The guide I had on the Surin Islands said that if I didn’t like diving here I didn’t really like diving. Luckily I really liked diving here. The problem comes when you go without a guide as some people attempt to. This isn’t the kind of place you can just jump in and swim around and hope to catch sight of something interesting, but if you know where to look you’ll see all kinds of marine sights. The best site is Richelieu Rock, a horse shoe shaped set of pinnacles which draws big fish – including the all important and much admired gentle giant, the whale shark. Other big-uns: jacks, barracudas and batfish are common as well. Since the tsunami I’ve heard the numbers of whale sharks and larger fish nave dropped off, but that that has only made people pay more attention to the smaller guys. There are some pretty unusual creatures living on these pinnacles, ghost pipefish, strangely colourful cuttlefish, shrimp, lionfish, frogfish, sea horses and octopuses of several different species as well as some pretty unique looking anemones, but the rocks themselves create a rather lovely, peaceful scene and slow you down with all the details to look into.

Visibility is very good and the currents are there but pretty predictable. February to April are the best months to visit. There are plenty of local islands to stay on which are pretty much paradise, beaches and palms and jungle. Not top of the diving list but definitely a great holiday.

Written by  Nick Shaw.

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