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Similan Islands Liveaboard Diving

Liveaboard Diving Amid Huge Granite Boulders, Swim-throughs And Caverns With Great Marine Life And Sharks

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Liveaboard Diving in Similan Islands

Similan Islands liveaboard diving is about vibrant marine life and diving amid huge granite boulders with caverns, arches and swim-throughs where you meet Napoleon wrasse, sharks and turtles. Similan islands liveaboards are the best way to dive a unique marine paradise with world-class diving.

Liveaboard diving in the Similan Islands is breath-taking, which is why many scuba divers come back year after year. If you love shark diving, the Similan Islands don’t disappoint, as you can spot whale sharks, whitetip sharks, blacktip reef sharks, leopard/zebra sharks, guitar sharks, nurse sharks, bull sharks and the infamous tiger shark.

On top of diving with sharks, you can dive amongst huge granite boulders with caverns and arches accompanied by large schools of fish, meet Napoleon Wrasse, see turtles, bump head parrotfish, blue spotted rays, triggerfish, scorpionfish, snappers, giant trevally and emperor fish.

Then there’s the small critters seen at the Similan Islands, including mantis shrimp, ghost pipefish, cleaner shrimp and porcelain crabs.

There are strong currents in this region, which means you need to be an experienced diver with an advanced diver certification. Then you also have the chance to enjoy a night dive or two, which is when you get to see those underwater creatures that come out at night.

Table of Similan Islands Liveaboards

This list of Similan Islands liveaboards is in descending customer rating order, so the liveaboards with the highest customer rating will be at the top of the list. To filter this table for the features that are important for your Similan Islands liveaboard trip, select from the list of filters below.


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Total Records Found: 22, showing 7 per page
Discover LiveaboardCustomer ReviewsPrice Per Day
Review: MY Marco Polo; Book: MY Marco Polo 9.3 Superb from £160; $195; €182
Review: MV Smiling Seahorse; Book: MV Smiling Seahorse 9.3 Superb from £117; $143; €133
Review: MY Sawasdee Fasai; Book: MY Sawasdee Fasai 9.2 Superb from £118; $144; €135
Review: The Junk; Book: The Junk 9.1 Superb from £110; $134; €125
Review: The Phinisi; Book: The Phinisi 9.1 Superb from £142; $173; €162
Review: MY Giamani; Book: MY Giamani 9.1 Superb from £237; $289; €270
Review: MY Dolphin Queen; Book: MY Dolphin Queen 9.1 Superb from £71; $87; €81

Note: The above “Price Per Day” was correct at the time of producing this article, as was the exchange rate used to convert the GBP cost to US Dollars and Euros. For an up-to-date cost for your chosen liveaboard, please visit the “Book” link above.


Similan Islands Dive Sites

  1. Richelieu Rock in all about pelagic giants is a pinnacle that is 88 kilometres (55 miles) north of the Similan Islands. This pinnacle has an abundance of marine life and spectacular corals, and is regarded as the best dive in Thailand due to the great diversity of marine life. Known for pelagic giants, including whale sharks, manta rays, tuna and barracuda, plus other sea creatures such as trevally, turtles schooling snapper, octopus, squid and moray eels (see video below).
  2. Koh Tachai Pinnacle is about mantas and whale sharks is an open-ocean pinnacle and is best suited for intermediate and experienced divers due to the strong currents, but makes for an exciting dive. Koh Tachai Pinnacle is located half way between the Similan archipelago and the Surin Islands.
  3. Anita’s Reef is for beginners and first dive of the liveaboard is on the east coast of Similan Island which has great marine life and coral formations. Marine life includes trevally, yellowfin goatfish and blue damsels. Mild currents make this an ideal site for all diver levels, including beginner divers.
  4. Elephant Head Rock, is pinnacle with great swim-throughs located about one mile off shore and best suited for more experienced divers due to the currents found here. Elephant Head Rock is the largest of the pinnacles in the Similans and a great site for spotting whitetip reef sharks, batfish, trevally and barracuda, moray eels, octopus, boxer shrimp, mantis shrimp and lionfish.
  5. Donald Duck Bay is all about macro critters so named because it resembles the cartoon character and is a great dive site for underwater photographers and macro critter lovers, as well as for seeing cuttlefish and green turtles. The boulders in Donald Duck Bay provide shelter to emperor shrimps, red round crabs, decorator crabs, triton shells and cone shells, bull crabs and red octopus.
  6. Christmas Point is a collection of large boulders and rock formations that provide divers with swim-throughs and tunnels filled with glassfish. Christmas Point is on the northwest edge of Ko Bangu and has a coral garden with marine life such as school of bluefin trevally, giant sweetlips, sea snakes, anemone with clownfish. moral eels and grouper.
  7. West of Eden (known as West of Six) is on the north-west corner of Ko Bayu Island. West of Eden is made up of massive granite boulders with sea fans and a healthy hard coral reef. Marine life seen at West of Eden includes barracuda, batfish, octopus, turtles and octopus, frogfish, pufferfish, ribbon eels, giant morays and nudibranchs can also be seen.
  8. Boulder City is about one kilometre (0.62 miles) offshore from Ko Payan, and is a dive site that consists of large granite outcrops and huge boulders scattered across a sandy bottom where leopard sharks can be seen. The currents can sometimes surprise divers with whale sharks, manta rays and turtles.
  9. Shark Fin Reef is a dive site with of granite boulders covered in gorgonians and hard corals on a sandy bottom. Shark Fin Reef is home to sea snakes, Napoleon wrasse, turtles, boxfish, triggerfish, batfish, yellow goatfish, surgeonfish, angelfish, plus the chance to see manta rays and whale sharks too.
  10. Honeymoon Bay is a sheltered dive site perfect for a night dive. At night you see crabs, shrimps, lobsters, cuttlefish and nurse sharks.
[4K, Sony A7SII] Underwater | Richelieu Rock, Similan, Thailand

I hope you enjoyed this page about Similan Islands liveaboard diving

I’d love to hear from you. Tell us about your adventures of diving and snorkeling, in the comments below. Please also share your photos. Either from your underwater cameras or videos from your waterproof Gopro’s!

If this article hasn’t answered all of your questions. If you have more questions either about snorkeling or scuba diving (or specifically about Similan Islands liveaboard diving), please comment below with your questions.

There will also be many more articles about scuba diving (and snorkeling) for you to read and learn about these fabulous sports.

Have fun and be safe!

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