef After the descent to a rockplateau at about 15 meters a marvelous coral garden with both the soft and hard variety and much marine life. Further North a big boulder with swimthrough, leading to a sandy bottom. Going West from here you will pass gigantic boulder formations and end at a lovely valley. Extremely rich in fish and coral life with many different fish species. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium current.
|
| |
Beacon Beach Starts quite shallow with coralblocks, and from there slopes down till about 34 meter. On this slope is a very nice coral garden. Hard and soft corals, anemones with their inhabitants, all kinds of shell fish and a great variety predators like barracudas and jacks. On the sand we will find stingrays, gardeneels, goatfish. Maximum depth 35 meter, medium current.
Beacon Reef Beacon Reef has the longest reef of all Similan divesites. Because the reef slopes down very gently till about 22 meter this is a very nice site for a nightdive or checkdive. With many hard and soft corals we will see lots of predators here with lionfish and moray eels hiding in the cracks and crevaces. An occasional look in the blue can be rewarding with tuna and jacks coming to the reef to feed. Maximum depth 22 meter, slight current.
| 
Soft corals at Beacon Beach Similans; scuba diving Similans Thailand with Phuket dash Scuba dot Com (divingsimilans.eu)
|
| |
Beacon Point Beacon Point is located on the Southtip of Similans island number 8 and is one of the deeper divesites till over 40 meters. This is a good divesite for different species of stingrays. With big granite boulders and an accosional whitetip reefshark patroling the rocks, try to spot the blue ribboneels when they stick their heads out of the sand. Maximum depth 40+ meter, medium to strong current.
|
| |
Elephant Head Elephant Head is probably the best known divesite in the Similan Islands, located in between islands 7 (Koh Payu) and 8 (Koh Similan).
With three big boulders breaking the surface, these granite rock formations run all the way down till over 50 meters. This is an exiting dive; not too many corals but because of the positioning of the boulders over each other a web of tunnels and swimthroughs has been created. Oriental and harlequin sweetlips, only spotted in the Andaman Sea, seek shelter from the currents behind the boulders. Keep your eyes open for the colourful clown triggerfish and whitetip reefsharks, often seen resting on the bottom. Maximum depth 50 meter, strong current.
| 
White tip reef shark at Elephant Head Similans; scuba diving Similans Thailand with Phuket dash Scuba dot Com (divingsimilans.eu)
|
| |
Deep Six Deep Six is located on the Northern end of Similans island 7; as the name already indicates you can dive here till over 60 meters deep. The dramatic underwater boulders have created lovely swimthroughs, tunnels and canyons. But in the soft coral garden you will find the biggest gorgonias of the Similans. With an occasional manta ray gliding by, this is a very nice divesite. Maximum dive! depth 40 meter, medium to strong current.
East of Eden East of Eden has probably the most beautiful coral reef of the Similans. Covered with mainly hard corals, a great variety of reeffish have made East of Eden their home, including the famous moray eel Emma, but also lots of fusiliers and snappers, napoleons and sea turtles. Approximately in the middle of the divesite is a big coral bummy located between 25 and 10 meter depth, this bummy alone is worth multiple dives on this divesite. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium current.
|
| |
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a deep dive, gigantic boulders with impressive fancorals, whipcorals and sponges in between. All the usual reeffish are present, leopardsharks, schools of tuna and trevally are frequently seen here. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium to strong current.
Princess Bay Here we find a sandy bottom with smaller coral blocks. Nothing too exiting, good for a nightdive, especially the Western part of the bay. Maximum depth 15 meter, slight current.
Barracuda Point This divesite, also called Anita's Reef, starts at a depth of 6 meters and slopes down till around 28 meters. Coral gardens, soft and hard corals we will find everywhere in the sand and they look lovely. Here we will find all varieties reeffish. Maximum depth 28 meter, slight current.
| 
Fan corals at Stonehenge Similans; scuba diving Similans Thailand with Phuket dash Scuba dot Com (divingsimilans.eu)
|
| |
Hideaway Bay Hideaway Bay or Hideaway Reef is a lovely divesite for a checkdive or nightdive. With a depth of 20 meters maximum this reef has some beautiful coralblocks on offer. Covered in soft corals the colours are magnificent and one of the best places for macro photographers with different species of ghost pipefish. In the sandy bottom lots of garden eels, sticking their heads of the sand together with the Thai flatfish to feed in the current. On the reef itself lots of surgeonfish, butterflies and porcupines. Maximum depth 20 meter, slight current.
|
| |
Honeymoon Bay Honeymoon Bay is a lovely bay situated on Similans island number 4. With an excellent beach this is the perfect place to go snorkeling or a sunsetdive on the gently till 24 meters sloping reef. In the shallow part you can spot octopus, crab and mantis shrimp hunting for food. With and occasional hawksbill seaturtle and whitetip reefshark the reef will keep you occupied all through the dive. Maximum depth 24 meter, slight current.
