Last weekend to take a break from training and have a bit of an adventure I arranged a snorkling trip so the Similan Islands through Phuket Dive Tours. There was an offer on at the time and the cost of the trip was 2700 Baht (£53) and included transfer to the boat to the Similans, breakfast and lunch! Snorkles were supplied and fins were 100baht (£2) to rent, I bought my own though, as did a few others, but the gear they supplied was good enough and also in great condition.
We were picked up at 5:30 in the morning from outside Phuket Dive Tours, which is about 200 meters from Tiger Muay Thai, and then visited 2 other hotels to collect other people who were visiting Phuket from Italy and China. We then did the 2 hour drive to Koah Lak on the mainland arriving at about 8:30 am. By 9:30 am we were onboard the speedboat to take us on a snorkling tour of the Similans!
On the way to the Similan Islands we briefly saw a Whale shark and some whales breaching the surface, but it was so quick it was impossible to catch on camera! When we got to the first island though the highlight of the day was definitely swimming with 2 beautiful turtles who were very curious of us and would swim right up to us before flipping over and diving back down to the sea bed to feed!
We visited about 4 different islands in the Similans and there were lots of little reefs full of fish for us to swim with which was amazing.
We also had the opportunity to spend time on the beautiful beaches there and do some sunbathing and just relax. They were very busy though, as there were probably 8-10 speed boats out, doing similar trips, each with 60+ people on board.
At around 5pm we started the journey back to Phuket and eventually made it home, very tired, around 8pm!
One tip for people considering a trip like this, most people on board were wearing bikinis or simply shorts and going topless, applying sunscreen non stop which would be washed off as soon as they entered the water. As I’d spent the previous day on the beach I was a little red so wore a long sleeve rash guard the entire time to protect myself from the sun. This meant I really only had to apply sunscreen to my face and made the trip a lot easier for me. Considering we probably spent 8 hours straight in the sun with no real shade I imagine there were some very sore people the next day! Due to the rash guard protecting me I was completely fine.