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| Gearing up to jump in! |
Dive #1: Deep 6
Between Dive 1-2: Beach time! at Donald Duck Bay
Dive #2: Elephant Head Rock
Dive #2: Turtle Rock
Dive #4: Koh Bon night dive
Dive #2: Turtle Rock
Dive #4: Koh Bon night dive
At Donald Duck Bay, I decided to go snorkeling during the beach time. It was quite fantastic! I saw a huge school of large fish: they were teal blue on the nose and tail, royal blue on the belly, and orange striped on top. Some were the same species but a dark brown color... I think they might have been parrotfish, but I'm not sure. They swam in a big group of about 50, each fish was at least 1.5' long. Quite an amazing thing to be so close to such large fish.
There were also a number of other fish in the area, and without my scuba gear, which makes a lot of noise from the breathing apparatus, I could get much closer without scaring them. I saw bright bink parrotfish, a number of schools of silver fish that blended perfectly with the white sand and light-colored water, and numerous tiny crabs above the waterline that were terrified of me.
Devlin swam from the boat to the beach while snorkeling, so we swam/snorkeled back to the boat together. On the way, we passed over some dead coral patches. I don't know if it was caused by bleaching or by the 2004 tsunami, but as another diver describes these zones: "it looks like a bomb went off." The whole area was a huge circle of flattened and broken bits of brown-beige coral.
Around lunch time, one of the Thai girls spotted...Dolphins! A large pod of at least 60-70 Southeast Asian bottlenose dolphins were moving past us. The captain sounded the airhorn, and we all went running to the bow of the ship to watch them. The captain circled the ship around to follow them, and they would swim along the front bow, occasionally leaping a bit at the surface. They were fantastically beautiful, and the glimpses we saw were so fleeting before they danced away from us again.
We learned from Ivan that there are other dolphin species near the Similans as well that they see, such as a spinner dolphins and other smaller species.
Other amazing moments of the day:
On dive #1, at Deep 6, there were a number of "swim-through channels" - these were gaps/openings between the rocks that we swam through, kind of like mini tunnels! We swam through about 5-6 of them on the dive. During one, we saw Kate's group swim through, and then we passed through... Devlin and I were last, and as I turned to look around, I saw a turtle swimming quickly back to the swim-through to move away from us. It was a wonderful moment.
The variety of fish we saw throughout the day was staggering, and the list below reflects the beginnings of my attempts to understand the types. Did you ever know how many types of fish species there are? It's incredible. I spent a long while poring over the fish guides, coral guides, and other species books on the boat.
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| I snorkeled near these rocks at Donald Duck Bay - see the large rock and the resemblance to a duck bill? |
Devlin swam from the boat to the beach while snorkeling, so we swam/snorkeled back to the boat together. On the way, we passed over some dead coral patches. I don't know if it was caused by bleaching or by the 2004 tsunami, but as another diver describes these zones: "it looks like a bomb went off." The whole area was a huge circle of flattened and broken bits of brown-beige coral.
Around lunch time, one of the Thai girls spotted...Dolphins! A large pod of at least 60-70 Southeast Asian bottlenose dolphins were moving past us. The captain sounded the airhorn, and we all went running to the bow of the ship to watch them. The captain circled the ship around to follow them, and they would swim along the front bow, occasionally leaping a bit at the surface. They were fantastically beautiful, and the glimpses we saw were so fleeting before they danced away from us again.
We learned from Ivan that there are other dolphin species near the Similans as well that they see, such as a spinner dolphins and other smaller species.
Other amazing moments of the day:
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| Divers waiting for the boat to come pick them up |
The variety of fish we saw throughout the day was staggering, and the list below reflects the beginnings of my attempts to understand the types. Did you ever know how many types of fish species there are? It's incredible. I spent a long while poring over the fish guides, coral guides, and other species books on the boat.
