Dive Review of WICKED DIVING in
Thailand/Surin Islands

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WICKED DIVING: "Not As Good As My Previous Trips But Still Loving It", Jan, 2017, by Gianni Zanini, MD, US ( 2 reports). Report 9465.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	After two past great week-long trips with WICKED DIVING in the past four years, I went back for a third short 3 days/nights trip to Richelieu Rock and the Surin Islands this January. Unfortunately, the weather gods kept sending rain and wind during most of our trip. The captain had to stay near protected coves, and had to cancel the scheduled day of diving at Richelieu Rock (a wonderful pinnacle teeming with all sorts of fish and creatures and corals, likely the best dive location in the area). The Surin islands are mostly of granite, thus not the best for supporting healthly, lush coral growth. We did 9 dives, including a night one. Many of these dives were OK, one of them on a site with a cleaning station where I had seen three years ago my first manta ray, but not this time unfortunately. Anyway, we still managed to dive twice at a really great, beautiful spot, the Tachai Pinnacle, with a varied landscape, lots of hard and soft corals and gorgonias, barracuda schools, tunas, giant trevallis, snappers, lionfish, lobsters, bearded scorpionfish, many nudis, including a flabelina. This pinnacle (and Richelieu Rock) remain for me among the top diving spots in the world. Wicked Diving does not claim to provide a luxury experience, and cost much less than those who do. But its 20-person boat (Mariner II) and facilities are clean and adequate, the food provided is plentiful and good (no fish due to concerns for its origins and fishing methods), and its staff is superb: highly professional but also fun-loving and very friendly. They were very helpful on any major or minor issue that arose. And very safety conscious. Our guides on this trip were all foreign diving instructors, all very familiar with the topography and underwater life of all the locations we visited. In fact, most of them were the same my son and I had met a year before, still working for Wicked Diving-Thailand. Also, none of our groups had more than four divers per guide/instructor, with some actually having two or three. Office staff were equally friendly and helpful. While I had brought all my gear, Wicked Diving offers good rental gear, and free dive computers to all. Nitrox is available upon request (one advanced diver actually took the Enriched Air course on board). The trip is suitable in general for both beginner and advanced divers, and also snorkelers. But while advanced divers can enjoy the trip regardless, beginner divers (and snorkelers) should only go when the weather forecast call for sunny skies and calm seas.
Websites	WICKED DIVING
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	California, Caribbean, Mexico, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Kenya, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines
Closest Airport	Phuket	Getting There	taxi from Phuket Airport or from Patong is less than THB2,000 (US$57)
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy, rainy, cloudy	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	28-28°C / 82-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	10-20 M / 33-66 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	Advanced divers were limited to max 30 meters; length limited to max 1 hour; reaching below 10 min NDL caused guides to start ascending to lower depths.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of WICKED DIVING in Thailand/Surin Islands

WICKED DIVING: "Not As Good As My Previous Trips But Still Loving It", Jan, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of WICKED DIVING in
Thailand/Surin Islands