Ko Bon, Ko Tachai, Surin, and Richelieu Rock
North of the Similans lie Ko Bon, Ko Tachai, the Surin Islands National Park,
and Richelieu Rock. All of these areas offer world-class diving
that differs from the Similans and should be part of your itinerary
when you visit the area.
Ko Bon: The Perforated Island
Ko Bon is located about 20 kilometers north of island #9 and
features one of the only vertical walls in Thailand. The main dive
site is on the southwestern point and consists of a 33 meter wall
facing the small cove, and a step-down ridge that carries on to
depths of over 45 meters. Leopard sharks are common on the ridge
and on the sandy flats below the wall. Although the soft corals
are not as high-profile as they are in the Similans, the colors
of the corals are radically different and include shades of turquoise,
yellow and blue, besides the more common pinks and purples. Ko
Bon is one of the better places to see manta rays, almost all year around. There is also a pinnacle in the bay just to the north of the ridge. It's a deep rock, but if you're an experienced diver it's worth the short bottom times you'll get (especially if you're on a longer trip). Not all boats visit it and if conditions are not good (like the current is wrong), it's not worth it. But, if the water is clear, you're good with your air, and the current is slack, it's a stunning rock. It looks like some temple built by some ancient culture. It's larger than Richelieu Rock at the base, and a hard swim. The bottom is over 40 meters deep, and the top only come up to about 18-20 meters.
Ko Tachai
Twenty-five kilometers north of Ko Bon, Ko Tachai has an offshore
underwater ridge that runs perpendicular to the island. This is
considered to be one of the finest dives in the Kingdom of Thailand and is
famous as a place to see not only the more common species of corals,
fans and tropical fish, but larger animals such as rays, leopard
sharks, nurse sharks and hawksbill turtles. Whale sharks and manta rays make
an appearance on a regular basis. Tachai also boasts a breathtaking
sandy beach on its northeastern shore; a great place to hang out
and feel like Robinson Crusoe. Some boats do night diving on the western part of the island in a small bay. The main ridge is generally too deep and the currents too strong for reasonable night diving.
Mu Koh Surin National Park & Richelieu Rock (Hin Bonam)
The Surin Islands, although visited by several dive operators
from Phuket, are more appropriately famous for their beautiful
coves, bays and dense jungle than they are for their diving. Spending
a few idyllic days on a sail boat or other yacht here are the
stuff dreams of paradise are made of yet the serious diver will
be bored easily after a few dives because of the generally poor
visibility and lack of fish. There are a few dive sites, mainly on the southern island (Surin Tai) which are popular with a number of boats and their guides. The key to having a good dive here is to have a very knowledgeable guide to show you the highlights. Just jumping in and swimming around is normally disappointing to most people.
Surin's ace card, however, is a small submerged rock about 18
kilometers east of Surin. Richelieu Rock, just exposed at the
lowest of tides-thus a navigational hazard for those boats not
equipped with a GPS navigation system-rates as one of the best
places in the world for swimming with our gentle giant, the whale
shark. Encounters with these fish-the largest of all fish-are
rare almost any place in the world. But for some reason, Richelieu
attracts more than its fair share. Swimming with such a large
animal, known to grow to lengths of 20 meters or more, has to
be a high point for any diver. Sightings occur often, but unfortunately less often than in the 1990s, depending on the time of year. Generally, February,
March and April are the best times for a visit. The big difference
between diving here and other areas that are famous for whalesharks, such as Western Australia, is that we don't need spotter
planes as the sharks cruise around the rock, and the visibility
is normally excellent. Who knows why they are here, but the sharks
aren't around because of plankton blooms like in Australia. Thus,
clear water.
During the past couple of the years we have seen a decline in
the number of whale sharks for some odd reason. It may be due
to the effects of the El Niño weather effects or it could
be some other reason. We are still keeping our fingers crossed
that they will return in the numbers we have come to expect.
What Richelieu Rock has really become famous for recently are the incredible numbers of unusual critters. The dive masters are now quite good at spotting ghost pipefish, Harlequin shrimp, and tigertailed seahorses. If you don't see something weird here you just aren't paying attention. Cuttlefish hover around, usually in the fall, but very often anyway, octopus are common, and lionfish as well as different kinds of anemone fish are easily spotted.
Richelieu Rock is a world-class dive site, and if you don't like diving here, you simply don't like diving. You can dive here over and over and see something new. The currents change constantly, and it's not always an easy dive. But, if you listen to your dive guide and his or her briefing, you can learn how to hide from the currents and have a very enjoyable dive.
|
