Similan Islands Thailand

Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Sat 5 Apr 2014 02:19
08.39.960 N 97.38.754 E
 
It was 11.30 by the time we left Port Blair. Checking out went smoothly, but when we picked up the anchor the engine stopped. After bleeding the engine Duncan got it going again. It was an uneventful trip. We motored all the way with some sails up the first day, but no wind at all on day two and three. It was hot. We saw a pod of pilot whales quiet close and some dolphins; oh, and a few ships.
We arrived in Koh Similan around 7 in the morning after a heavy rain squall on the way in. We managed to pick up a safe mooring buoy in a nice spot. The bay way quiet at first, but then the live-aboard dive boats and the tripper boats started coming in; loads of them. Thousands of people went ashore to climb the big rocks. We snorkeled and went ashore when it had gone quiet again later in the day.
We spent two nights; first one was great, with a nice sunset. The second one not so good with wind and thunder and lightning followed by rain. We did manage to get some sleep. Set off early in the morning as planned and went on our way to another of the Similan Group. On the way we did spot a nice beach with mooring buoys on the leeward side of the island and decided to stop there. It was grey and raining, so it seemed the right thing to do. We'll spend one night here and then go on to Koh Miang.