Colona Liveaboards

As the season is winding down we thought we would share some of this seasons comments from the guests onboard MV Giamani.

What can I say - The crew, the trip - great. Been on many liveaboards over the years & this is right up there with the best!! No B.S. Saw my 1st Manta on Koh Bon. Also got the record 50 cans of beer. Steve S (Cyprus)

It was a great trip! I received a first really fantastic experience in diving! A lot of amazing photos, emotions, especially many thanks to Dimitri for his help & support. We’ll go for next trip with him on Giamani. Thanks a lot for good company and a very very pleasant time for all. Sergiy & Olesia

Great o be here & great time, Merry Christmas & see you in 2009 Bill Egan, Boston, USA

Fantastic guides and crew onboard, lovely food - its hard work all this diving, sleeping & eating. Manta Rays the highlight of the trip. Karen & Dave

What I have to tell? Great! Beautiful & wonderful! Compliments to the whole crew! Kees

It was a smashing trip again! Two years ago I was on Colona VI and this time I enjoyed the trip even more! Coming back for sure, Burma trip? PS The staff is excellent. Freek, Netherlands

Amazing trip, well run & planned, friendly crew, great food & good boat. Saw a whale shark, fantastic! Andy, UK

Great diving, Richelieu Rock the creme de la creme! Steve, UK

Diving was awesome. Can’t beleive you guys produce whale sharks on demand! Saw so many things for the time. I can’t ever imagine having a better liveaboard trip! Justin

Whale sharks, larry the turtle, stingrays & multitudes of fish, what more could a girl ask for? Oh yeah & Nudibranchs, how could I forget that?? Being surrounded by fantastic people, excellent diving & scrumptious food makes for an unforgettable liveaboard experience. Thanks for making it great again and again. Ish

We had a good time with great staff, an even greater whaleshark! Lonny & Jan

This first dive cruise was for me a great success!! So much fun! Everything was just perfect and the crew is incredibly friendly!! THANKS!! Karine

Thanks for a great trip. Always entertaining and some spectacular diving; whalesharks, octopus, turtles and many many many fish. I think you are too greedy and should share the fish with the rest of the world! Its always impressive to see divemasters so dedicated to conservation. Cheers Kesler

Nudibranchs rock!! Whalesharks kick ass!! Thank you for a good relaxing trip. Anja, Germany

Thank you for a tremendous week. Thorbjorn, Denmark

Many thanks for a great trip! Whaleshark was the highlight. Keep up the good work. Tack

Thank you to all the crew, we have had a fantastic trip, many great memories & lots of stories to tell. We will recomend this trip to all our scuba friends! See you next time! Team Aussie (Colin, Colin 2, Tom, Matt & Millie)

Thank you for a fantastic trip, great food, great diving and made to feel very relaxed and welcome. See you next time! Helen & Kevin

Thank you for a very good trip to Myanmar & Thailand. I like the whaleshark and special the Nudibranchs. Special Thailand. Marco

Some seriously great diving, sharks, mantas, ghost pipefish, guitar shark plus all the others. Only left to see the whaleshark but will have to wait till I come back for my next trip. Really loved the crew. Sidney, Australia

MV Colona VI CO36

We had a full boat for our 4 day northern trip and had high hopes for a whale shark, after several reported sightings in the area, including three trips in a row by MV Giamani! Alas, it was not to be (this time) so the guests will have to hope they are luckier on their next trip on MV Colona VI.

No whale shark but a Manta will do

However leopard sharks, both black + white tip reef sharks, ghost pipefish and a blotched fantail stingray all featured during the trip, with a fantastic dive on the Boonsung wreck before a brief cruise into Tap Lamu pier. A special mention must be made for Marco for keeping everyone entertained throughout the trip!

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

MV Colona VI CO35

Unfortunately heavy weather prevented us from reaching Hin Daeng and Hin Muang on this southern trip, but we still managed to get some fantastic diving in at Koh Haa and Bida Nok in Phi Phi.

Leopard Shark

The second day we managed to get a peaceful early dive on the fish-filled King Cruiser wreck before seeking out the leopard sharks at Shark Point. After a gentle wall dive at Koh Dok Mai we enjoyed some of Mummy’s fine cuisine on the short cruise back to Chalong.

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

MV Colona VI CO33

Leopard sharks, white-tip reef sharks, black-tip reef sharks, napoleon wrasse and ghost pipefish were just some of the highlights of this six day northern trip.

We also managed a couple of beach trips, including a visit to the Moken sea gypsies in Surin National Park. The guests’ collective favourite dive site was Tachai Pinnacle, for the sheer abundance of marine life, as well as the huge Great barracuda and the manta which joined us for the last ten minutes of the dive.

Moken Sea Gypsies

On the cruise back to Patong we were also treated to a pod of dolphins catching fish from an abandoned floating fish trap. Congratulations to Team Deutschland, Andreas und Andreas, on completing their Nitrox and Advanced Open water certifications onboard.

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

MV Colona VI CO32

Leopard sharks were coming out of the woodwork on this trip. We had five of them and a white tip reef shark on Koh Bon Pinnacle, as well as a manta on an afternoon dive in Koh Bon Bay.

Leopard Shark with Remora

Tachai Pinnacle has proved a firm favourite recently among our northern dive sites, especially as current has been very forgiving and we’ve been seeing leopard sharks and mantas. Congratulations to Jennifer and Travis for gaining their Advanced Open water certifications onboard.

Manta Ray

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

MV Colona VI CO31

With guests of six different nationalities onboard we headed south to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang before stopping to dive the beautiful ‘Cathedral’ at Koh Haa on the way back to Phi Phi.

On day 2 the guests all enjoyed 15 mins with a big leopard shark at Bida Nok for the 1^st dive before moving onto a fish-filled Shark Point and relaxed wall dive at Koh Dok Mai.

Congratulations to Marco for completing his Open water course onboard over the weekend.

MV Colona VI CO30

Five Italians and a Dutchman made for an interesting four day northern cruise. Favourite dives included Tachai Pinnacle for mantas and Koh Bon Pinnacle, where we had five leopard sharks.

Chromodoris Annulata laying eggs

On the way back to Patong at the end of the trip we were also lucky enough to see a manta which swam around the boat at the surface for fifteen minutes including some fantastic breaches where almost the entire manta was airborne.

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

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!