The Similan Islands

After some days of enjoying the mainland beaches we decided to sign up for a 3 day 2 night snorkelling tour to the Similan Islands. This group of 9 islands 65km out to sea are rocky and mountainous with only a couple of them having a bay and a bit of beach and flat land where humans can hang out. There is a campground here and a few simple wooden bungalows and outdoor restaurant. The beach is only about 100m long but is the finest white sand imaginable, a consistency of flour and the colour of the water is the most aqua blue we have ever seen.







Then you put on your mask and snorkel and jump off the boat and ... wow ... you can see 40-50 feet down to the bottom, easily...absolute crystal clear. Over the course of 3 days of snorkelling at various points around the islands we observed several moray eels, octopus, of course countless tropical fish, some larger game fish which were a meter or so long, a sea turtle, and a shark. Have no idea what kind of shark but probably not a very serious one, perhaps a meter and a half long and once he saw us departed pretty quickly. It took me a while though to pry Lori's fingernails out of my skin.






All in all a very worthwhile trip and one we enjoyed so much that we spent an extra day and night hanging around the campground on the island.