On Saturday 24th October the Dolphin Queen set off for trip no.3 of the season departing from Tap Lamu pier with its thai traditional departing display of fire crackers. The display is believed to scare away the evil spirits and the bad weather.
Day 2 started with a normal deep dive at Christmas point which bought some cold water (27 degrees) but excellent visibility. After breakfast and more beach time we went to north point and enjoyed a great dive. After the dive more food and off to the famous Koh Bon commonly known for its mantas where we did several dives. 
On behalf of the Similan Diving Safaris and I would like to say a huge thank you to all our customers who helped, and to some degree sacrificed several dives in order to help clean up one of the most beautiful dive sites in the Similan islands. Your work was very much appreciated.
Day 4 bought an early morning dive atRichelieu rock which at the moment I can only describe as “Fish Soup” at the moment. A nice way to start the last day before moving closer to land and the Boonsung wreck! After the dive we cruised down the beach front of Ban Sak and Khao Lak before arriving back at Tap Lamu pier.
Once we arrived at the Similan islands we moored the boat up close to island number 4 ready for the morning dive. We were treated to an amazing sunrise coming up from behind mainland. During the trip out we also bought some of the rangers who are getting ready for the coming busy period.
During day 1 we were again greeted with great visibility (25+m) and equally great dives at Anitas Reef, East of Eden and Elephant Head rock and night dive at beacon reef where customers saw turtles, White Tip Reef sharks, Leopard sharks, Rare nudibranch to name a few and a lot of fish action. During the day we also went to the beach for some Frisbee and for some a sleep??? After the night we settled down for an excellent thai curry, soup, fish and vegetables in a buffet style dinner. Delicious...! Then everyone went up to the top deck and watch the nice display of stars and shooting stars.
Day 2 started with a normal deep dive at Christmas point which bought some cold water (27 degrees) but excellent visibility. After breakfast and more beach time we went to north point and enjoyed a great dive. After the dive more food and off to the famous Koh Bon commonly known for its mantas where we did several dives.
Day 3 bought us great fun and some challenges. With the morning dive at Koh Bon Pinnacle it was an excellent start to the days diving, which yielded leopard sharks and many small critters along the way. We then moved further north to Koh Tachai.
During the first dive on the Plateau we again discovered fishing nets but to our amazement it was even more than we once thought covering a lot of the northern and east side of the dive site at about 20-25m and much more deeper. During the first dive most groups all worked together to help clear as much as they could possibly collect with the instructors and even the captain organising things. Slowly and delicately they untangled the net from both hard and soft corals. The deeper we got into the net the more marine life we discovered was still actually living within the corals. Things like Small damsel fish, flatworms, crabs and the most effected murex shells all fighting to stay alive. On one part of the net we even discovered a dead moray eel about a metre in length. Not good..!
After the first dive we asked all the customers if they would like to dive the same site again in order to try and collect more of the nets. All our customers were more than keen to help and it actually turned in more like a reef cleanup with everyone going down armed with cutting tools, lift bags and crates to help send to the surface, where the dingy and liveaboard boat were waiting. Working together to hold the nets out of the way roughly 70-80m of net was collected, which in any terms is a great effort by everyone.
During the night everyone was greeted with an amazing slide show of pictures which really showed the true extent of the work that was completed and how well everyone worked together. The pictures from of the clean up can be viewed on www.arewedreaming.com.
On behalf of the Similan Diving Safaris and I would like to say a huge thank you to all our customers who helped, and to some degree sacrificed several dives in order to help clean up one of the most beautiful dive sites in the Similan islands. Your work was very much appreciated.
Day 4 bought an early morning dive at
Once we arrived back at Similan Diving Safaris shop in Khao Lak everyone went back for a shower and change of clothes before meeting up in the evening for food and a few drinks.
All in all it was a very entertaining trip with very nice customers who were a pleasure to dive with.
And as a final note I would again like to say a big thank you to everyone who participated in the cleanup because without your help it would certainly not have been possible.
Thank you and we hope you all enjoyed the trip.!