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| A Triggerfish - so big and neat to watch! |
Fish:
As on Day 1, saw many of these species: Blue Ringed Angelfish, Regal Angelfish, Powder Blue Surgeonfish, Moorish Idols, Lined Surgeonfish, lots of plain puffers and boxfish)
Butterflyfish: Long Nose, and others - hard to identify, they're all varieties of orange, white & black
*Picasso Triggerfish; Indian Triggerfish
Trumpetfish (dive #1, riding next to a large fish to hunt prey)
*Parrotfish: Bullethead, Yellow-tail, Black-veined
*Devil Scorpionfish (one on dive #3, sandy with red blotches, but it looked like a rock until it moved. We didn't know at the time, but it's quite poisonous! in the lionfish family)
Snorkeling on Donald Duck beach: parrotfish swarm, brown and many with teal face, teal tail, dark royal blue belly, orange striped top (don't know species). Silver fish. Many puffers. Triggerfish and lots of little guys. So close to some pink parrotfish! Rocks above water had many little crab, very afraid of me. :-)
Tail-blotch lizardfish (many on the sand flats in various areas)
Robust fusilier (large schools on the coral reefs)
*Oriental Sweetlips (1 at a time, hiding under things)
Damselfish (family Nemo is in): Western clownfish (a couple groups), Eastern clownfish, Common humbug (or something like it, black with white stripes), 3-spot dascyllus
*Speckled wrasse (dive #3, maybe this, it was very spotted)
* Adult rock-mover wrasse, looks like lionfish but mini size
* Long-nose unicornfish (one pair, way high up, dive #1)
As on Day 1, saw many of these species: Blue Ringed Angelfish, Regal Angelfish, Powder Blue Surgeonfish, Moorish Idols, Lined Surgeonfish, lots of plain puffers and boxfish)
Butterflyfish: Long Nose, and others - hard to identify, they're all varieties of orange, white & black
*Picasso Triggerfish; Indian Triggerfish
Trumpetfish (dive #1, riding next to a large fish to hunt prey)
*Parrotfish: Bullethead, Yellow-tail, Black-veined
*Devil Scorpionfish (one on dive #3, sandy with red blotches, but it looked like a rock until it moved. We didn't know at the time, but it's quite poisonous! in the lionfish family)
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| A Parrotfish - they nibble the coral with their big beaky mouth |
Tail-blotch lizardfish (many on the sand flats in various areas)
Robust fusilier (large schools on the coral reefs)
*Oriental Sweetlips (1 at a time, hiding under things)
Damselfish (family Nemo is in): Western clownfish (a couple groups), Eastern clownfish, Common humbug (or something like it, black with white stripes), 3-spot dascyllus
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| Long-nose unicornfish |
* Adult rock-mover wrasse, looks like lionfish but mini size
* Long-nose unicornfish (one pair, way high up, dive #1)
Eels:
Giant Moray (4 on dive #1, 4 on dive #3 - two were in the same cave, one was free-swimming at the end of the dive!, 1 on night dive)
Giant Moray (4 on dive #1, 4 on dive #3 - two were in the same cave, one was free-swimming at the end of the dive!, 1 on night dive)
Sea Slugs & Related, & Shell-types:
*Pineapple Sea Cucumber (many - about 2-3' long)
Carnelian Cowrie shell (dive #2)
Crown of Thorns Starfish (dive #3)
Burrowing giant clam: a couple on dive #3
Ramose murex shells: many on night dive
*Pineapple Sea Cucumber (many - about 2-3' long)
Carnelian Cowrie shell (dive #2)
Crown of Thorns Starfish (dive #3)
Burrowing giant clam: a couple on dive #3
Ramose murex shells: many on night dive
Sea Urchins:
Black diadema sea urchin: zillions, especially on night dive - many very small ones, maybe 1-1.25" diameter, tucked into little rock pockets
Large black ones, purple tinge to main body, red-speckled feeding mouth (looked a bit like "Sauron's eye" to me) on night dive
One white one with olive green bits on night dive
Black diadema sea urchin: zillions, especially on night dive - many very small ones, maybe 1-1.25" diameter, tucked into little rock pockets
Large black ones, purple tinge to main body, red-speckled feeding mouth (looked a bit like "Sauron's eye" to me) on night dive
One white one with olive green bits on night dive
Other Creatures:
*Hawksbill Turtle (dive #1, escaped through the first pass-through cave); (dive #3, swimming away at the beginning of the dive, followed it for quite a while)
Kuhl's Stingray (dive #1)
Big Red Octopus (small one on dive #1)
*Jellyfish (on dive #1, tons that looked like clear translucent band-aids with a green eye)
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| Hawksbill Turtle |
*Hawksbill Turtle (dive #1, escaped through the first pass-through cave); (dive #3, swimming away at the beginning of the dive, followed it for quite a while)
Kuhl's Stingray (dive #1)
Big Red Octopus (small one on dive #1)
*Jellyfish (on dive #1, tons that looked like clear translucent band-aids with a green eye)
Coral:
Staghorn Corals: Robust staghorn, Fine table corals (many),
Tube Coral (dark green, all over)
Soft coral: Hemprich's soft coral, Leafy soft coral (amethyst and red colors)
Some species identified: Mushroom leather coral (lots),
Fan Corals: Gorgonian (many many), Medium fan corals
Whip corals: beige and dark green
Staghorn Corals: Robust staghorn, Fine table corals (many),
Tube Coral (dark green, all over)
Soft coral: Hemprich's soft coral, Leafy soft coral (amethyst and red colors)
Some species identified: Mushroom leather coral (lots),
Fan Corals: Gorgonian (many many), Medium fan corals
Whip corals: beige and dark green
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