Dive trip to Similan and Surin (Part I)

Day 1 was spent at Patong Beach with Ching Hui (fellow KentRidgean..hehe...small world huh?) Nothing much...but somehow we managed to kill half a day there...


One of the many signs we saw directing u towards the evacuation route in case a tsunami approach



Top: Patong Beach in the morning when we arrived...totally empty
Bottom: Patong Beach in the afternoon...big difference huh?


Parasailing


Couldn't resist taking a photo of the pharmacy...occupational hazard :P

At night we boarded the White Manta...at least an hour late due to delay refueling the boat...


The White Manta...is someone trying to jump off the boat??!!


Our room...San San, Chantel, Ching Hui and I stayed in one room...


The common areas
Top: Sundeck and TV room
Bottom: Where we prepare for our dive, staircase leads up to the dining area...and the bow of the boat...that's the view from our room!! :D


Dining area and where we have our dive briefing
Bottom: Hmm...where there's food there's Reef? He's caught red-handed stealing some food!!


Washroom...quite nice hor...u can actually lose control sliding ard inside when u r showering and the floor is all soapy and the boat is rocking with the strong wave!! Haha


Kitchen...where our yummy food is prepared...too bad nobody ever rem to whip out their camera when food is served :P

Photos from our dive briefing...our DM, Nick is quite an artist...

Dive trip to Similan and Surin (Part IIa - Photos from the sea)

Photos of divers underwater

For larger view...click on the photos :D


Yup...penguin is a diver too!!


That's me


Merey


San San


Tynny and flippers...hehe


Ching Hui


Desmond


Our DM Vincent...left: getting ready for safety stop at 5m.... right: 3 mins safety stop


Merey and I


Ching Hui and Chantel...taken through a hole...


Chantel and Merey...taken with a wall of batfish at the background


Chantel and Ching Hui


Me and Engwan


Tynny and Desmond... bottom: wat is tynny trying to do??


Interesting photos....
Top left: That's me...with an extra pair of legs, an extra hand...hmm...and why is that octopus dangling like that...
Top right: Engwan...with the light on top...looks like a halo...haha
Bottom: This is not a camera trick...it's San San on the foreground...and Chantel on the background!


Reef with me and penguins...hmm..this is not underwater and Reef's not exactly a diver...yet...but will definitely be when he's old enough :D

Scenery above the sea...


Some of us...I think it was Merey, Ching Hui, Chantel, San San, Tynny, Desmond and I...hmm...that's almost all of us...climbed to the top of the rocks...but we forgot to bring our camera along...so this is the only photo we have...taken from the boat :P


At Koh Bon...there's a blow hole which apparently looks very nice when the tide is higher and the water is forced through the hole...unfortunately we din see that :P


Elephant Rock...was there on our last day


Some sunset shots
Left: unedited photos
Right: edited using the autolevel feature in photoshop...

Dive trip to Similan and Surin (Part IIb - Photos from the sea)

Photos of marine life

For larger view...click on the photos :D

Fishes


Triggerfish and Surgeonfish
Left: Triggerfish...from top to bottom: clown, indian, titan...they are pretty tame...we can actually get quite near them :D
Right: Surgeonfish...powder-blue, ???, ???



Angelfish and Butterflyfish
Left: Angelfish...from top to bottom: juvenile emperor, emperor, blue-ringed
Right: Butterflyfish...indian vagabond, meyer's, ???


Bannerfish and Batfish
Top: Longfinned bannerfish
Bottom left: Some bannerfish?
Bottom right: Teira batfish


Pufferfish and Boxfish
Top 4: Pufferfish...black-spotted...they are all over the place...keep seeing them every dive...
Bottom left: Spotted boxfish (male)
Bottom right: Yellow boxfish



Groupers and Sweetlips
Left: Groupers...from top to bottom: coral or jewel, white-speckled, black-tipped
Right: Sweetlips...top 2: oriental, bottom: Harlequin


Scorpionfish and stonefish
Top and bottom left: Scorpionfish...smallscale?
Bottom right: Stonefish?


Lionfish/Firefish and Anemonefish
Left: Lionfish/firefish?...Top: ???, bottom 2: Common lionfish or red firefish
Right: Anemonefish...Top: Tomato or Red saddleback, bottom 2: false clown or Western-clown a.k.a. NEMO :D


Ghost pipefish and Trumpetfish
Top 4: Yellow ghost pipefish...they are all the same one :P
Bottom: Trumpetfish


Other fishes
Top: Parrotfish
Mid: Snappers... left: checkered, right: is it a snapper??
Bottom left: Giant trevally
Bottom right: Wrasse??



Other smaller fishes
Speckled sandperch
Sweeper or bullseye
Reticulated damselfish


School of Chevron or black-tipped barracuda



School of Teira batfish


School of Yellowback fusilier with batfish in the background


School of Yellowfin goatfish


School of bigeye snapper


School of ???


School of ???


School of ???


School of anthias


Miscellaneous school of fish under a boat

Other fishes we saw that I do not have photos of includes... rabbitfish, porcupinefish, black-tipped shark (I din see that though :P)...

Corals


Top left: Acropora formosa
Top right: Tubastraea micrantha
Bottom left: Porites sp.
Bottom right: Soft coral - Gorgonian fan - Subergorgia mollis


Miscellaneous corals

Miscellaneous


Cuttlefish and Crustaceans (decapods)
Top: 2 different cuttlefish spotted near each other...cuttlefish belongs to the Cephalopod class which inclused octopus and squids
Bottom left: Cleaner shrimp
Bottom right: A pair of lobsters...only the ?antennae can be seen...that's at 30m liao...din wanna go deeper :P


Sea stars and sea urchins (part of phylum Echinodermata...which also includes feather stars and sea cucumbers)
Top and middle: Sea stars (first 3 are of the Echinasteridae ?class and the 4th one is of the Ophidiasteridae ?class)
Bottom left: Cushion star
Bottom right: Sea urchin


Feather stars


Various ugly sea cucumbers (also known as holothurians)


Eels and sea snake
Left: Undulated?? or giant?? moray
Top right: Spot-face moray
Mid right: Grey eel
Bottom right: Banded sea snake


Others
Top: Cowries...left: tiger, right: egg
Mid left: Spider shell?
Mid right: Jellyfish
Bottom left: Varicose wart slug
Bottom right: Christmas tree worms

Acknowledgement: Not all the photos are taken by me...in fact, many are taken by Ching Hui and Merey :D
Nice hor ;)

Disclaimer: Naming of the above marine life is solely based on author's ability to recognize and identify their various feature...with the help of guidebooks (Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide and Asia Pacific Reef Guide) and input from friends...
The author is drug peddler and mad chemist...NOT a marine biologist :P

P.S. feel free to leave a comment if u noticed anything is wrongly named or u can fill up the "question marks" for me :D