2019-2020 Similan Islands Mid-Season Review
The 2019-2020 scuba diving season at Thailand’s Similan Islands is officially half way through. We have had 3.5 months of awesome diving and wonderful guests, and we look forward to 3.5 more months of the same. So far the big news this season is the huge amount of cartilaginous species, including Whale Sharks, Manta Rays, Guitar Sharks and more! The cold water temperature has also raised a few eyebrows, but we feel that is what’s bringing so much interesting marine life nearer to the surface. And finally, the Chinese coronavirus has caused some people to worry unnecessarily. There are no problems with any guests or staff so far, and we don’t expect any to arise. It’s been a great season so far, and long may it continue.
In September our team flew down to Khao Lak to visit as many dive centres and liveaboard diving boats as possible. There are several reasons that we like to do this, including meeting the teams ahead of the new season, and checking the progress of the boats’ renovations & preparations. We are proud to be the only agent who makes the effort to visit the teams who work so hard for us throughout the busy diving season. We feel that our visits go a long way to helping us become and remain the best Similan Islands scuba diving agent not just in Thailand, but in the world.
The 2018-2019 Similan Islands scuba diving season has come to an end, and it was quite eventful! A lot happened in the last 12 months. Some of it was challenging, but most of it involved lots of very happy divers! The season began with the introduction of two new sets of regulations. One was to protect the personal data of our European website visitors, and the other to help protect the fragile eco-system of the Similan Islands’ National Marine Park. And the season ended with Thailand’s dive exhibition (TDEX), But there was lots to report in between.
We often get invited to join trips on the many Similan liveaboard boats that we offer to our guests. However, it’s not always easy or possible, mainly because the only divers in our company make up our reservations team. Therefore, going offline for more than 24 hours can cause problems. But in March 2018, the Thai school holidays and quiet few days, we managed to hop on board MV Lapat for four days & nights of action-packed fun.
From March 13th 2018 we have a new Camic weekly schedule at Richelieu Rock, Koh Tachai & Koh Bon, plus Sundays at The Similan Islands. The schedule has been changed due to the popularity of the northern dive sites, in particular Richelieu Rock. In addition, Camic’s transfer speedboat will now depart from and return to Baan Nam Khem Pier at 8.30am, instead of Tab Lamu Pier at 8.00am.
We welcome divers from all over the world, and many of our guests come from Europe. For some reason, in November 2017 we have had a lot more divers from The Netherlands than other years. Our most recent was a group of Dutch divers at Similan Islands & Richelieu Rock on Lapat. They were experienced and mostly middle-aged divers who had a great trip on Lapat’s first 4D4N trip of the season.
Ready for the 2017-2018 southern Thailand scuba diving season, M/V Nemo 1 is our brand-new Similan liveaboard diving boat. After many months of careful planning, preparation, and hard work, the boat is already in the water and ready to start flexible scuba diving trips to the Similan Islands, Koh Bon & Koh Tachai. The whole boat has been designed and built from a clean sheet of paper to offer its guests the best experience and value. We visited the all-new Nemo 1 on October 3rd 2017 and were delighted to see that everything is ready and on schedule.
