The crew are very enthusiastic. Even at 7am when they are walking around the
boat shouting ‘Gooooood morning everybody!
It’s a beautiful day here in the Similan Islands. Let’s go diiiviiinnnggg!’ You get the idea. No-one’s getting to sleep
in. But why would you want to when
you’ve paid for the opportunity to dive on some amazing sites in the middle of
the Andaman Sea?!
I’m not going to go into detail about every single one of
our eleven dives, but for each one we congregated on the main living deck for a
specific briefing (above). This included
being shown a map of the dive site, being told the depths and possible currents
we would experience and what we may hope to see in different areas and coral
formations. After that, we were split
into two main groups to avoid overcrowding on the dive deck as we all got
kitted out. As we were with Kate, the
tour leader, we got to go in group one and this turned out to be a benefit, not
only because we got to see stuff first before it may have swum away or been
frightened off, but it also meant we were back on the boat first for drinks,
snacks, chill-out time and use of the limited showers at the end of the day!
So, our first experience at the Similan Islands was at a
site called ‘West of Eden’ and we got going in fine style, seeing TWO turtles
on our first dive. One of them was as we
descended at the beginning of the dive and it was HUGE! The dive also
introduced us to the geology at the Similan Islands. The underwater topography tends to be a
combination of large boulders towering out of the sand and coral bommies. Beautiful scenery even if it
wasn’t covered in life as well!
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| A very relaxed turtle |
 |
| Boulders covered in life |
Having towel-dried and returned to the main deck it was time
for breakfast. We were not in danger of
starving on this trip. Full breakfast
including chips, sausage, bacon, eggs, salad, toast, fruit and cereal started
us off each day! Having been out of the
water for approaching two hours it was on to the next briefing for a site
called ‘Deep six’. The underwater topography got even better for this dive with
numerous opportunities called ‘swim-throughs’.
As the name suggests, these are naturally formed gaps in the boulders
which are large enough for us to swim through.
The benefits being that the changes in light make the coral formations
look even prettier but also gives divers the opportunity to look for
the creatures that are undoubtedly using the rocks as a hiding place. You regularly find bigger and more exciting
reef life hiding in the shadows in these kinds of places:
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| Can we really fit through that gap?! |
 |
| Beautiful coral formations along a steep wall |
After lunch and a briefing it was a very important moment
for me. I was about to undertake my 100th
dive ever. Thanks to keeping detailed
records of every single dive I have done since 1997 (including an 8-year gap
between 2000 and 2008) I was able to confirm this milestone. Sadly, there is a rumour that it is traditional
for divers on reaching their 100th dive to do it totally
NAKED!! So, of course, Simon had
mentioned to the crew that this was my centenary dive! The dive guides had stories of people who
took this tradition a little too seriously and went through with it, but I had
no intention of inflicting that on our dive group. Plus, I feel the cold and
was wearing a shortie wetsuit on every dive, so there was no way I was going to
be embarrassing myself doing that. Far
better, we would have a memorable dive at Elephant Head Rock. And we did, seeing two white-tip reef sharks,
a giant barracuda, a Kuhl’s stingray which we have never seen before and an
octopus. An awesome way for
me to celebrate.
 |
| Trigger fish |
 |
| Lion fish |
 |
| Fan coral |
 |
| Large tuna cruise past overhead |
Then, it was time to hit the beach. We were taken ashore by dinghy to Donald Duck
Bay. A terrible name for a stunning bay,
only named as such due to a vaguely duck-shaped rock there! We took a short but scarily steep at times
walk, to the viewpoint to appreciate these views:
 |
| Our dive crew... |
After which, we needed a swim to cool off as
we watched some of the local wildlife like herons and crabs.
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| We'd been out of the water for at least an hour... it was time for a swim! |
 |
| Waiting for sunset so we could go diving again.... |
We were not so pushed for time today because the fourth dive
was a night dive within the bay itself.
Each provided with our own personal torch for the dive we were briefed
and off we went. It is incredible how different the underwater world looks and
feels at night. The light from your
torch reflects the red eyes of countless shrimp and crabs hiding within the
rocks and coral. Sadly, my
underwater camera skills are definitely lacking and the torchlight made most of
the life we saw too bright in the images we took:
Back on board our work was not done for the day. In order to become certified as safe nitrox
divers we had to watch a DVD, read a booklet, answer some questions and even
pass an official exam. After a shower
and another large tasty meal (somehow created in a tiny galley on the dive
deck) we had to force ourselves to get through the literature and fill in the
question sheet. We had all used normal
air on the night dive because it was a shallower and shorter dive than the rest
today. I will blame the normal air, with
its pathetic 21% oxygen, for leaving me feeling exhausted and with a head ache
at the end of day one! We turned in,
hoping for a better night’s sleep than last night as we would be stationary and
we would be woken up at six am tomorrow, no lie-in till 7!
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