Located about sixty kilometres northwest of Khao Lak, the Similans consist of nine granite islands covered in lush, tropical, jungle foliage, surrounded by sparkling clear blue oceans.Similans Map The beaches are made up of the finest white powdery sand and literally melt into the warm tropical waters.
Khao Laks close proximity to the Similan Islands guarantees its continuing popularity with liveaboard and day trip operators both from Phuket as well as Khao Lak. Boats depart from the local harbour at Thap Lamu. Khao Lak is a fairly widespread region, stretching almost 35 km from Ban Lam Kaen & Thap Lamu in the south to the newly developed island of Kho Kho Khao in the north. Thap Lamu is the home port for many ships in the region, including the Royal Thai Navy and a large fishing fleet. Thap Lamu is also the gateway for all diving & snorkeling day boats as well as many liveaboards to the Similan Islands.
The west coast of the Similans marine park, facing out towards the Andaman Islands, offers pace and exhilaration as divers soar through and around Huge granite boulders. Dramatic rock formations abound including: holes, overhangs, swimthroughs and canyons. There is an amazing variety of colourful soft corals and enormous sea fans that span metres across. There are truly very few places on earth like this.
The east coast, with its white powdery beaches, feature hard coral gardens which slope down to 40m. Drift diving is the name of the game here as divers use the current to propel them along the vibrantly rich reefs teeming with unusual and interesting marine life. The length of dive safari trips vary from three to five days, often longer if the dive liveaboard includes the Similans as just one stop on the itinerary.
Sharkfin Reef
• Boulder Formations
• Assorted Hard & Soft Corals
• Clown Trigger Fish, Surgeon Fish, Batfish
• Moderate to Strong Currents
• 15 to 40 Meters Visibility
•Recommended for Experienced Divers Only
With a swim-through at the South Eastern point of this site, where you can see the other side of the site, provides experienced divers a great dive. Marine life here makes it one of the most visited, seeing the clown trigger fish, half moon triggerfish, schools of batfish and surgeon fish will make this a dive to remember and is ideal for underwater photography.
Stonehenge
• Boulder and Rock Formation
• Assorted Hard & Soft Corals
• Angel Fish, Butterfly Fish, Tuna, Trevvally
• Slight to Moderate Currents
• 15 to 35 Meters Visibility
• Advanced Divers
Lying on the Northern side of Koh Miang this large towering rock formation provides divers with depths up to 25m. Barrel sponges, lionfish and gorgonian sea fans can easily be spotted here with a great number of marine life ranging from barracuda, wrasse, ghost pipefish to long nose butterfly fish. Clownfish and anemone fish can be found swimming in and out of their anemones.
East of Eden
• Fringing Reef and Coral Garden
• Assorted Hard & Soft Corals
• Snappers, Grouper, Angelfish, Damselfish
• Moderate to Strong Currents
• 15 to 35 Meters Visibility
• All Levels of Diver
Located on the North Eastern side of Koh Payan you find the most incredible bommie that the Similans has to offer. Giving diver depths from 12m to 21m and a vast ammount of marine life. Purple and blue corals make this a breathtaking dive and for the photographys a great dive. Table coral and the finger corals give residents to the damselfish.
Elephant Head Rock
• Boulder Pinnacle and Wall
• A Few Assorted Soft & Hard Corals
• Wrasse, Reef Shark, Trevally
• Moderate to Strong Currents
• 40 to 30 Meters Visibility
• Recommended for Experienced Divers Only
Being named after the unusually shaped rock that juts out from the sea. This huge boulder has create some swim-throughs for the experienced daring divers. Also are caverns, tunnels and gullies. Silver and jet black trevally can be seen in the centre of this pinnacle, performing their mating manoeuvers. Small reef sharks can be seen at the southern point where you find smaller pinnacles in deep waters. The occasional hawksbill turtle can be seen swimming by as well as lionfish, grouper and snappers.
Donald Duck Bay
• Shallow Bay and Boulders
• A Few Assorted Soft & Hard Corals
• Red Octopus, Cuttlefish, Crabs
• Slight to Moderate Currents
• 10 to 20 Meters Visibility
• All Levels of Diver
Named after a rock that looks like the cartoon character. The liveaboard and day trippers makes this a great dive as the amount of food that makes its way to the sea bed gives the marine life a feeding ground. Scurrying across the sea bed you will see crabs, octopus and cuttlefish. A few swim-throughs can be found at the Northern side which house shrimps and cone shells.
Snapper Alley
• Coral Reef Garden
• Assorted Hard Coral
• Lion Fish, Parrot Fish, Angel Fish, Cuttle Fish
• Slight to Moderate Currents
• 20 to 40 Meters
• All Levels of Diver
Snapper Alley is famous for being a great night dive site, lying on the Eastern side of Koh Bangu. Healthy hard table and sheet coral provide marine life with places to hide and sleep. Looking in cracks you can find the odd lobster, and too those who spend the time to look carefully may catch the rare dwarf lion fish with spectacular markings on it's fins
Diving is statistically a very safe sport. You are far less likely to have an accident or sustain an injury compared to many other activities. However in the unlikely event of an incident Thailand has professionally operated recompression chambers as well as many excellent medical facilities.
