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Published: November 27th 2006
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Well can words describe this place we have been to and what we saw? I will do my best!
The Similan Islands are off the South West Coast of Thailand. 'Similan' means 9 in Malay. Not 100% too sure in Thai what it means but I think it could be 8, because this is the largest island of the 9 and is actually named 'Similan' so it might be the case. Anyway, we booked on a snorkelling and free diving boat for 3 days (Poseidon Adventures), sleeping on the boat for 2 nights. In total there were about 18 of us, comprising of Swedes, Germans, Americans, English and 2 Czechs. There were 4 crew members aboard and 2 from the company 'Poseidon '. The company is a swedish company but everyone talked in English so it wasn't a problem.
Living on board wasn't a problem at all. Everyone was very friendly and helped each other. The bunk bed cabins were roomy enough and comfortable and the food was excellent. In fact it was like eating at a restaurant for every meal. Lovely seafood, curries and breakfasts fuelled you up for the snorkelling and free diving we did throughout the
day.
All packed we set off Friday Morning and had a briefing over breakfast. We told that Manta Ray's had been seen at a different island (not one of the similan islands) and were asked if we wanted to go and check them out. Usually Manta Rays appear around January and even then it is a rarity to see one. Marcus our guide had only ever seen one in 4 years and he was out on the boat almost everyday. We all agreed that we wanted to see a Manta Ray so the search was on!. It was only an extra hour or so away from the Similan Islands so it didn't matter to much in terms of time. Unfortunately we didn't see one but we got our first taste of the coral and tropical fish that we would be seeing on the trip.
The photos we have included (and we have loads) were taken by Marcus our guide. He had a decent camera and was able to capture most of what we saw. We are waiting to get our film developed but I doubt they will be as good as we had no flash on our camera.
Anyway, it truly was spectacular. The vivid colours, the diversity of the fish was unbelivable. We found nemo a few times with some of his friends 😉
Charlotte also saw a shark. She only managed to get a glimpse of his tail before she swam at full speed back to the boat. I had swam off at this point looking for 'Nemo'.
The sea turtle (see pic) was swimming next to our boat and Charlotte and Marcus dived in to swim with her. I unfortunately, was up on the boat so didn't have time to get down and get my flippers and snorkel on. On the last day we were taken to a private part of Island No. 1 where some of the Thai Navy are stationed. There is a Sea Turtle hatchery and their job is to protect and make sure that all the newly hatched turtles make it safely to the sea.
As we were setting off back home we were rewarded with a rare sighting of the 'Manta Ray'. It swam alongside the boat . Everyone dived and and managed to swim and get a glimpse of this truly wonderful animal. They grow to about
4 metres (wingspan). This one must have been pushing about 3 metres at least. I didn't have the camera with me when I dived in.
Again Marcus was around to capture it and managed to get a pretty decent picture. It's funny to think that many divers to not get the chance to see a Manta and we were only snorkellers.
The beaches on the Similan Islands are what I would call paradise. Like an old Bounty advert.
Turquoise waters and sand like vanilla ice-cream. In the evening we would moor in one of the bays and watch the sun go down. I will stop now because I definitely could go on.
Unfortunately we never managed to do some diving but to be honest I don't think we can complain. As I said we have loads of pictures and a few movies of our trip that Marcus put on to a CD so i can't wait to show people this!
My final last words before we head back to 'Central Thailand' later today is that if you are ever in Thailand then get yourself aboard the Poseidon boat and do a live aboard trip around the Similan
Islands. What a time we have had!
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Nous revenons de 3 jours de pur bonheur passe parmis tous ces poissons tropicaux, ces differentes varietes de corail et autres plus gros specimen. On a embarque sur le bateau de la companie Suedoise Poseidon qui est assez reputee dans le coin pour etre la seule a proposer un tour de Snorkling (masque et tuba) de 3 jours au iles Similans (un groupe de 9 iles au large de Khao Lak). Au depart on etait motive pour faire une journee de plongee mais les iles Similans sont a 60 km de la cote et il est plus judicieux d'y aller au moins pour quelques jours. Bref nous voila parti avec Poseidon et 17 autres participants venus d'un peu partout.
Jamais j'aurais pu croire qu'il etait possible de voir autant avec seulement masque et tuba. Incroyable. Les photos sont celles de Marcus notre guide qui avait un meilleur appareil photo que le notre et du coup a ete capable de prendre ces superbes photos. Donc on a eu le plaisir de nager avec une tortue, une raie Manta (incroyable on etait en train de naviguer entre deux iles quand soudain
le capitaine crit 'Raie Manta', et la on voit cette enorme masse noire dans l'eau. En deux temps 3 mouvements tout le monde avait saute dans l'eau!), impressionnant baracoudas et pour ma part un requin! J'etait en train de regagner la plage toute seule quand tout a coup je vois cette forme familiere au loin que l'on reconnait en 2 secondes. Il nageait perpendiculairement a moi du coup je ne pense pas qu'il m'ait vu en tout cas je ne lui en ait pas laisse le temps! Bien que Marcu n'ait pas arrete de nous dire qu'ils etaient inoffensifs je ne me suis pas attardee une seconde, j'ai fait demi tour sec direction le bateau avec le coeur qui batait a 100 a l'heure. Inutile de dire qu'apres ca j'ai toujours fait en sorte de rester a cote de James. En tout cas si vous venez an Thailand c'est vraiment quelque chose a ne surtout pas rater. Ca coute 6900 Baht/ personne donc vraiment pas la ruine quand on compart les croisiere plongee. Et honnetement je ne pense pas qu'il est vu beaucoup plus que nous. Mais en tout cas ca m'a donne envie de tester la plonge une prochaine
fois...peut-etre en Australie.
On part ce soir pour Bangkok. On en a assez de la mer. En plus ou qu'on aille on ne retrouvera pas un coin aussi beau, des plages aussi belles que celles des Iles Similans. Et puis on a envie de voir un peu du pays. On a bien aime notre vadrouille dans le coin de Krabi et de Trang et c'est finalement en voyagant qu'on decouvre le mieux le pays.
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anonymous
non-member comment
james the calender pic for november looks like someone whos trying to swim but doesnt know where they are going. glad your having a good time though, cool pictures of nemo