Surin and Similian Islands

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SURIN & SIMILIAN ISLANDS
	The Surin Islands This marine national park is the Thai island group closest to Burmese waters. Mostly uninhabited but for a few park rangers and nomadic sea gypsies. The Surins' consist of 2 main islands with off-lying islets and rocks with many sheltered anchorages. As with many of these Thai islands, you really need to be able to visit a few times with different weather conditions to truly appreciate all it has to offer. However, our first visit was over the Christmas period and we couldn't have chosen a more secluded paradise to celebrate. White sand beaches with the consistency of fine flour, turquoise clear waters and stunning coral gardens. On Christmas eve we watched the sun set on a secluded beach with a fallen tree, bleached by sun, providing our 'cocktail seats'. I think it was so special just because we were the only people there to share a special moment in a truly beautiful place. Christmas day was spent in the larger bay of Koh Surin Nud with its magnificent long white sand beach backed by lush vegetation. A few locals challenged us to their version of 'hacky sack' played with a small hard weaved plastic ball and the only rules being you have to keep the ball in the air using your head, shins or fore-arm - they obviously don't bruise as easy as the 'farangs' (white people), since we all found it pretty hard-going. Graeme returned from the yacht with home-made Pina Colada (coconut cream, fresh pineapple and thai rum) which we sipped lying in the sea with our 'inflatable drinks-holder - a perfect day. The Christmas festivities over we set sail south for the Similian Islands - reputed to be one of the top dive sites of the world - and therefore frequently visited by dive operators. We had some of the best sailing we've experienced in Thai waters - a fairly consistent north easterly wind blowing 20-25 knots, with the occasional gusts to 35 knots to add a little excitement!! Since Khulula is a heavy boat (20 tons) these are perfect conditions for her. Click for larger view
Similian Islands
	This group of nine main islands with rocks and islets have derived their name from the Malay 'sembilan' meaning nine. The Islands are a popular dive site even though they lay 60 miles north of Phuket and can only be visited in the North East season (Nov-Mar). After the seclusion of Surin we all felt a little 'crowded' when we arrived at Koh Similan and struggled to find a bit of privacy. However, the snorkeling definitely made up for this and we did manage to mostly avoid crowded waters. We found a small bay opposite the main anchorage on the most northern island (Loh Bangu) which turned out to be an excellent snorkeling site first thing in the morning. Here the gigantic boulders which litter the shorelines finely balanced on top of each other, also lie in jumbled heaps beneath the water to depths of 35 metres. Soft coral, tropical fish of every imaginable colour, pattern and size, create huge walls of colour which you swim through. We moved further south to Koh Miang and found a lovely spot in turquoise waters backed by those gigantic boulders. The water clarity was so clear it was difficult to believe that the depth sounder was showing 30ft but was obviously disturbed by something since the graphics suddenly went Picasso! I jumped in the water expecting to see the keel close to the bottom, but instead was surrounded by thousands of brightly coloured fish suddenly attracted to the boat. I have never seen such a variety of fish in such a small space and the large trigger-fish with their strange bulging eyes that seem to be half-way down their bodies, seemed to be the leaders of the school. I shouted to everyone else to jump in and it really did feel like we were swimming in a very crowded aquarium. We spent 2 days exhausting ourselves with snorkeling before we moved further south to Koh Huyo, the most southern Island to celebrate New Years Eve. It suddenly felt like we had returned to the Surin Islands - again we were on our own, and what a fantastic place to greet in 2002! The long white powdery beach was completely empty (4 miles of empty), fringed with Palm trees and scattered boulders, it really was a picture postcard. As the evening progressed we were treated to the most magnificent moon-rise - the gigantic orange globe creeping out the water on the horizon was a sight not many had witnessed before. Before the moon rose higher, I urged everyone to jump in the inky black water with their snorkel and mask to witness the phosphorescent. The waters in Thailand are particularly good to see them on dark nights, but this night was particularly spectacular. I like to describe it through Philly's eyes because this was her first time - " It was like swimming through the stars, like millions of tiny fire-flies in the water" We all had great fun diving down and watching the glowing bodies right to the bottom of the sea bed. For more photos see Photo Album 2