Phuket and the south Andeman sea

After an amazing adventure in the primary forest of Khao Sok, it was time to dive into the underwater world. We took a local bus and headed south to Phuket where we stayed in a small guesthouse in the old Phuket district for the night and while waiting for the next evening to embark on a 4 day-4 night liveaboard trip (Diving boat where you dive, sleep and eat)

Our adventure ship: My Gentle Giant

​Wandering around old Phuket in search of a place to eat supper, we came across a restaurant on a street corner that was seemingly bustling with locals.
It seemed obvious this was the place to be so in we went! It only took us a few minutes to notice the difference in the letters used on the signs and menu... not Thai here but Chinese.
We had no idea what to order since there was no English translation, but the waiter was really kind and we just went with his recommendations. Turns out it was absolutely delicious!!!

Fried porc belly with rice and lovely herbes and spices that made it oh so delicious! The soup was just as good, as was the plate of fried porc on the side. ​

We woke up with a day to spend exploring before the pick-up from the liveabord team. We explored a local market, bought some fresh mango and pineapple and found a quiet spot for some home schooling. 

The journey than began with the team of "My Gentle Giant". We made it abord the ship around 8pm and met with the other guests and crew members. Covid was to our advantage here since the boat can usually accommodate 40 guests, we were 12!
There were 2 dive masters, Fabien (from France) and Guai (From Thailand and owner of the ship), both were great hosts. We also had several conversations with a couple from the Philippines that gave us great tips for our travel there in April! Another girl was from Vietnam so we reminisced about our trip there in 2020. She is a passionate diver and had plenty of recommendations of where we should dive in our upcoming destinations. An interesting girl but also quite particular if you get my drift ;)

We explored the boat and our cabin. We were all super excited and it promised to be an extraordinary experience!

We were attributed the master cabin to fit our family.

 We were then served a delicious meal as the crew went over the onboard safety rules and plan for our days to come. We were exploring 11 dive sites in the south Andeman region. ​
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The daily routine on board was as so: 

6:00: wake up call &
            continental    breakfast
7:00: 1st dive
8:00: Hot breakfast &
            short surface time 
10:30: 2nd dive
12:00: Lunch and surface time
14:30: 3rd dive
15:30: Snack and surface time
16:30: 4th dive
18:30: Supper
And then you get to start all over again!!

The children were allowed to stay on board with the crew while Alex and I were diving which was great since we could enjoy all the dives together rather than alternating and missing out on half the dives

With Fabien, our dive master

Some of the dive sites were fit for some snorkeling as well and the crew went out with the kids for some snorkeling while we were diving. In between dives, when the boat was not cruising between dive sites, we enjoyed some water fun as family jumping of the rear platform and just splashing around the boat. ​

The diving was better than expected which was a nice surprise! There is still tons of soft corals in this area, more so than in many places we have dived before. More specifically some lovely and plentiful purple soft coral as well as some red soft coral in some areas.

Notice here the beautiful blue soft coral

A batfish. It doesn't look it from the photo but they spand at least 50cm in length

This school of Batfish just hung around during our 3 safety stop giving us plenty of time to enjoy them

Exploring a small underwater cave during one of the dives

There were plenty of big schools of fish and we got to see several animals we had not seen before such as huge schools of Batfish, many sea snakes and even a really nice sea horse. Several huge sea fans and finally the more usual encounters such as trivalries, trigger fish, puffer fish, Murray eels, sweet lips, parrot fish, etc. One morning we encountered several blacktip reef sharks in the shallows. The children were out snorkeling during this dive also hoping to encounter the sharks which then did. Olivier states he saw 8 and Éloïse 6. I would say they were more or less 4-5 feet long and about 5-6 meters deep, so they got to have a really good look :)

We don't usually care much for wreck dives and this trip had 2 on the planned. One of them was actually quite nice as it was covered in soft corals and surrounded by massive schools of yellow snappers.

The last evening, we enjoyed a festive meal of fish and seafood cooked on BBQ hot pot style. Words are not enough to express how good everything was!

 Evenings on the boat are also a great occasion to observe the stars, away from all the light pollution of the cities, enjoy the sun rise and sunset onto and into the azure waters and witness the moon rise as well before letting the ocean rock you to sleep. This was definitely a highlight of the trip for all 4 of us.