If you've never been here (or forgot) we'll be putting together some of the these entries to help orient to the various sites in the region.Island #9 (Koh Ba-Ngu) is the furthest North of the actual Similan Islands. It has a few very small beaches, but under the water this little island packs a punch.
With the great Western slope site of Christmas Point you can't go too wrong! Frequent sightings of Napolean Wrasse, all manner of sharks (Leopard, Grey Reef, White-tip and Black Tip) Ribbon Eels, Rays and more!
Up at the top is North Point (pretty clever huh?) with the big fans, nice scenery and frequent sightings of Mantas a lot of people get kick out of this site.
On the Eastern Side comes one of our favorite reef dives in all of Thailand - Breakfast Bend. Great drift dive with lots of the little stuff (Nudi's, Snakes) but also Turtles and Sharks. Best enjoyed early in the morning to maximize the light.
Finally there is Snapper Alley. While this was never a mind-blowing sites, it was one we did a lot because it was perfect academic dive, whether Open Water or Advanced. So we all knew it very well. Past Tense? Yup, due to the Geography of this site, it was the worst hit by the tsunami. All the current was channeled into the narrow passage between Islands 8 & 9 and this site took the brunt of it. At the rate of recovery we should see this site back on it's feet in a few years.
Of course there a lot of variations in names (North Point is also called Rocky Point) and in point of fact most of the sites are actually large enough to be broken into several dives (Christmas Point - deep and shallow are two distinctly different eco-systems). And you get yourself into the middle of an argument about how best to do Breakfast Bend - let alone where it starts and ends!
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