Similan Islands

We’ve arrived in Koh Pha Ngan after spending 5 nights in Khao Lak; our jumping off point for the Similan Islands. The Similan Islands are about 50 km from Khao Lak and consist of nine islands with beautiful beaches of fine talcum powder-like sand and great snorkeling/diving. We spent the first day snorkeling off of Ba-Ngu Island, then on to Koh Miang to spend some time on the beach and Koh Payu before heading back to Khao Lak. We saw the most beautiful fish at the first spot, schools of brightly colored damsel, trigger, parrot and unicorn fish. The boat crew were excellent, always offering snacks and beverages and helping us with our things.

The following day Matt went diving at “West of Eden” and “Elephant Head”. The Similans are famous for their many dive sites and are rated one of the top 10 scuba diving spots in the world. It has 2 different types of diving; the east side consists of gently sloping coral reefs with sandy patches and the occasional boulder in between while the west side is known for its huge underwater granite boulders and numerous swimthroughs. Elephant head rock is a famous spot with a maze of swimthroughs and the reputation for spin-cycle like currents running in every direction.


Matt saw sea turtles, box fish, grey tip reef sharks, scorpion fish, stone fish, large bright parrot fish, a giant barracuda and a large morrey eel named Emma which comes out when divers approach as she is so used to being fed (one diver recently lost a finger when he came too close and pointed at it). Matt also saw a clown trigger fish which is shown here, not from our camera though as it couldn’t go below 15m..

On our last day in Khao Lak we had to do a visa run to Burma; which would allow us to stay another 30 days in Thailand. We have 10 days left on our existing stamp but since we are heading to the Gulf of Thailand which isn’t close to any border crossing, we decided to just go 3 hours north to cross the border in Burma before we left. Our bus was due to leave at 8am and we woke up in a panic at exactly 7:57. Luckily, everything in Thailand runs a little late and we were on our way at 8:15. It was a full day with a three hour drive to Ranong where we officially departed Thailand, took a longtail boat into Burma, stamped our passport on arrival, then back on the boat to Ranong to stamp our arrival into Thailand. We arrived back to our hotel at 5pm, had dinner and called it an early night as we had to travel to Koh Pha Ngan the following day.

Traveling to Koh Pha Ngan was long process, everything is organized under one ticket from point to point (mini-bus/transfers/ferry/etc) which makes it extremely easy but it was a long day. We left at 8am and didn’t arrive here until 10pm. What can you do though, we’ve arrived and it’s absolutely beautiful. We have nothing to complain about! Koh Pha Ngan is a large island very close to Koh Samui; known for their full moon parties on Haad Rin beach. We are staying on Leela Beach; quiet and peaceful but a short walk to Haad Rin. Our friend Josh is back out here visiting from China and we may have a few other friends coming here as well. We may stay here for a month but may move to the quiet end of the island after a week in the party atmosphere. Koh Pha Ngan is dotted with picturesque beaches and bays on all sides of the island so we may just rent a house for a month while Matt does his dive master course. The diving/snorkeling here is supposed to be great; mainly around Koh Pha Ngan and Ko Tao.