Dive Review of Phinisi in
Thailand/S. Thailand Sea/Andaman Sea

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Phinisi: "Rough Seas; Low Viz; Average Divng", Feb, 2024, by Michael J. Millet, CA, US ( Top Contributor 101 reports with 63 Helpful votes). Report 12908 has 1 Helpful vote.
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Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
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Comments	PHINISI REVIEW Feb. 8 headed to Phuket via Singapore. After an overnight in Phuket, boarded the Phinisi at Chalong Pier, south of Phuket. The Phinisi, part of the Siren/Master fleet, is exactly that — a phinisi style, 2-masted sailing vessel (that never has the sails raised). The dive stations are towards the bow of the boat along with the camera tables. The charging outlets are in the salon — a bit away from one’s camera. The salon is not air conditioned and is covered with pads and large pillows. This makes it somewhat awkward to reach one’s batteries especially if other divers are napping on the pads. Not a user-friendly arrangement. The cabins are reached by descending a very steep set of stairs, which have metal strips on the edges. Several divers including this one suffered nicks and lacerations on the backs of our legs. My cabin was comfortable with 2 beds for a single booking. There was plenty of space for my gear and bags but would have been quite tight for 2 divers. The dining area was at the rear of the boat in outdoor booths. Divers became quite adroit at climbing over the back of the booth to find a spot to eat. The meals were all served buffet style with a nice variety of Asian and western food. The meals included lots of fruits and soups. There was always a cookie jar that the divers dipped into often. There was no made-to-order breakfast. The dive briefings conducted by Cruise Leader, Marco, were always quite thorough with well done dive site illustrations. Marco did a great job of keeping us informed about the trip itinerary and what to expect the next day for diving. The diving is all done from skiffs. We boarded the skiffs with full dive gear by stepping from the big boat to a platform attached to the big boat and then onto the skiff. After the dive, we re-boarded the skiff with full gear and then reversed the steps to board the big boat. It was amazing that no one had a bad fall stepping from the skiff to the big boat in some rather choppy water. The dive operation had what I consider to be a significant safety flaw. Inexplicably, the dive vessel had only one operational dive skiff. So with 3 separate dive groups there was necessarily not a dive skiff at the dive site at all times. In addition, even when all the divers were in the water, the dive skiff was tied up to the big boat not over the dive site. I was assigned dive guide, Ronnie, who did an excellent job managing his 5 divers in some rather challenging dive conditions. For the first 6 days of the trip, there viz was often 20’ or less. Ronnie was also ver good at critter spotting. The first 4 dive days were spent south of Phuket diving Koh Haa Island and Phi Phi National Park. Due high winds, the waters were quite stirred up resulting in very poor viz. The Phinisi then returned to Chalong Pier to resupply. The divers spent the afternoon visiting the Big Buddha on the hill. Next, we head north to dive Richelieu Rock for 2 days. We had very lousy viz here, also. This was really too bad because from what I could tell, it appears to be a great dive site with abundant soft and hard corals, sponges and sea fans. This is popular spot for day boats so the site was a bit crowded with mostly new divers flailing arms and legs. Finally, for the last 3 dive days at Surin and Similan Natl Parks, the viz improved dramatically 60’-75’. These dive sites generally consist of rock reefs formed by huge boulders. The corals are not that prolific so neither is the marine life. After the 10 night trip, we disembarked at Khao Lak, about a 1 1/2 van ride north of the Phuket airport. In summary, the highlight of my trip was diving with Marco and Ronnie. The Phinisi rates a bit low in comfortability. This factor along with the generally poor diving conditions does not motivate me to return to Thailand.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over the Caribbean; Galapagos, Socorro, Fiji, Solomons, GBR, Vanuatu, PNG, Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Yap, Kosrae, Truk Lagoon, Thailand
Closest Airport	Phuket	Getting There	From SFO-SIN-PKT
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	78-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	15-50 Ft/ 5-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	1 hour dives and no Deco
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Phinisi in Thailand/S. Thailand Sea/Andaman Sea

Phinisi: "Rough Seas; Low Viz; Average Divng", Feb, 2024,

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 Phinisi in
Thailand/S. Thailand Sea/Andaman Sea