Similan Islands... 15 dives in 3 days!!

Ewa and Chad, about 20m below the suface!

Just 84 km northwest of Phuket's Patong Beach lies a gateway to another world. Koh Similan is one of the best-known island groups in the Andaman Sea, largely because of the wonders that wait beneath the clear blue waters that surround it. Generally counted among the 10 most interesting dive areas in the world, this little archipelago has also become a favourite destination for yachts, tours and divers. "Similan" is derived from the Malay sembilan, and means "nine". Each of the Similan Islands has a number as well as a name.

The conditions for coral growth are ideal, with a minimum sea temperature of about 28oC and exceptionally clear waters. More than 200 species of hard coral alone have so far been identified in this area and these islands have the greatest concentration of reef fish in Thai waters. We’ve read that there's more variety in the Similans in terms of sea life and bottom topography than you'll find in most other dive destinations around the world. The Similans have almost everything - coral walls, big rocks, huge sea fans and barrel sponges, caves, and swim-throughs (we did some, it was amazing - and scary!). We did our live aboard with West Coast Divers in Patong because Dave recommended it and we trust his judgement (most of the time). There are so many dive shops to choose from it becomes a huge hassle just to make a choice since you never know what you’re going to get and it takes a while to go to each dive shop and talk to the people there.

More tropical fish from the Similans!

The trip started on November 20th, Ewa’s Birthday. We left the dive shop at 5pm and arrived at the boat at 8pm and did a debriefing as to how the diving would be organised. We were doing our Advanced Open Water Certification so we had to complete a number of dives including a Deep Dive (down to 30meters), a Navigation Dive and a Night Dive. Ewa was a bit freaked out about the deep dive because she didn’t feel comfortable diving deep but she thought what the hell, one dive is doable. That was until Andy the dive instructor told everyone who was on the boat (there were only 6 of us) that whoever was doing the Advanced Open Water Certification would have to do the deep dive first thing in the morning! Now she was freaked out. Andy gave us our text books and that was that. Everyone started mingling and chatting and dinner was served. We bought a bottle of wine on Koh Tao and saved it for Ewas birthday. Wine in Asia is pretty expensive since it is heavily taxed and imported. You would think that since Thailand is close to Australia…one of the biggest wine makers in the WORLD…that it would be reasonably priced…but you would be wrong! During dinner Chad made an announcement that it was Ewa’s birthday…and everyone wished her a happy birthday, it was nice. Not even 10 minutes later the chef came up from the kitchen area below and had a small brownie birthday cake for Ewa with candles on it and everything! The lights went out and everyone sang her Happy Birthday, she really appreciated it. We found out later that once they heard it was her birthday, they ran to the store and bought the cake and candles since we were still docked, it was very sweet of them!

NEMO!

The next 3 days were filled with diving and sleeping. We did 5 dives the first day! The deep dive was great - the water was so clear that you couldn’t even tell the difference between being at 12 meters or 30! We sat on the sandy bottom at 30 meters and watched as Andy showed us a coca cola can that now looked brown at this depth rather than red. When you go deeper under water different colors from the natural light are absorbed the deeper you go and colors like red are the first to disappear. We didn’t stay at 30 meters for long, since the deeper you are the more oxygen you use up. There was a slight pressure Ewa felt in her chest which is also normal when you go to this depth but other than that it was just like diving at any other depth we have been to before. We slowly worked our way up to a more comfortable depth and just did a fun dive for the remainder. Diving in this area has been the best diving we have done so far. The water is so clear, there are hundreds of types of fish around, its just simply amazing. No matter where you turn you see schools of fish, an abundance of coral and we were fortunate because most of the time we had the dive site to ourselves. The rest of the dives for this day were just fun dives. We had to complete a night dive and a navigation dive in order to get our certification. While we were on the boat we decided to a few specialties as well: AWARE Fish Id and the Boat Dive.

Leopard Shark

On the second day we completed the Navigation part of the certification which was a lot of fun for us. When you dive more frequently you realize quite quickly that there is a real problem with communication under water. Things that you want to share with your diving buddy (Chad and Ewa are diving buddies - you never dive alone) can become a frustrating guessing game underwater. The regular symbols underwater are very basic things like: go up, go down, I’m out of air(pretty important one) are helpful but not enough. So during the Navigation dive we were given two underwater compasses and had to navigate underwater a straight line, a square for a given distance and a route using only landmarks underwater. The fun part about this was that one person was paying attention to the compass (obviously Chad!) and the other person (Ewa) was counting fin strokes because that is how you judge distance underwater. For the square route we had to end up within 5 meters of our instructor when we got back to him, we passed! It was fun doing it together even though Chad really needed to trust Ewa a little more when it came to being accurate with the distance haha.

Turtles!

The next obstacle in our certification was done that same evening, our first night dive! Night diving is truly an totally different experience. You get a torch (flashlight) to use while you are under water and diving in the complete darkness. It is a strange sensation to say the least. In the dark, the underwater environment seems even more so as a very different unexplored territory. Different creatures come out of their holes at night, different plant life blooms and it feels like you are truly on the moon. Since there is no sunlight to brighten up the environment you see a lot more grey in the sand and on the bottom, but because you have a torch the colors once you shine your light on something are so much more vivid and bright. Part of the night dive was also night navigation. Freaky! Separating from the instructor in the dark, honestly at times you feel like you’re five years old again and someone turned off your night light and you’re freaking out! We completed our underwater navigation without a glitch and even experienced bioluminescence underwater…pretty damn cool.

Studying for our advanced open water certification

Being on the boat for 4 days straight we were quite surprised how quickly time went and at the same time how much diving we did. It was hectic at times and very tiring. Ewa was also pre-fasting during the trip so she wasn’t eating any meat and “trying” to eat as best she could, it wasn’t easy. Once we got off the boat and came back to Patong we were exhausted. It has been a long time that we have been so physically drained. Sleeping on the boat was a bit frustrating at times since we are not used to the rocking, the noises and diving so often, so we were quite sleep deprived as well. For the next few days we were intoxicated….with nitrogen ahha. Nothing made sense, sheer exhaustion, no energy, it was interesting. We got back to Patong on the 24th and Ewa was leaving on her detox retreat on the morning of November 28th for a week long fast. Chad has one more day and night before he leaves to go to his Buddhist Silent Retreat for 10 days. We have not been apart this entire trip. The last seven months has been spent in true Honeymoon fashion- together 24/7! This is going to be a very interesting time for both of us. We have the opportunity to take time and reflect on all that has happened and really sit and think on our own what it is that we want from each other but especially from ourselves.

written by

ECRadventure on November 24, 2009 from Similan Islands, Thailand

from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog

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