Andaman Sea

We finally got around to our only pre-planned 'big ticket item' for the year: a week-long scuba diving trip around the Andaman Sea. Whereas most of the year is fairly unscheduled and flexible, this was one thing that we booked in advance about six months ago, so a lot of our timings for the first months of 2025 have been working towards this milestone.

We caught a ferry from Koh Yao Noi across to Phuket and, after a quick detour for replacement toiletries, boarded the 'Gentle Giant' liveaboard which would be our home for the next week.

Dan went to the toilet as soon as we boarded, only to find out immediately that it wouldn't flush, and also that we're not meant to flush toilet paper on the boat. So he went back to fish out the offending paper, and then tried to fix the plumbing too. Meanwhile, the crew were preparing a traditional 'good luck' ritual for the boat, consisting of fireworks set off right outside our cabin door. So while Dan was crouched behind a befouled toilet, fingers still wet, trying to work out why the cistern wouldn't refill, he was suddenly victim of what seemed like a terrorist attack or catastrophic maritime explosion.

The good luck charm clearly worked in the long run though, because they fixed our toilet and there were no more explosions for the rest of the week.

Some notes on our fellow passengers: there were a bunch of Europeans, a couple of Chinese, and four Israelis (including a white dreadlocked girl and a stacked guy who we theorised was her bodyguard). Thailand is full of Russians and Israelis, which makes it feel a bit like neutral Switzerland during WW2. Our main enemy on board was the Chinese man who was diving in our group. He was bald, but wore a fake Rastafari swimming cap, and swimshorts that said 'Wang' all over them with pictures of pugs. He also swam aggressively after every fish in the ocean, scaring them all away, with all the energy of an idiot chasing sheep in a field. Basically, what we've learned is: inappropriate dreadlocks = 100% confirmed evil.

In between these cartoon villain episodes, we actually had some incredible diving all up and down Thailand's west coast. We covered Hin Daeng, Koh Haa, Phi Phi, the Similans, Koh Bon, Tachai, and finished at Richelieu Rock. Those won't mean much to anyone who's not familiar with Thai diving, but suffice to say it's a lot. Of the 22 scheduled dives across six days, we managed 20, with just two respite breaks.

The sea conditions were excellent for 90% of the trip, with visibility of >30m, no strong surge, current or waves, and temperatures consistently at 29-30⁰C. Chelsea did all the diving in just a rash vest, no wetsuit. The only exceptions to the perfect conditions were one dive where we had to rapidly swim away from a huge dust cloud of cold water, along with all the other fish in the ocean, which was quite intense. And then on the final night, we hit very rough seas on our way to Richelieu Rock, which rocked the boat so hard all night that Chelsea started making Titanic-style survival plans. We tried to sleep, but spent the night being thrown from one side of the bed to the other. No sea-sickness as we seemingly have cast iron stomachs, but a sensible amount of fearing for our lives as the waves crashed against our cabin door.

Here's a partial list of the stuff we saw on the dives:
- Turtles!
- Sting rays!
- Eels!
- Sharks!
- Seahorses!
- Groupers!
- Clownfish!
- Barracuda!
- Sea urchins!
- Trevally!
- Cuttlefish!
- Crabs!
- Sea cucumbers!
- Puffer fish!
- Lobsters!
- Squid!
- Starfish!
- Anemones!
- Batfish!
- Shrimp!
- Nudibranches!
- Lionfish!
- Stunning coral!
- Huge underwater boulders!
- Shipwrecks!
...and much, much more.

We're now thoroughly exhausted, and have only just managed to avoid missing our transfer, to the next stop, but it has been refreshing to spend six nights in one room for once. Now, we're back on the road - and with no more milestone experiences booked in the months ahead. The adventure continues...En savoir plus