16 March 2006
Kuching's Similan Island Idyll
After a quick trip to Thailand via Koh Rok Nok where we had a great dive, we headed for the Similan Islands to finally get a dedicated diving vacation. We made the trip up in two legs - the first was 35 miles mostly under sail to a delightful anchorage at Laem Sae. We had good winds and sailed the entire way. The second leg was about 50 miles to the middle island of the Similan group - Miang. We had great winds until noon and then had to motor sail the rest of the way. Still it was enjoyable and we did the trip in just under 10 hours. We took a mooring in the recommended anchorage and spent a wild night with fierce winds working up a confused sea. These winds were typical of the nights for our entire stay and we thereafter sought moorings on the westerly sides of the islands. Though not recommended in the sailing guides, we dived the moorings and found them substantial and our nights were quiet.
The Similans are islands of smooth boulders - some small, some huge. On the eastern side of the nine islands there is sand and coral and on the western side there is just boulders. The diving is varied, fascinating and fun. We dived twice a day for the first 6 days and then alternated snorkelling and diving for the last two. Every dive was different although we do admit to doing one dive site twice. The fish life is spectacular. We saw species that we had not yet seen in the Indo-Pacific area plus we saw turtles, shark and a large (2 metre wingspan) eagle ray. We soon learned the rhythm of the dive boats and were able to dive the sites in relative solitude by diving outside their schedules.
There are lots of dive boats around the islands. They fill the main anchorages at night and occupy most of the moorings. Still we could always find a mooring and didn't find their proximity annoying. However, we took moorings in unusual places and usually had no-one around us. There are moorings around the majority of the dive sites and given that there are more than a dozen dive sites this means there are lots of moorings.
,The dive boats conglomerate in the anchorages at the top of Koh Miang (NE and N sides) and the top of Koh Similan and bottom of Koh Bangu. We weren't hassled when we did take moorings in those places but we preferred the quiet of the less popular moorings.
We met up with the owners of a dive cruise charter boat "Ilala" returning from the Andamans and were enticed with tales of diving there and in the Mergui Peninsula. Next year we will splice 100 metres of rope to our 45 metre of chain and venture up there where the anchorages are deep.
Our food started to run out and business called so we had to leave the Similans. How could we be beating into a southeast wind? Unseasonal as it was, it combined with the ebbing tide and almost stopped us in our tracks for a couple of hours. We motored eastwards to the coast and finally caught enough wind to finish our long day's sailing in Freedom Bay just outside Karon Beach.
The Similan islands were a wonderful way to end our sailing season. Now our minds are turning to packing up the boat and heading for Europe for the long and wet SW monsoon. See you all soon.