Since the coral bleaching in Thailand during the summer months in 2010, asian waters changed a lot and many former pristine dive places are under pressure. This article is about how this affects tourism and diving in the area right now.
What you should know about the Similan Islands is, that in 2010 about 80% to 90% of the corals above 60feet died because of extremely warm water temperatures over four months time. The following two diving seasons saw still a high amount of divers, and a decrease in tourist numbers is not in sight for the next season.
So, how should you behave if you are panning a visit to the area?
Tourism is a very small origin of destruction of the environment in the similan islands. Overfishing and sea pollution are the major problems to the islands. So ethically it is quite "alright" to go, if you keep certain things in mind:
The Similan Islands are no snorkel destination any more! All corals above 30feet are dead, so you won't see anything but coral wasteland and two ore three leftover fish. Also snorkel daytrip business numbers picked up during the last couple of years and so the Islands are overrun by daytrip tourists during the high season. Save a day of your holday by not going on a crowded speedboat to some crowded beaches and snorkel sites, where you can't see anything anyway.Avoid diving daytrips wherever possible. Diving daytrips lack the same problems as snorkel daytrips. Too many boats, time pressure and therefore you will not see the best dive sites.
The only way to dive the Similan Islands is on a liveaboard!
Many people are surprised by the fact, that a similan island liveaboard stays only about 30% of it's trip time in the Similan Islands. North of the islands there are Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock, hardly visited by daytrip tourists and therefore only accessible by liveaboard. These northern destinations still offer exiting diving with healthy corals, rare species, Great Manta Rays and sometimes even sharks. That's where the similan island liveaboards spend most of their time, leaving the crowded beaches and dead divesites at the main islands behind on day two of most scheduled trips.Please keep that in mind, if you are planning a diving holiday to South Thailand. As the liveaboards have their schedule and are quite well booked in high season, it is recommended to book your liveaboard first and then book the nights in your ressort accordingly to that schedule.Often people could not go on liveaboard because they pre-booked their ressort for the entire time of their holiday and didn't want to loose money on that.
What you should know about the Similan Islands is, that in 2010 about 80% to 90% of the corals above 60feet died because of extremely warm water temperatures over four months time. The following two diving seasons saw still a high amount of divers, and a decrease in tourist numbers is not in sight for the next season.
So, how should you behave if you are panning a visit to the area?
Tourism is a very small origin of destruction of the environment in the similan islands. Overfishing and sea pollution are the major problems to the islands. So ethically it is quite "alright" to go, if you keep certain things in mind:
The Similan Islands are no snorkel destination any more! All corals above 30feet are dead, so you won't see anything but coral wasteland and two ore three leftover fish. Also snorkel daytrip business numbers picked up during the last couple of years and so the Islands are overrun by daytrip tourists during the high season. Save a day of your holday by not going on a crowded speedboat to some crowded beaches and snorkel sites, where you can't see anything anyway.Avoid diving daytrips wherever possible. Diving daytrips lack the same problems as snorkel daytrips. Too many boats, time pressure and therefore you will not see the best dive sites.
The only way to dive the Similan Islands is on a liveaboard!
Many people are surprised by the fact, that a similan island liveaboard stays only about 30% of it's trip time in the Similan Islands. North of the islands there are Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock, hardly visited by daytrip tourists and therefore only accessible by liveaboard. These northern destinations still offer exiting diving with healthy corals, rare species, Great Manta Rays and sometimes even sharks. That's where the similan island liveaboards spend most of their time, leaving the crowded beaches and dead divesites at the main islands behind on day two of most scheduled trips.Please keep that in mind, if you are planning a diving holiday to South Thailand. As the liveaboards have their schedule and are quite well booked in high season, it is recommended to book your liveaboard first and then book the nights in your ressort accordingly to that schedule.Often people could not go on liveaboard because they pre-booked their ressort for the entire time of their holiday and didn't want to loose money on that.
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