Koh Similan was rated as one of the world’s best spots for both above-water and underwater beauty, the eleven islands at the heart of the Mu Ko Similan National Park are among the most exciting diving destinations in Thailand. Massive granite boulders set magnificently against turquoise waters give the islands their distinctive character, but it’s the 30m visibility that draws the divers. The 5000-year-old reefs are said to be the oldest in Thailand and Koh Similan is the largest island, blessed with a beautiful, fine white-sand bay and impressive boulders and traversed by two nature trails.
Liveaboard boats cruise around this picturesque scene stopping at the choicest sites to allow divers to explore at their leisure all the marine life that abounds: leopard sharks, white tip and black tip reef sharks, batfish, moray eels, snappers, barracudas, triggerfish, surgeonfish and unicornfish.
On the eastern side of the Similan Islands, hard corals in big numbers cover the steep slopes down to the sea floor, with impressive table corals and staghorn corals being the most prevalent. Bommies bedecked with soft corals are a magnet for the sea life and dot the seabed.