In phuket thailand the Similan island and Richelieu rock live aboard season starts each year on or around the 15th of October each year and runs till mid May. The liveaboard season for diving in phuket normally starts a little slow as there is a little uncertainty with the weather in October and the day trips are offering very good diving with the security of a hotel if a storm comes through at night. This year however is totally different. The weather perfect from the word go and with all the problems in the Red Sea phuket scuba diving liveaboard season started very well indeed.

Now three months in and still as busy as ever. The good thing with the Similan islands, Surin islands and richelieu rock is that the area covered is so large that although you do see other boats around when it comes to the dive sites you find you only really see other diviers when entering and exiting the water. All dive boats are there to see the fish and not other divers. If another dive boat is on the same islans as you they normally pick a site on the otherside of the island or at least a different bay.

The Similan Islands offers a whole new approach to liveaboard diving. Most places the boats have a set schedule with the cruise starting on one date and ending on another. Here what we do at Thailand divers is keep the two boats going round and round for 6 months. Then each day we transfer people out to the liveaboard for the start of their trip and then bring those finishing home again in the afternoon. This way we can do an overnight trip, 2 nights, 3 nights or as many nights as you please. You can go out on the day you please and return on the day you please. There is no more booking flights to match the liveaboard trip. Now you book the flights you like and then the liveaboard to match your plans.

This has been a great success and the trips have been very popular. But what even better is the creatures that live in the Similans have been very active this year. Whale Sharks galore, Manta rays, Leopard Sharks, Black tips, Hawkbill turtles, green turtles, sea moths, Ribbon Eels, Napoleon Wrasse have all been very active this year. From the tiny nudies , harliquin shrimps and frog fish have all been seen on most trips.

From the nice easy diving in the Smilans with its white sandy bays and 40 meter viz to the soaring pinacles of Richalieu rock the diving in phuket on the liveaboards is something that you wll remember for a very long time. phuket scuba diving centers are now seeing more and more returning customers each year and many several times a year. This year as many new customers are arriving as the Red Sea is no longer an option and finding the diving here so good and with so many locations to dive that for sure there will be many divers now who will come to phuket thailand from now on as their main diving destination.