Colona Liveaboards

One White Tip Reef Shark, two Grey Reef Sharks, three mating octopi, four circling Manta Rays, and a squadron of nine Eagle Rays… Not bad for one dive!

This 9 day trip to Burma was highlighted by incredible visibility and 29 degree water.  There were plenty of sharks to be had, including a three meter Nurse Shark and her two 80cm babies at Shark Cave.

While watching Mantas on Koh Bon (Similans) we saw a Guitar Shark (Shovelnose Ray) and her baby, with two attending cobias.  Black Rock was outstanding as usual, providing the epic dive mentioned above.

At North Twin North Pinnacle, a Manta Ray snuck up behind us and hung about a meter away for at least five minutes.  At North Twin South Pinnacle, the Pink Whipray mating season was getting started while a massive Mangrove Whipray looked on.

Then we did Western Rocky… Wow!  On our last dive here, we had two Guitar Sharks (Bowmouth Guitarfish), an Eagle Ray, and the most impressive encounter of the trip.  A female Whale Shark circled our group for a full fifteen minutes.  She was having fun checking us out and playing in the bubbles.  She was absolutely stunning, and provided great opportunities for photos and videos.

Burma provided everything from Nudibranchs to Seahorses to Cuttlefish to Sharks.  Brilliant!  Back in Thailand, we had two relaxing dives on Richelieu Rock and then visited some leopard sharks on Koh Tachai.

To finish it all off, we did three wreck dives (including a late-nighter) before heading back to Phuket.  We had lots of fun moments along the way, including a dive briefing at twenty meters, a footrace at fifteen meters, and some serious underwater break-dancing.  This was definitely a trip to remember!

MV Colona VI & MV Giamani
www.diving-thailand-phuket.com

Hi, I was on the Colona VI with Stephan from 16.2.-19.2. and want to say a big thank you. The trip was just great! The ship was really great, the food tasted perfect and the crew and guides were all just perfect.
Thanks to Steve and Torren.

And I just love those leopard sharks! And the great reefs. The similan islands and especially Richelieu Rock are just amazing. I have never seen such a big swarm. And also the ocean was so kind to us, so we had no waves at all. This dive safari - my first one - showed me, that this is just about the perfect way of holiday!

Greetings

Sawasdee Khrup,

Hi , back from another trip to Similans/ Myanmar’s Mergui Archipelago and what a trip it was!!

This time Giamani left from the port of Thap Lamu and sailed to Koh Bon island for the start of a 9 day trip with 8 Swiss and 2 Italian customers plus the guides.

Day 1
Unfortunately nobody saw mantas on Koh Bon, after 2 dives we moved to Koh Tachai and did the reef where we treated with several Leopard sharks. A night dives on Koh Surin and we were ready to go to Richelieu rock the next morning.

Day 2
Richelieu Rock was as beautiful as always with seahorses, ghost pipe fish, nudi’s and a massive school of yellow snappers. After the dive we had a relaxing day due to the immigration procedures for checking out of Thailand and into Myanmar. So first Ranong/Thailand and after Kaw Thaung/Myanmar. When we arrived in Kaw Thaung our communication person (Mr Mojo) informed us that the Myanmar authorities are making an extra effort to stop dynamite fishing. GREAT!!

Day 3
This trip, a slightly different route than usual was planned. We started at North Twin for 2 dives which is usually one of our last dive sites. North Twin was beautiful, good vis and a lot of marine life, we saw 4 big black blotched fantail rays, a LOT of blue spotted stingrays, ghost pipe fish, nice partner shrimps, and a bull shark!!  After North Twin we moved to South Twin for 2 dives, vis a bit less good but MANTAS at least 4 maybe 5, the first one we saw under our fins when we jumped in the water!

Day 4
Black rock, vis was not as great as it could have been but still a great site and after 2 dives we moved to the 3 Stooges. Because of the long way, the third and last dive of the day was a night dive along the main island and that was already enough to let everybody realise just how awesome the diving was going to be the next day.

Day 5
The 3 Stooges! Because of the beauty of this site and after a great night dive the previous day, we decided to stay the whole day here and explore the complete dive site.

First dive “Shark cave”, ghost pipe fish, sea horses, devil scorpion fish, commensual shrimps,…

Dive 2 was “the pinnacle”, and there most of us saw a whale shark!!

Dive 3 “Square rock”, Ghost pipe fish, nudis, mating cuttlefish….

And as last another night dive around the main rock. A fantastic days diving for everyone!

Day 6
Rocky1, High rock, 2 similar looking pinnacle with a great marine life, Cleaner-, double ended-, and ghost pipefish, flat heads,…

Third dive was an exploration dive, the rocks( 3 small pinnacles) had no name, they are now known as Giamani pinnacles J, Mantis shrimps, colorful soft corals, banded boxer shrimps.

After the dive we visited McLeod island and the resort thats on it and had a chat(and a beer) about the trip so far and what we saw. For the hard core divers (who did not drink beer!) there was a night dive on the house reef.

Day 7
Last day in Myanmar, fist dive: Sea fan Forrest, a small pinnacle with, as the name gives away, a lot of beautiful big Gorgonian seafans, Ghost pipe fish, octopus, devil scorpion fish, … Dive 2 was Copula island, a new dive site for me, File fish, nudis, nice anenomees, tube worms, crynoid shrimp.
The rest of the day was occupied by immigration and moving back south to Richelieu Rock.

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Day 8
2 dives on Richelieu rock, mating spindle cowries, tiny tiger cowrie, harlequin shrimps, and … we found a “new” very young tiger tail seahorse! Later we moved to Koh Tachai (South reef) leopard sharks, twin spotted dwarf lionfish, ghost pipe fish, porcelain crabs,… Giamani ended the day with a night dive on Koh Bon’s West ridge with its stunning night life.

Day9
Last day, first dive Koh Bon Pinnacle, Leopard sharks, schools of chevron barracudas and bluefin trevallys, no mantas though.
To end the trip we did the small wreck of the coast of Tablamu called the Boonsung wreck, a favorite for macro photography with colorful nudibranches, stone fish, lion fish, white eye and honeycomb morays.
After the dive it was equipment cleaning, packing bags and back to T\Hap Lamu port where the mini vans were waiting to bring us back to Phuket.

So as you can see not a bad trip at all!!!!

See you next time!