We waited until the last minute to book any day trips for our stay in Phuket. We ended up emailing with David at Phuketdivetours who was able to squeeze us in for a day trip to Similan Islands. He did warn us ahead of time that it makes for a LONG day.
The tour ended up being $200 for both of us. We were picked up from our hotel on Karon Beach at 6am for an hour and a half drive to the start location. We were expected to have another 1.5 hour boat ride to the Similans. The trip included sightseeing, lunch and snorkeling.
This boat was larger than yesterday’s tour with at least three times the amount of passengers. To be honest, we were skeptical about the day and wondered whether or not this was going to be worth all of the travel time. The Similan’s are a cluster of islands located near Southern Thailand in the Andaman Sea. AKA: Mu Ko Similan. Islands 1-3 are the Turtle Conservation Area and are off limits to visitors.
On our first two stops were spent snorkeling. The water is crystal clear! Seeing the clear water was actually our main reason for visiting the Similans. Oddly enough this was my first time ever snorkeling, haha! I was really impressed with how much you could see in comparison to diving. Just floating along the top allowed me to see the bottom perfectly.
Another odd fact- I’m afraid of fish. Actually, I think I’m more afraid of murky water but they go hand in hand. I have this huge fear of a fish slithering against my skin or biting my toes. I cannot even entertain the thought of getting one of those minnow pedicures. However, I am fine when snorkeling and diving. It’s the weirdest thing.
Island four was our third stop which included lunch with some lounge time. Our meals were pre-made in Tupperware containers and were surprisingly pretty good. There were a lot of people on the island (from multiple tour companies) and that made it difficult to find a table. After eating, we went to the beach to swim and lay out. We were given a decent amount of time before departing for the next island.
We had one final snorkeling spot before stopping at Sail Point. Sail Point is a huge rock, in the shape of a sail, that sits high atop the island. It can be seen from the beach but there is also a short hike that puts you right at the top. This was my favorite view of the day. It was peaceful watching the boats travel to and from the island and there were less tourists willing to make the hike. Hannah and I were getting frustrated with the lines just to get photos with the Similan signs so being at the top was refreshing.
I think we take a lot of photos but we are also very respectful to other travelers. We get our one photo and we move on. It was a common theme for others to take multiple photos in many different poses despite having a line of people waiting their turn. All for an instagram worthy photo to gain several likes. They should consider interacting with the other travelers visiting the same destination as opposed to followers they’ll likely never meet.
That was our final stop before heading back to Phuket. Thankfully the ride back was closer and only took about 30-45 minutes as opposed to the 1.5 hour there. Right before docking, it started down pouring! Since I was sitting near the side, I had to block the rain with my life vest. By the time we docked, the rain had quit and left two beautiful rainbows.
