Khao Lak and Similan Islands Thailand

When we got back from Boracay we were in Kuala Lumpur for three days before leaving for another trip. While the company and client try to negotiate another contract, we were encouraged to take vacation while it is quiet. They didn't have to tell us twice. We made arrangements to stay in Khao Lak (the place in Thailand that was hit the heaviest by the tsunami in 2004) for five days before getting on the MV Nautica for a six day, six night liveaboard cruise to the Similan Islands, Surin Islands, and Richelieu Rock, Thailand.

After the small troubles we had on our last trip to Boracay, we were looking forward to a nice uneventful vacation. Sadly, that wasn't meant to be. On day 4 of our liveaboard, Van came down with an undeserved hit of decompression sickness and had to be evacuated by speedboat (1.5 hours), taken by ambulance to the hospital in Phuket (1.5 hours), and had a five-hour session in the decompression chamber. Thankfully, it was a mild case and he recovered nicely after having oxygen and just one session in the chamber. Others are not so lucky and require more than one visit to the chamber. Unfortunately, he couldn't fly for 72-hours after his last chamber treatment and had to stay for a couple more days. I had to go home as planned without him to get us moved into our new KL apartment.

While we were diving, we saw some really incredible things. It was hard for both of us to cut our trip short, but we were both glad nothing worse happened - smile. We are both very glad to be back in KL, moved in, and back to work!















Great visibility and a big school of glass fish on the reef.















Seeing one of these giant mantas (25' wing span) is like seeing a big grizzly bear in Yellowstone Park. Just amazing! We got to see the two very friendly mantas on two separate dives to the same place. They are just incredible to watch. So big and graceful.















Beautiful fish on the way up.




















Steve was our Tour Director and Master Diver. He was wonderful. I can't tell you how safe we felt under his care when Van got decompression sickness. Steve was amazing. A great dive master and friend. Here he is blowing air rings while we pass the time at our safety stop. I call them halos as he really is an angel.















Sunset as we come up from one of our later dives.




















Coming up the buoy line.















A file fish.















Another view of the manta and the remoras hanging on for dear life.















He went that close right over the top of me - no zoom.




















Another view. Magnificent!




















You can kind of get an idea of his size in comparison to the divers below.




















A lion fish under a rock that bounced my in-camera flash. The colors are amazing. It makes me wish I had more external light for underwater photography.















The colors and textures are wonderful. It's brilliant!















My first sea snake. It was hanging around the entrance to one of the swim throughs.




















Sea fan. Awesome graduated colors.















This was my favorite coral. The colors were hot pink and purple. Truly the brightest colors of coral I have seen so far.














A rockmover wrasse. Gerard held his flashlight on it at just the right time to show the colors and detail. Beautiful.

A clown trigger fish. The patterns and colors are a incredible.

This eel seems to be very photogenic with his buddies the cleaner shrimp. Funny!

First adult box fish I've seen. It said, she you later alligator, I'm out of here!

A pregnant giant puffer. Check out the little lumps on her stomach.

Titan Trigger fish getting cleaned. It lays on the rocks while "things" clean it. It looked like it was dead. I came up behind it and snuck around the front to get a photo of it's teeth. They have been known to attack divers when they are nesting.

Beautiful reef formations.

Diver through a giant Georgonian Sea Fan.

Those things sticking up out of the sand are eels. They hide in their holes when you get close. Otherwise, they are sticking up like blades of grass.

See through.

Beautiful colorful anemone.

Nice coral grouper.

Beautiful juvenial box fish.

Van in the Phuket decompression chamber jsut before they closed the door for 5 hours. Lee was the outside attendant making sure he was comfortable.

The outside of the decompression chamber - looks just like the photo in the PADI diver's manual.

The lounge area of the MV Nautica liveaboard boat we were on. It was great! Highly recommend the boat and diving with them! Most excellent!

You can get a more realistic color closer to the surface. These soft corals were stunning!

Coral!

Giant moray eel. They come out at night and hunt and if you are on a night dive, they smart ones will eat the fish that you blind with your flashlights. Sneaky!

Is she looking at me? I don't know. Don't make eye contact. Soldier Fish.

Donald Duck Bay, Similan Islands. One of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen.

Water Donald Duck Bay, Similan Islands. WOW!

Sunset, Khao Lak, Beach at Bangsak Village Resort.

This great bug loved me. I was getting a foot massage and it landed on me. I put it on my hand and it crawled around. When the store owner grabbed it and held it, it made a screaming sound. It was awful.

Nature's Etch-A-Sketch. The sand on the right was after a rain storm. The sand on the right, smooth from the waves washing on shore.

Van having his second (or third) beachside massage in Khao Lak. They were the equivalent of $20 USD for a 90 minute massage. No wonder!

The pool at our hotel, Bangsak Village. Four days of lounging by the pool - heaven!

Shells littering the beach.

We had a wonderful time. Hope you enjoyed the photos. We are hoping we have many more opportunities to travel while we are in Malaysia.