Similan Liveaboard – Day 5

By Mark Milburn on 19 September 2008

It was our last day of diving on this trip. I remember having so many different feelings at once, I was feeling sad that it was our last day, I was looking forward to the last three dives, I had mentioned the sites I was interested in, and they happened to be the ones we were doing, I was looking forward to dry land, a decent nights sleep and real Thai food.

Deep Six

Another site covered by huge boulders. As we descended down the shotline our attention was immediately focused on another Zebra Shark resting on the bottom. We all made our way down to see it and take photo. We scouted around the other side of the rocks to a maximum depth of 42m before making our way round the boulders, going past areas encrusted with hard corals and sea fans, through shoals of surgeonfish, glassfish and all the usual reef fish.

Elephant Rock

Our penultimate dive was back on Elephant rock, this time we were going to navigate it in the opposite direction. We entered the water in the same place as our last time here, travelling in the opposite direction we were covering ground we hadn’t before. The boulders were huge, swimming at around 30m I was still 15m from the bottom, I was holding out in case something came along. In the distance, about 35m away I could see the outline of a large shark, I couldn’t tell what type of shark, I headed towards it camera at the ready. I wanted to get a photo before it got spooked, but it was too far away, and it soon started to move. I have since tried cleaning up the photo, it looks like a large black tip, but I can’t be sure. As we made our way around the boulders there were lots of fish waiting for their photo to be taken. Angel fish, Banner fish, Hawkfish, Lionfish, Orange-lined Triggerfish, Freckled Hawkfish, Harlequin (Andaman) Sweetlips and Oriental Sweetlips all queued up for a photo opportunity. A very rewarding dive, from a fish lovers point of view.

Boulder City

Our last dive. The most southerly of dive sites on the Similan islands, it is close to Islands 1,2 and 3 which you are not allowed to dive on, for various reasons, apparently there is a turtle breeding ground and the authorities are doing research into the recovery of the reefs after years of bad fishing methods i.e. Dynamite fishing. Another open site with no protection from the currents, we were advised to stay close to the rocks just in case. Once again as we descended we saw another Zebra Shark and headed over to take photos. We swam around the boulders which have a smattering of corals, a few sea fans and schools of surgeonfish. All of a sudden I was confronted by a Bump-head Parrotfish, it was huge, and also the first one I had ever seen, approximately one metre long, with a huge head. Time was flying, there was no shallow reefs to spend the last of our time and air. Dive over.

As soon as we got back on the boat, it started to make way towards the harbour at Chalong. It was going to be a long trip, we would arrive around 2am, but stay on the boat until morning. Our last nights sleep in the bunks with a small fan instead of air-con, our last night together and the last night on the water.

We were all up early in the morning, tea and toast, then the boat moored up along the quay, we all said goodbye to the crew and went ashore. The land was moving with the gentle motion of the water, or so it seemed, for several hours. The minibuses turned up and we all went our separate ways

Contact

Author: Mark Milburn
Email: info@travel-dive.com

Article Comments