Day 16 - Similan Islands Christmas Trip

The 6.45am the alarm stirred us from our alcoholic stupor. Over coffee, I gave Jackie her Christmas card, but the kind gesture was not returned, apparently she had forgotten to pack mine!!

At 7.30am, a minibus arrived to pick us up, we then collected a family of 3 Americans before having to wait nearly 20 minutes for 3 Thai lads to join us. We eventually arrived at the Check-in Andaman private pier for coffee & breakfast over a short briefing from our tour guide.

At 8.45am we had collected our equipment & boarded our speedboat. Jackie & I were literally 1st on & we took up seats at the very front of the boat to capitalise on the sun. We were joined at the front by lone a Brazilian girl, who was a bit of a strange cookie, and 5 giggly Thai girls.

The 70 km crossing took a spine juddering 80 minutes before arriving at Similan Island Koh 9. (Ba-Ngu) for a 40 minute snorkel session in the crystal clear waters. After 20 minutes of looking at mainly little yellow fish, Jackie & I had had enough of our salt water eye bath & mouth wash so we returned to the boat. I did however get some interesting photos of the little yellow fishes swimming between the two of us.

Next stop was Koh 8. (Similan) the largest island for an hour & 20 minutes. When we arrived it was teeming with tourists from other tours, but as our guide advised they would be gone in 15 minutes & true to his word they were. Leaving Jackie on the beach, I climbed the 150 metres up to Sail Rock which was a stunning viewpoint.

Once I had returned to Jackie, we had a quick swim then collected our Christmas lunch. It consisted of 2 trays of food each & a bottle of water. It sounds a lot & it was, but it wasn’t overly edible. We had cold very spicy pork with cold rice, cold sweet & sour sauce with cold spaghetti & a couple of chicken wings plus some other bits I didn’t even want to try. During dinner we were joined by a large water monitor that had us abandoning the table when it got too close.

After a few photos we boarded our speedboat & set off for the next destination. Just a couple of minutes into the journey, one of the crew spotted a whale coming up for air. The boat was immediately brought to a standstill & for the next 20 minutes or so we tracked a couple of Omura’s whales from a distance of just 30 yards with Jackie & I having the perfect viewing spot. I knew we were witnessing something a bit special because the crew were very excitable & were taking photos of their own. It was the perfect Christmas present.

The Omura’s whale or dwarf fin whale is a rare & little known whale species. It is the most recently identified species of whale and then only from dead specimens in 2003. The 1st live identified sighting of one in the wild was in 2015. They measure 12 metres in length, are super-streamlined, but are so rare that scientists don’t know how many exist. Most sightings have been in Madagascan waters, thus sightings in Thai waters seem to be very newsworthy events.

Next stop was Koh 7. (Pays) for another snorkelling stop. We both got in again & to our delight it was abundant with fish of all colours, including a particularly a big shoal of the little yellow fish swimming around us. After another 20 minutes, Jackie declared she had had enough & started heading back to the boat when someone shouted that they had spotted a sea turtle. They were over 100 metres away, but this was not an opportunity I was going to miss.

With mask & snorkel flapping around my head & camera in hand, I attempted to front-crawl & fight my way through the other snorkelers to the turtle sighting. I arrived puffing & panting which made breathing through the snorkel difficult, but I was able to espy the turtle, which I have identified as a Hawksbill sea turtle. It was camouflaged by the coral, but I was able to follow it for several minutes & point & shoot my camera in it’s general direction.

Elated, I returned to the speedboat before we motored over to our final stop, Koh 4. (Miang) National Park. It was for a 1 hour stop. We walked a trail to the other side of the island where we spotted several brightly coloured Nicobar Pigeons & fruit bats crawling & flying through the trees.

It concluded our exceptional & highly recommended trip. The speedboat crew were so helpful & pleasant. The Similan Islands were pure paradise, both on land & in the sea. For us it made the perfect Christmas Day.

We then made the 80 minute speedboat crossing back to the mainland for coffee & ice cream before being bussed back to our hotel at 6.00pm. We were both shattered, but after a shower & rest, we made our customary WhatsApp video calls & messages to family & friends before heading out to dinner.

Dinner consisted of chicken satay, a Pad Thai & a beer each at Thai Life, then we called it a night. We were just too knackered & full to carry on.

Song of the Day: Christmas Paradise by Carole King.
Tales of Brave Ulysses by Cream. (Courtesy of American Dad on our trip).Read more