Snap Similans Report

[Jonnie 0]

Snap Similans Report

 

January 2006 Phuket, Thailand

 

Keywords: SCUBA Diving, Thailand, Similan Islands, Live-Aboard, Andaman Dancer II

 

The following is a short report on my recent liveaboard dive-trip to the Similan islands. We were a single group of intermediate and advanced divers – both Thais and foreign expatriates resident in Thailand. We left from Tab Lamu (on the Thai mainland about 1 hour north of Phuket) and sailed to the Similan islands and Ko Bon and then returned to Tab Lamu. I dived 10 times during the 5 day trip. No diving was done at Ko Tachai or Richelieu Rock.

 

General Diving Conditions

 

Being it’s January, the weather conditions were not what I would call ideal. There was no rain or storm activity but most days had partly sunny skies, with scattered, and sometimes heavy, cloud cover. This reduced UW lighting and visibility to some extent and also took away the often bright and pretty UW vistas common to the Similans. Currents were minimal to moderate (where expected) and visibility was from 15m-25m. Water temperature at all sites was a constant 28°-29° Celsius. Diving was done to 30 meters at some sites and no thermoclines were encountered.

 

I have to say the marine life seen was unexceptional. In general, the sites seemed curiously devoid of the prolific fish life the area is known for and that I have seen in past years. [This was my 4th Similans liveaboard in 3 years, the last being in April 2005 (4 months post-tsunami).] All the sites had a smattering of the usual reef suspects but not much more. Few large schools of colourful fish (fusiliers, snappers, etc) were seen, although one decent sized barracuda tornado was observed. Several banded sea-snakes, a few morays, the odd mantis shrimp, and a single small hawksbill turtle were recorded in my dive-log. There areas famous prolific soft coral growth was also much less in evidence.

 

The Divesites

 

East Of Eden: Dived two times - generally considered one of the premiere Similans sites. Vis was recorded at 15-20 meters. Notables included a large giant moray and many large angelfish, including Emperor and Regal varieties, as well as striped-face unicorn fish.

 

West of Eden: Napoleon wrasse and many colourful gobies at around 10 meters, including Red-fire and Black-fin gobies.

 

Boulder City: A deep sandy site with massive boulder formations, similar to Elephant-head Rock. Good vis at 20-25 meters. Site known for leopard sharks but alas didn’t see any. Some open-water pelagics seen, including tuna, blue-fin trevelly, and the afore mentioned school of barracuda.

 

Deep 6: Again large boulders on a deep sandy bottom. Log-book notes this is where the Hawksbill turtle was seen.

 

Honeymoon Bay/Shipwreck: While I have dived the inner area of Honeymoon Bay before, this was my first time to the “shipwreck†located on the perimeter of the Bay. This is a fairly deep dive, with the large intact freighter lying on its side starting at about 30 meters. It appeared to be around 50-60 meters in length and was quite an impressive sight... lying in non-turbid waters making for an easy approach and inspection. There are swim-throughs present. The usual wreck-accompanying batfish were about, along with some lionfish and a moray. I didn’t get much information on this wreck’s history so maybe someone with more knowledge about it can post a reply. On the dive back from the wreck, there is a very impressive long wall of lettuce/cabbage hard coral, wherein some large groupers and a sea-snake were observed.

 

Elephant Head Rock: Another signature site at the Similans, but this time, not so impressive. Visibility was somewhat lower than at other visits at 12-15 meters and in any case, there was not much of interest to see. My log-book mentions nothing in particular except that the site seemed “washed-out.â€

 

Rocky Point – Island #9: No currents and vis at 15-20 meters. No prolific fish life but a Day octopus was seen. One interesting site was a rather large “common†scorpion fish “walking†along the sandy bottom by way of its pectoral fins. It seemed quite intent on getting from one rocky mount to another without having to put any effort into finning. This was a fairly deep sandy bottom site, ideal for some rays or sharks but again, none were seen.

 

Ko Bon: Two dives were done here, there were no currents, except around the point, where they are always present. Again I noted the relative dearth of marine life compared to previous years/visits. The deep sandy bottom off to the side of the wall is usually good for a shark sighting, and if one is really lucky possibly a whale shark or manta ray. There was to be no such luck this trip. The reef wall itself and the reef around the point are usually good for turtles too but none were seen. A couple morays, lionfish, sea-snakes, and a lobster had to suffice.

 

Conclusion

 

In general, all the sites visited seemed to have much less numbers and variety of marine life than on prior visits before the tsunami…I use the term “washed-out†to describe them. I don’t know if this has something to do with the after effects of the Great 2005 Tsunami or not. I know others have posted glowing recent reports on the Similans but my experience on this trip, and the one last April, is that possibly much of the local marine life was either washed away or washed ashore and has yet to make much of a recovery. Additional comment from those who have recently dived the Similans would be most interesting.

 

In fact, I would go so far as to advise those considering a Similans liveaboard trip to possibly consider other alternatives. There are many areas in SE Asia with great diving that were not in any way effected by the tsunami (Sipadan, Bali, Bunaken/Lembeh, and the Philippines to name a few), whereas the Similians were more or less directly in the path of one of its strongest radiating waves…the one that devastated the Kao Lak coastline of Thailand – just east of the Similans. These are strong words and as much as I want to support the Thai diving industry I also want readers of this forum, and those contemplating an expensive dive trip to the Similans, to have the benefit of some objective observations of current conditions there. It’s possible that mine views are a minority opinion or that maybe I just had bad “fish†luck on this trip (but at every site/dive on both this trip and last April’s...seems to be a pattern).

 

In any case, from reading this report and those of others, readers can draw their own conclusions.

[Arnon_Ayal 1]

Not good news but thanks for the detailed report, a friend of me is planning to go there in two months, I'll point him to here.

[Ron Boyes 0]

This is not good news - I will be on Ocean Rover Jan 16-26 and will give an updated report on my return.

 

I was on this boat last August and the fish life and soft coral was more than reasonable.

[ssra30 0]

I was in the Similans in November 2005 and my thought was quite similar. However, I had never been all that impressed with the Similans as far as fish is concerned. It still has very nice soft coral formations, occasional turtles, lots of blue spot ray. Sometimes lots of generic fish sometimes not so much. Macro life is pretty boring usually.

Overall, may be a bit less fishlife than what I saw in November and April 2003 but not really significantly worse. Richeliue was much better, more macro life, schooling jacks and barracudas, manta at Tachai island this past November.

[FishHunter 0]

Just come back from there diving with South Siam over christmas. This is my second visit to the Similans and it is true that the sites were affected by the Tsunami. If you look real close you can where some Gorgonians have been cemented in place! They are usually marked with a tag.

We also dived Richeleau on this trip and I can say that was fantastic, despite the relatively poor vis we encountered.

After our trip to the Similans we headed down to Phi Phi and dived Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. These appeared to be completely unaffected and are teaming with life including regular Manta visits every other day. And yes we were some of the fortunate few to see the mythical Manta. I'll post some photos when I get round to it.

[stewsmith 14]

not very good to hear. i am in the process of booking a lieaboard to go back in 07...maybe i will go to sipadan instead.