Realm of Jewels: Similan & Richelieu Rock
contributor: Jessie Low; great ocean divers (g.o.d)
occupation: Relationship Banker at Royal Bank of Scotland and Harlequin Marketeer at Great Ocean Divers
I.M.... loving the pretty things in my life, the creatures in the ocean and the dive gear on my back.

Diving with G.O.D.





Mantas, leopard sharks, whale sharks, harlequin shrimps, giant valentina cowries, fusiliers in formation… What more could I ask for? It’s only my 15th dive and already, I’ve been able to see these magnificent creatures. “Is that a Manta? Is that really a Manta?” That was the question I kept asking myself when I saw this great black shadow gliding towards me from a distance. As the image became apparent, I knew my efforts in struggling through the current, hard crawl against the coral reef to reach the Dragon-Gazing point a.k.a Manta’s Cleaning Station was worth it.

Koh Bon was definitely one of the best dive locations to get up close with mantas. There was this particular moment when a huge black manta surged to the surface of the ocean and swirled gracefully before flipping its left fin above the water. We could see it from the sundeck of PP Harmony, as the seawater was crystal clear. A moment like that does not come often. It was like hitting a jackpot!

At my 20th dive, I was exploring the coral kingdom – some say it was the ANASTATIA, but I say it was the “Realm of Jewels”. This is one place where no word could justifiably illustrate its splendor.

THE FUNNY NAVIGATION DIVE
When I was doing my navigation dive, I was assigned as the compass reader/navigator and my buddy will count the kicks before changing directions – to form a square formation to return to our starting point. When our instructor, Hadi, initiated for us to start, my buddy zoomed ahead of me, before I could figure out my North East South West directions. Amazingly, she managed to do her kick counts and made her turning in a square formation. She must have decided to use her inner compass a.k.a. common sense to score her navigation dive! Unfortunately she was stopped by our instructor for not complying LOL!

I have always refused to do night dives as I’m afraid unknown creatures might be lurking in the dark waters, waiting to attack unsuspecting prey like me. However, for my Advanced Open Water certification and to gain experience, I forced myself to do the night dive during this trip.

As I was the most timid in the dive group, I was offered a light stick to tie on my tank and a giant torch light. After descending into the dark, I realized it wasn’t that scary after all. I was pretty much enjoying the first 20 minutes of my dive. I beamed my lights excitedly at all directions, searching for shrimps, lobsters and other night sea creatures. I swam beside a huge rock and its formation bears a striking resemblance to a woman’s face. For a split second, I thought I saw a woman’s face framed with long hair in it! In my horror, I dropped my torch (luckily it was tied to my wrist) and gagged myself as I slipped my reg!

The group of divers ranging from 20 to 56 years of age got along so well and most would sit and chat about all the things they saw and share photographs. This was another pleasant moment of my trip.





GO AGAIN
Similan and Richelieu Rock especially the island of Koh Bon are the best dive sites in Thailand and the package for the 4/4 nights on the LOB was money very well spent and I would do it again as soon as GOD plans another trip. In the meantime, I can now confidently look toward another LOB, the MV Sachika, one of the most luxurious boats for Maldives in October 2010. I look forward to seeing hundreds of Mantas swimming amongst the whale sharks in Maldives, something that can better what I have experienced here in Similan on one of GOD’s excellent organised trips.