Wicked Diving Similan Islands, Thailand
We had just completed 9 dives in 3 days including a night dive in the Surin Islands just north of the Similan Islands and headed into the harbor for a Wicked Diving crew change and to let those off who had signed up for a three day-9 dive trip and pick up new guests. Four of us remained for the second three day-9 dive trip to the Similan Islands. I’m not going to go into detail about the boat because I did it in the last blog. This is more about the differences, what we saw and the experience.
For one thing the islands are more granite than limestone and boulders seen above waterline are identical to those below but obviously the flora and fauna and environment are very different. There are lots of narrow corridors and a few swim through spots about that are always fun. Our dive guide Nack is a young buck with one more year of high school to go. He was as comfortable under the water as he was above. He looked for anything and everything and landed us on some incredible sights. Cop Khun Cop.
I do have to mention that in the last four years of traveling about I hadn’t been with such a large group of Americans. There were at least 8 including myself. I hadn’t seen 7 Americans at the same time in years besides in the U.S. We did talk about our lovely political candidates. (Tongue in cheek). The rest of the guests and staff again were from all walks of life and everybody got on smashingly. The dive and boat staff was experienced and knowledgeable and willing to help out whenever however they could. Some short film clips coming, here's one below.
I do have to say ‘kudos’ to the kitchen crew and the Captain for another awesome trip. They were jovial and fun to chill with and my little Thai and their good English were enough to laugh together and constantly smile in passing. Again the food was phenomenal.
There were two trainees on board for Wicked Diving, both engaging and passionate about diving like the rest of us. Tom led the Wicked Diving introductions and every time I called him Thomas he thought his mother was coming after him. Each scuba dive session began with a pre-dive briefing, what to expect and what to look for while below. I can't take you below because the film files are too big but I'm working on a solution. Here's another shorty;
Join me in Khao Sok National Park
