Then it was on to Tachai for a few afternoon sessions. The sunset dive was incredible, with schools of Pickhandle and Chevron Baraccuda several hundred strong. A few Hundred Trevally were out hunting together, and one group was even lucky enough to see a mating pair of Napoleon Wrasse as well.
The real treat came on the morning of day two. One of our dive guides Lucy had never seen a Whaleshark. I told her at the start of the trip that I thought she would see one on the fourth dive of the trip, the sunset dive on Tachai Pinnacle. Well, as it turns out, I was wrong. Instead, she had to wait another twelve hours, until the next morning dive on Tachai. As her group was heading down the mooring line a small Whaleshark appeared out of the blue, just three or four meters long. It leisurely swam by them and then off into the blue again. Congratulations Lucy, Felix, Timo and Sarah! Welcome to the Whaleshark club! :-).
As if that weren't enough, that same group then had a ten minute visit from a Manta Ray later in the dive. Sweet! Most everyone on the boat saw that one, as it was circling for a while. What a way to start the day.
The second and third dives of the day were at Richelieu Rock. I was able to find a baby Tigertail Seahorse again this trip, and showed it to most of the divers from our boat. A Ghost Pipefish, cuttlefish and Harlequin Shrimp rounded out the highlights from those two dives.
In a unique scheduling twist, we decided to return to Tachai for another sunset dive. The waves were forecasted to pick up later in the evening and the captain and I decided that it would be better to move South earlier while we still had some daylight and calm water. Of course everyone was happy about this, as the sunset dive the night before was absolutely manic. This evening was good as well, with tons of Rainbow Runners along with most of the same fish action they we had seen the previous evening.
The final day saw dives at Koh Bon Pinnacle and the Boonsung wreck. Koh Bon Pinnacle was nice as always, and we were able to spot our buddy Stewie the Stonefish and a few of his friends down there. Always nice to see his cute face!
Boonsung wreck is a veritable fish festival, with what seems like tons of everything down there. Highlights include Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Freckled Frogfish, Spearing Mantis Shrimp and of course the oh-so-cool Honeycomb Moray Eels.
Congratulations to all of our PADI Advanced Open Water students who completed their course on board, Timo, Ingrid and Jeff. Nice work guys.
Manta Queen 6 is now running the three day, three night liveaboard schedule for the rest of the season. Come and join us anytime before the middle of May for all of the best diving that the North Andaman Sea has to offer!We hope to see you soon!!!