We took a flight by ThaiAir down to Bangkok and on to Phuket. We stayed in Patong at a not so nice hotel. (emerald or something) We stayed for 2 days price 1000bath/night, order hotel before you go if you can it will be much cheaper and probably better. We had ordered the liveaboard trip to Similian from Sweden. It was with Jonathan Cruiser, which has a Swedish owner and two excellent divemasters. One with over 3000 dives and the other over 1500 (very good looking women, about 30 years old). They had two trips a week , one to Hin Daeng and the other to Similian. The price then was about 500 US $ with rental of full equipment, either trip. 4days liveaboard with food and everything, but soda (10 bath)or beer(40 bath).
The diving is among the top ten in the world. It is often drifty and you should be very fit to dive here. In one of the dives we experienced something very scary. We were told to stay above 24 meters and at about 18 meters we could see a underwater tornado coming towards us. The front divers turned sharply to the right and avoided to tornado. It was about 5 meters wide. But I wasnīt as lucky swimming on the far left side. I was swepped away and got a real chock for the water temperature must have been 10-15 degrees colder inside the tornado. At first I didnīt know what was up or down. But after what I that was for ever I came out of the worst and could finally see my friend Matsīs fins disappearing behind a rock 20 meters ahead. I swam like crazy and me heart made 250 bpm easy. But we went on and after 5 min it felt ok. We came to an area of rocks covered in the biggest fan corals I have ever seen. And big chimney looking corals where fish hide inside. On the way back we had to struggle against the current and my friend had a complete air stop but fortunately he found a buddy hanging in a rope waiting for decompression and used his octopus. This was an extreme dive the rest was much easier. I do not want to scare you of. This place is one of the most beautiful in the world even if you donīt dive. As my photos will show. One tip though is have a really fat cream for your feet. Because you are wet most of the time and the decks on the boat is always wet. Your feet need protection against the moist. My feet ached like hell after three days. And bring something antiseptic for coral scrape wounds, they are easily inflamed from corals who have poison. We went here from Phuket at night and on the morning when I looked out the window there was sparkling blue water and I could see the bottom at 25 meters. And just then the crew throw the garbage over board and scolds of fish came to feast.
The day after we came home from the trip to Similian we had ordered a trip with a local travel arranger to Phi-phi islands. The trip over was rough, so take a pill, but ones there we had a wonderful time. We took a dive trip to a nearby island and saw lots of leopard sharks. Take a trip with a bigger boat not one of the local fishing boats. If the sea gets rough you don't want to be on a small boat with lots of sick people. I can highly recommend coming here, if you visit Phuket or Krabi donīt miss Phi-phi. Nice night life and the scenery is excellent. Great beach on the north-west side, which turns in to a soccer field when the tides go out. At about 5 aīclock p.m. You are invited to play with the locals. The trip here was cheap and accommodation about 400bath/night. The diving was about 1000bath for two dives with full gear.
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