Christmas in the Similans

They never did weigh my bag at the airport so I don't actually know how heavy it is. I have a feeling that with all that scuba gear, it may be a few kilograms heavier than the 22 kg allowed. That doesn't include my carry on with my laptop and books and other heavy stuff. So when I walked down to the main road in Patong to catch the bus to Phuket and one drove by just as I was getting there I didn't really think about trying to catch up with the bus despite the slow traffic. Then a couple of Thai men started to shout at me, "Running, running!" I guess they figured I could catch the bus if I ran. So I did. I caught up with the bus, however it made for a very sweaty start to the day. In Phuket I worked up some more sweat as I walked from the local bus station to the long distance bus station to catch a bus to Khao Lak. What a different atmosphere compared to Patong! Khao Lak is a newer resort area and the main reason it developed was because of its proximity to the diving in the Similan Islands. Most of the liveaboards leave from here and you can also get a day boat there as well. When you walk down the street you only occasionally hear a shout of "taxi" and only once in a 15 minute walk does someone try to get you to come into their shop. I even went into a few shops and wondered why there was nobody around to help me. In Patong they hound you from halfway down the street! Definitely a much more chilled out place. But since I was getting on the boat within a couple hours of arriving in town I didn't do much except get myself sorted for the trip by paying the balance and stocking up on a few treats.

Similan Diving Safaris was recommended to me by a fellow Edmonton diver who I have never actually met but who I have become virtual dive buddies with online. (Thanks Karen!! Great tip!) As people started arriving at the dive centre, I started to chat with people from all over the world, the strangers who I would be spending my Christmas at sea with. There were some couples, some solo travellers like me, and even a father and son. It turned out to be a very good mix of people. This was fortunate, since between the paying divers, the dive staff and the Thai crew, there was 37 people sharing 3 bathrooms on board. Yikes! Oddly we managed very well. I never had to dance around for more than a minute or two after a dive before I was able to get into the toilet. Compared to the previous liveaboard where I had a cabin all to myself, this time I was sharing with 3 others. I literally had to fall in and out of my bottom bunk. I was blessed with good bunkmates and it was probably me who was the annoying one with the odd coughing fit during the night. Unfortunately my sinuses and chest infection are still hanging on and were a bit of a nuisance on the dive trip. Once again I was able to equalize with the help of pharmaceuticals, but coughing underwater is no fun at all!

I was put in a group with Scott as our guide. Vicky and Richard from England were a buddy pair and I was buddied up with a guy named Chris from Germany. I couldn't have asked for a better guide! Scotty was fantastic. Not only because he bought us all Santa hats to wear diving on Christmas Day but also because he has an amazing eye for finding creatures. Unfortunately on this trip we did better with the small stuff than the big. We never found any leopard sharks although Scott did his best to find them on the dive sites where they might be hanging around. We did see a few white tips which is a bit unusual apparently. In my usual record of bad luck, there was one manta ray spotted on the trip and of course most of the groups saw it, but mine did not. We were on the wrong side of a huge boulder looking for leopard sharks and missed it entirely. My Christmas wish for a whale shark wasn't granted either. However, we did do quite well with things like octopus, cuttlefish (even saw some mating!), eels, turtles, seahorses, ghost pipefish, and more crazy cool nudibranchs than you could imagine. The Similans were fabulous, but Richelieu Rock was outstanding. We did 4 dives there, including a night dive which is rarely done. We lucked out with the weather so were able to stay. There is an unbelievable amount of life on Richelieu Rock. That also means quite strong currents. The fish are literally swirling around your head. So much fun!

We had the chance to go ashore a couple times in the Similans which I took advantage of. The first time was to a beautiful beach. We also walked across to the other side of the island to check out the beach there. The second place we stopped had a hike you could do up to a viewpoint. Hike may not be the right word. It involved climbing on boulders with ladders and ropes mostly. A couple people chickened out and turned back. The views were well worth it from the top though! Absolutely stunning. There was even a baby manta ray swimming around in the bay which you could see from up there. Very cool.

Besides the diving, the liveaboard provided plenty of time for relaxing, reading, and chatting with fellow divers. There is always the joke that all you do is dive, eat, sleep and repeat. And it's pretty much true. I only had a nap one day but many people did it quite routinely between dives. I was actually far more tired on this trip than the last one. Not sure if that is because I was sicker or if it was because on the first trip I did half of my dives on Nitrox. It was pretty typical for the eating/lounge area to clear out by 9:30-10:00 since we were waking up at 6:30 to dive. One night I think I managed 11:30 and two beers. Party animal!

After four days of paradise at sea it was time to depart the MV Dolphin Queen. A few people had buses to catch for onward travels but most of us, along with some dive staff headed out for dinner and then on to a place called the Happy Snapper for drinks. I have now spent two days being lazy in Khao Lak trying to rest my body and recover from the illness which has been with me for 10 days now. Tomorrow it is time to move on. I will take a bus north to Ranong and then a ferry over to the island of Koh Chang. I hear it is a very unspoiled and basic island. I will have a couple days of relaxing on the beach before tackling more adventure.