Bird Rock Situated on the South side of Similans island number 4 has big boulders till 40 meters. Not much marine life, but lovely boulder formations and swimthroughs. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium current.
| 
Beautiful beach of Honeymoon Bay at Similans; scuba diving Similans Thailand with Phuket dash Scuba dot Com (divingsimilans.eu)
|
| |
Shark Fin Reef From the surface we can see three rocks breaking the watersurface. The dive you can make on either side of this extensive rockformation. The Southwest side consists mainly of a steep drop off. On the Southeastern side of this formation is a large swimthrough through which you can reach the other side of the reef. There we will find lionfish and scorpionfish in sheltered corners, surgeonfish and a great variety of other reeffish. The corals are mainly hard corals. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium to strong current.
|
| |
Boulder City Boulder City is completely submerged with two mooring lines, one South and one North. Following the Northline we descent till 20 meters, follwing the Southline till 30 meters. The whole dive we will remain inside these depths or even deeper, preventing this from being a long dive. But the underwater views are spectacular with big granite boulders, some bigger than a house, with swimthroughs and a really good chance to dive with big pelagics. Eaglerays and mantarays swim round the rocks while giant stingrays rest in the sand. With a big family of humphead parrotfish and napoleons living in the area plus the beautiful soft corals and gorgonia seafans this is an eye opening divesite, especially if a whalesharks comes around and takes a peak. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium to strong current.
| 
Napoleon wrasse at Boulder City Similans; scuba diving Similans Thailand with Phuket dash Scuba dot Com (divingsimilans.eu)
|
| |
Coral Garden Lovely relaxed reefdive. Beautiful hard and soft corals, rich in species of fishlife. Maximum depth 24 meter, light to medium current.
Rocky Point Big, spread out rockboulders with sand patches in between. A very healty fish population. Mainly hard corals, but also seafans, whipcorals and sponges. In the deeper part of the divesite a good chance of seeing barracuda and other pelagic fish. Maximum depth 35 meter, medium current.
|
| |
Surin & other divesites
|
| |
Koh Bon Wall Beautiful wall on the Southside of Koh Bon, sloping down till about 30 meters deep. Covered in mainly hard corals. Lots of different fishspecies, mainly of the bigger varieties. Further to the West the boulders continue up to about 35 meters, where we will also find whipcorals and other kinds of soft corals. In this area we often see mantarays. Maximum depth 40 meter, medium to strong current.
Koh Bon Pinnacle Koh Bon Pinnacle has no buoy line so location is by GPS. When the captain signals it's time to jump into the blue and descend down to the pinnacles. The top is around 18 meters and continues to run down to over 50 meters to the sand bottom were the docile leopard shark sleeps while white tip reef sharks patrol the reef in search of a meal.
These amazing pinnacles are covered with colourful soft coral trees, large gorgonian sea fans and barrel sponges running down the walls. With five species of clown fish in the magnificent anemones and their shrimp and porcelain crab hosts its difficult to keep your eyes of the pinnacles but a look out in to the blue can be rewarding with manta rays gliding around and the occasional whale shark. But don't forget to keep a check on your air supply as its time to head back to the surface and leave these beautiful creatures behind. Maximum depth 50 meter, medium to strong current.
| 
Similans and Surin divesite map; scuba diving Similans Thailand with Phuket dash Scuba dot Com (divingsimilans.eu)
|
| |
Koh Tachai The buoy line at Koh Tachai descends down to 16 meters to reach the top of the plateau. From here you decide which way to go North or South. North takes you over the plateau to the beautiful coral garden at around 22 meters to 26 meters with some of the best soft corals and sea fans in the area, which will keep underwater photographers busy. South takes you down over the large boulders to between 36 meters and 40 meters to reach the sandy bottom looking for the docile leopard shark and large stingrays. Up above schooling great barracudas with tunas and trevallys darting down to catch the baitfish hanging around the reef. With a multitude of small creatures to look at try not to forget a look into the blue to see the manta rays gliding past and the occasional whale shark make Koh Tachai a spectacular dive site. Maximum depth 40 meter, strong current.
Richelieu Rock Richelieu Rock just breaks the surface at low tide and descends down to around 33 meters to the sandy bottom. The Northern side has an excellent wall with lots of cracks and holes for you to look inside. The wall is covered with coral and zig zag oysters where you can find over ten species of moray eels like the commonly spotted white eyed, giant, yellow edged, and bartail morays or the shy dragon, leopard, honeycomb and zebra morays.
The wall is also home to many species of shrimps from the cleaners, anemone, saron, squat and the colorful harlequin shrimps. The West side contains mostly soft corals and sea fans with ghost pipefish and tigertail sea horses hiding in between the branches. But its here where we all so encounter large schools of silver jacks and bluefin trevallys with chevron and great barracudas too.
Richelieu Rock is also home to the gentle giant the whale shark anywhere from 2 meter babys to 8 meter subadults. The walls seem to move with so much life or look closely at the camouflaged scorpion, stone and lionfishes that blend in to the rock. A truly spectacular dive site no matter what the visibility. Maximum depth 40 meter, slight to strong current.
We hope to see you scuba diving soon at the Similans, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, Richelieu Rock and Surin Islands.
|
|
WWW.DIVINGSIMILANS.EU
Phuket dash Scuba dot Com
53 Katekwan Road, Kata Beach, Phuket 83100
Tel./ Fax. +66 (0)76-284 580
24/7 Hotline +66 (0)80-0408805
info@divingsimilans.eu
skype seabeeskata
TAT/OTD-no. 34/00245
PADI 5-star divecenter S-6351
Your personal Similans Thailand scuba diving adviser
Similans Thailand Diving - Koh Bon Diving - Koh Tachai Diving - Richelieu Rock Diving - Phuket dash Scuba dot Com - Similan Islands Diving
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
