Route Description - 4 Day / 4 Night – Similan Island & Richelieu Rock Cruise
With the 4 Days / 4 Nights MV Giamani Thailand Liveaboard Cruise divers will enjoy world-class Similan Islands diving and the islands further north. MV Giamani departs on Sunday afternoon and cruises straight to the Similan Islands, ready to dive there the next morning. On Monday we do four dives at the best Similan dive sites. On Tuesday again four dives, this time between the amazing dive sites of Koh Bon & Koh Tachai, two islands north of the Similan Archipelago. One more dive at Tachai (it’s too good!) on Wednesday morning and then off we go for 3 dives at the LEGENDARY Richelieu Rock! In the evening of the same day MV Giamani cruises towards Khao Lak (mainland), where the boat will stay for the night, ready for the next day of diving. In the morning of Thursday divers will enjoy 2 dives at some great Khao Lak Wrecks and then cruise all the way to Phuket Chalong Pier where, sadly, this unforgettable cruise comes to an end. See the full itinererary below…
4 Days / 4 Nights – Liveaboard departure every Sunday evening
SUNDAY – Welcome on board as we depart for the Similan Islands, cruising around the coast of southern Phuket while enjoying a Thai buffet dinner.
MONDAY
Wake up in the tropical paradise of the Similan National Park. The first dive of the day begins at 8am on Anita’s Reef (Similan #5 – Koh Ha), a nice and easy drift dive to start the trip – the perfect check dive for you and your equipment. After a healthy breakfast we have chill time until our second dive at about 11:30am at West of Eden (Similan #7 – Koh Pabu) , a unique blend of soft and hard coral beds and huge boulders followed by lunch. At around 3pm you’ll be dropping in on the Giant boulder site of Elephant Head Rock (Hin Pusa). Snacks will be served after the dive and there will be a chance of a late afternoon to visit to Koh Similan to see the beach and view point. Dive number four will be a night dive (7pm) usually in Donald Duck Bay (Ao Guerk). Stay onboard overnight in one of the secluded bays. Relax and watch a film or read a book.
TUESDAY
Your wake up call for the second day will be the boat leaving the Similan Islands for Koh Bon. Dive numbers five (7:30 am) and six(11am) will be on Koh Bon Pinnacle and Koh Bon West Ridge – the current will decide the dive order as a mild or slack current is needed for the Pinnacle (keep fingers tightly crossed for Manta Rays here!!). For dive number seven Giamani will move north to Koh Tachai with the third dive of the day (2:30pm) being on Koh Tachai Pinnacle (another chance for Mantas!). On Koh Tachai we have another chance for a beach visit followed by a sunset dive (6pm) on either the eastern or western reef of Ko Tachai depending on the prevailing wind. Again you stay onboard overnight (at Koh Tachai) while relaxing with dinner, a movie or a book and a game of ‘what did I see today’ while filling in the all important logbook.
WEDNESDAY
Dive number nine will be on Ko Tachai Pinnacle, being first dive of the day this allows you to go to some of the deeper areas which you didn’t get to see on Tuesday. Then off to the Jewel in our crown – Richelieu Rock for dives ten and eleven. Dive number twelve will be a sunset dive at Richelieu Rock unless the weather/sea conditions poor or you’re bored of Richelieu Rock (yeah – like that’ll happen) in which case we’ll make a late night dive (7:30-8pm, whenever we arrive) at The Boonsung Wreck. Either way you will then travel back south towards Khao Lak where Giamani will overnight.
THURSDAY
A slightly earlier start on the last day of your Similan Liveaboard safari. Today (7am) on a rarely dived wreck “The Teak Wreck” (MV Sea Chart) which is a steel haulage vessel that sank in August 2009 carrying 1,200 logs of Burmese Teak. Dive number 14 (9:30 am) will be on the Naiyak Wreck (“Condreco”) a lovely macro life site close out the diving. Once everyone is back onboard we start the gentle cruise back to Chalong Bay allowing enough time to clean and even dry your dive gear, pack your bags, fill in your log books swap e-mails and even do some more hard core relaxing on the sun deck. Disembarkation at Chalong Bay is usually around 5pm.