We also do a trip to Koh Bon. This Island is located north-east of the Similans and is a completely different type of island, though it’s still part of the Similan national park. Koh Bon is a limestone island, which makes the dive sites much different from the Similans. Instead of smooth granite boulders, Koh Bon has a much more dramatic typography. The limestone is much softer then granite so weather and wind have had a far greater impact on the shape of the island. There’s lots of small cracks and little caves which soft coral loves, making Koh Bon and it’s famous ‘ridge’ very colourful and spectacular.
Koh Bon also happens to be regularly visited by the magnificent Manta Rays. The island is a cleaning station, where the mantas comes to get themselves cleaned by cleaner wrasse who feed on parasites and scabs on the manta rays bodies. It’s also believed that the mantas comes to Koh Bon to feed because the water is rich with plankton, some also say mantas come to breed.
But even on a day when the mantas are not to be seen there’s plenty on marine life to enjoy here. Such as huge schools of fish, travellies, snappers, batfish, sweetlips and rainbow runners are seen daily in schools either on the reef or out in the blue. Some other things that you have a chance to see are octopus, lionfish, moray eels, pipefish, fire gobies, nudibranch in many shapes and colours, cowries, scorpionfish and many many more. And if you’re lucky you might even encounter an eagle ray or a leopard shark or maybe a reef shark.
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