Daranee/Siam Divers, May 1995, John Stall, Solana Beach, CA. "Boat not first-class, but good value. Divemaster nice guy, inexperienced. Thai crew overworked. Shower - dump cup of water over head. Bunks below hot, sticky, no windows, slept on top under stars. The boat not set up for photographers, no rinse, no camera table. Marginal - thumbs up overall."

Fantasea II, January 1996, Catherine Houle, MI. "18 divers yet everything went smoothly. Plenty of room on dive deck, lounge area, and up top where we ate. Bathroom not a problem! Rarely did we have to wait. The crew helpful and went out of their way to assist! The food was tasty! Not luxury accommodations, but the experience was First-Class!!"

Fantasea, May 1995, John Stall, Solana Beach, CA. "Similian Islands, Surin Islands and Burma Banks. Boat crew takes extremely good care of cameras, plus space to rinse. Spacious dive deck, sun deck and lounge area. Bring computer plus photo equipment plus dive, dive, dive!!"

Fantasea, July 1995, Greg Harris, Malibu, CA. "The Mentawi Islands: disgrace of a reef system destroyed by dynamite fishing. A graveyard of dead and broken coral. We traveled for nine days searching for a spot that was out of harms way with no luck in finding a surviving reef. Nine days before my trip the boat traveled the other direction with the same results. Boycott Sumatra in the hope that the loss of the tourist dollar will force the government to protect its waters."

Fantasea, November 1995, Bob Viggers, Seattle, WA. "Six day trip, 5 star diving, whale sharks, leopard sharks, whitetip sharks, manta rays, sea snakes, octopus, cuttlefish, barracuda, soft corals cover everything; millions of fish, many schooling fish species too numerous to mention. Good photo setup. Mark and Susanne run a 5 Star dive trip."

Fantasea, February 1996, Jim Parkhill, McAllen, TX. "Not for inexperienced; some strong currents, a few dives are moored rather than drift dives; few deeper than 100', none in excess of the 130'. Can follow guide, but no hand holding. . . . Diving good, as diverse as Palau, fewer pelagics and sharks. Superb soft corals and macro critters. Great distance between dive sites limits number of different sites (two sites had four dives each). . . . Political problems with Myanmar forced dropping the Burma Banks (and the shark feed) and substituting Hin Muang and Hin Dang south of Phuket, where we found whale sharks. Enormous herd of false killer whales in pursuit of a school of sailfish while cruising between dive sites; hastily donned snorkel gear, but one diver injured by a panicked sailfish. Other highlights: leopard sharks, marble rays, ribbon eels, mating cuttlefish, octopi, banded sea snakes, seahorses, hogfish, mantis shrimp, porcelain crabs and an incredible variety of reef fish and soft corals. Vis generally excellent at Hin Muang and Hin Dang. Interesting topography with huge boulders, canyons and swim throughs. . . . Boat adequate in every respect, but not luxurious. Mark Strickland and Suzanne Foreman know the area like their own backyard. Their enthusiasm is contagious. Pointed out things typical diver would miss. Excellent value."

Fantasea, February 1996, James L. Waller, Sioux Falls, SD. "Water: 78°, Vis: 30­80 feet: Good: Swimming alongside a whale shark at Hin Muang. Thai crew can't speak English but were efficient and helpful. Divemasters Mark Strickland and Suzanne Forman have spent several years with the M.V. Fantasea and are very competent. Plenty of tropical fish such as lionfish, oriental sweetlips, etc. Bad: Vis worse than expected; only 30' at Richilieu Rock. Most passengers are German-speaking. Thai food at most meals. Accommodations basic with little privacy in cabins #1 and #lA. Wish I had known: Boat unable to visit Burma Banks all season due to Thai-Burma border dispute. Fantasea Divers said my travel agent knew this but they never informed me. Next season passenger capacity drops from 16 to 15 as cabin #lA will be converted from triple to double."

Fantasea, November 1995, Joseph Muratore, Upton, NY. "Staff and crew excellent and helpful, run a safe and efficient manner while allowing freedom for experienced divers. Enough room for comfortable camera handling, lots of advice and support. Diving area was crowded at times, food very good, cabins dry and comfortable. . . . Diving disappointing: vis 50'­60' and lack of large pelagics (though a whale shark was briefly sighted. Burma Banks not visited because of problems between Thailand and Burma. Coral mediocre, lots of small and medium-sized fish and colorful invertebrates."

Fantasea, March 1996, Hal and Lou Stewart, Bakersfield, CA. "Whale sharks - our 1st looked like a B-52. Many tropicals we had not seen before. More leopard sharks and lionfish. vis: 50­100 ft.water: 82­85°. Mark and Susanne excellent photo and video resources. Good value - $1400 week. . . . Few towels/person. 3 bathrooms/showers were on the deck above cabins. Usually did not have to wait long. Cabins smaller than most live-aboards. Diesel fumes 1st two days below. Despite the boat, go for diving."

Sai Mai, May 1996, Carol Bok, Santa Monica, CA. "Captain Mathew Hendrick sets a professional and friendly tone. Nice set up. Your tank refilled for 3, 4, 5 dives/day. Fine diving: Huge boulders, pinnacles and bommies: lots of soft corals, clouds of fish. Masses of tropicals, varieties of angelfish, butterflyfish; saw whale sharks 3 days, lovely leopard sharks, a few mantas, frogfish, ghost pipefish, nudibranchs. Very good food. Cabins small, but max of 8 guests. Upper deck nice. Traveled north through the Simians and up to Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, The Swiens and Richelieu Rock at the Myanmar border. Burma Banks were off limits. Next season they may be "open". Currents and surge manageable." vis: 30­100 ft. water: 81°."

Sai Mai, February 1995, Jose and Peggy Duran, Corpus Christi, TX. "Exciting diving, swift currents, thermoclines, some down currents, visibility 40­60 feet. Narcondom had sharks (silvertip, reef and white tip), sea snakes, mantas, giant bumphead parrotfish, unicorn fish, anthias, and wrasses, butterflies, exquisite soft and hard corals. Button Rock further South was like a tropical fish nursery - found a crocodile fish. Fish Rock: huge schools of spotted sweet-lips, jacks, grunts, and a large Napoleon wrasse overseeing it all. Sisters Islands brought a never-ending parade of large barracudas. . . . Captain Matthew Hendrick likes diving the points where there is more current and more action. His wife Warunee cooks, gourmet foods from around the world - delicious. . . . Wooden boat basic and solid - no portholes in the cabins, overhead reading lights, some hand holds would help on the stairs. Both heads upstairs. There was no holding back on traveling. Couldn't make to Richellieu Rock due to weather; dove the Similans before we continued onto Port Blair. Indian government officials gave us a hard time with immigration and customs. Madras Airport a night-mare. Great for experienced diver."

Scuba Cat, January 1996, Jay Donnelly, Montrale, NJ. "Can't say enough about the overall operation. Everything was great - food, diving, etc. Scuba Cat is well maintained and stays in the Similians-Yos; transfer by boat from Phuket (about 4 hrs.). They could have faster boat. Unlimited diving for computer divers. The boat covers all 9 islands in about 5 days. A 6:30 a.m. for a 7:30 dive. No engines or compressors after 10:00 p.m. All in all, great time for a $105.00 $US per day you can't go wrong. vis. 50­150 ft. water: 79°­83°"

Copyright 1997 by DSDL, Inc., publishers of Undercurrent. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact DSDL, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.