The Similan Islands, located about one hundred kilometers northwest of Phuket, are composed of nine granite islands covered in tropical jungle, washed by a clear blue tropical ocean and blessed with some of the world's finest beaches. Similan comes from Malay fisherman who named it "The Nine Islands" (Sembilan is "nine" in Malay) and now the islands are identified by a name-in Thai-and a number; for example, Ko Huyong (Island #1), located at the southern end of the chain. The islands have achieved national park status and thus are fully protected under Thai law. The National Park Authority maintains their presence on two of the islands: Ko Similan (Island #8) the largest, and Ko Miang (Island #4). The islands have never been inhabited and for many generations, the only human visitors were the so-called Sea Gypsies who came to fish on the teeming reefs. They were followed by dynamite fishermen who destroyed hundreds of years of coral growth with one bomb, collecting the dead and stunned fish before moving to new grounds. Commercial trawlers also came to wreak havoc with corals and fish populations alike.



By drawing an imaginary line from north to south, we divide the area into our two separate types of environments. The East Coast, with its powdery beaches, features hard coral gardens which slope dramatically from the surface down to approximately 30-40 meters, where sand takes over as the water depth increases. On this side, the most popular activity is drift diving along healthy coral gardens while watching the reef inhabitants go about their business. In several sites, large coral bommies rise from the bottom and are covered with soft corals, sea fans, and an enormous amount of critters and unusual fish.