Meet the tour leader aboard MV Colona VI
Debbie, who is from the UK, first worked on Similan livaboards in 2001 and has returned pretty much every season since.
A full time Dive Professional since 2000 Debbie is a PADI Master Instructor who has worked her way over 5 continents in the last 9 years in search of unusual critters.
With a strong marine conservation background and a keen underwater photographer, she will be happy to spend the time searching for the small and unusual as well as the bigger pelagic marine life that is abundant in the Andaman Sea.
Her favourite dive site is Anemone Reef.
This underwater pinnacle still bears the scars from the King Cruiser ferry which managed to crash into it and sink close by more than 10 years ago.
The site along with Shark point close by is a submerged pinnacle descending to around 26m, it is completely surrounded by sand, so as the only underwater object it atrachs a huge amount of marine life around it.
You descend through schools of snappers and small barracuda along the walls of the pinnacle which themselves are covered in soft corals, sponges, clams and of course fields of colourful anemones to the sandy bottom area, here you look out for leaopard sharks which are often seen sleeping during the day.
You will notice spectacular gorgonian sea fans around the rock formations along with some hard corals which house some unusual reef life.
Every crack and crevice is a home to many species of shrimps, pipe fish, and nudibrachs are found all over the area, if you look closely you can find sea horses and even frog fish. With all the macro life it is easy to forget to look out, but you can see stingrays and schools of trevali and cheveron barracuda passing.
We use the pinnacle to spiral around as we come shallower, always look out for turtles near the surface in one of the small canyon and count how many different types of morays you can find. In the shallow you will need to move all the glassfish out of the way to be able to see the reef and the schools of crocodile needle fish. Debbie
Dive Crew onboard MV Colona VI
Dimitri is 34 years old from Oostende, Belgium. He speaks French, English, a fair bit of German and Thai. Before turning his talents to diving he was a professional rally driver in his native Belgium, but don't worry - we won't let him drive the minibus!
Dimitri has worked as a tour leader throughout Thailand and Burma for the last 4 seasons and has an incredible eye for spotting those small critters making him a firm favourite with guests that like the macro side of diving.
Dimitri is a firm fan of Richelieu Rock
Besides the fact that it is one of the better places the meet whalesharks and manta rays, its has a lot more to offer than just the "big" stuff.
Richelieu Rock is home to an amazing variety of Thailands weirdest & most beautiful underwater species like such as nudibranches, Pipefish and other seahorse related species, Harlequin shrimps, the illusive frogfish and clown frogfish plus five different species of clownfish.
Also the amount of fish that circles this relativly small pinnacle is spectaculair, massive schools of yellow snapper(1000+), Chevron Baracuda's, trevally(aka Jacks) and then are the rare meetings with some other visitors of Richelieu rock, Mink whales, dolphins, guitar skarks, eagle rays, davil rays, nurse sharks ,black tips and white tip reef sharks.
Above that it also offers the most beautiful soft coral gardens, anemome fields, Gorgonian sea fans and if you got the very rare chance to do a nightdive it will be one of the best you do, strange looking sponge crabs, a dozen or more different shrimp species, the resident Giant Baracuda that joins on your dive using your torch light to find fish, fantastic!! Dimitri
Meet the tour leader aboard MV Giamani
Torrin is in his fourth season working as a tour leader in Thailand. A firm favourite with guests due to his unending efforts to ensure that they have a fantastic trip to the Andaman and Mergui Archipelago onboard MV Giamani.
If he's not showing you some amazing macro critter, dancing with the manta's or cuddling up to a whale shark Torrin is sure to be doing something to keep you entertained underwater.
Being the Tour Leader on MV Giamani that has a 9 day trip once per month to Burma allows Torrin the chance to dives sites that the rest of the Colona Liveaboards staff don't.
His current favourite is Western Rocky
One of the Southern most dive sites in Burma (Myanmar), Western Rocky is my favorite place on Earth.
It offers an enormous variety of wildlife and the most stunning topography in the area. It has a large island on the East side with several columns to the West. The main island has many cracks, holes, and caves, including one massive cave that extends all the way through the island.
This cave is a lobster breeding ground, and has blotched fantail rays and the occasional nurse shark. The pillars are truly stunning, nearly perfectly cylindrical, and extend well above the surface. Surrounding Western Rocky are countless weird and wonderful creatures.
A short list of some of the more interesting things to see here: Pygmy Squid, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Eagle Rays, Manta Rays, Bull Sharks, Shovelnose Rays, Bowmouth Guitar Sharks, and of course, Whale Shark!
Don't pass up the opportunity to dive on the most interesting site in the Andaman Sea. Torrin
Boat Operations Manager
After six years tour leading from Turatao in the south of Thailand through Phuket and the Similans, as well as the Mergui Archipelago of Burma Mik has decided to hang up his tour leading hat to look after the smooth running of MV Giamani and MV Colona VI for us. Having spent 2006/2007 season as the tour leader on MV Colona VI he knows how to have everything operating smoothly.
You may still get the chance to meet Mik though,as he will still get out on the boats (if he behaves), just to make sure that our current tour leaders are keeping up the high standards of service that Colona Liveaboards are renowned for and that the boats meeting the standards we set for ourselves.
Mik has trouble choosing between two sites as to which is his favourite.
Shark Cave in the Mergui Archipelago of Myanmar sits joint (almost) top purely based on the diversity of the place. With three small islets to choose from there is gently sloping reef, macro covered wall, piles of boulders as well as two hugely exhilerating swimthroughs. Over two seasons here I waslucky enough to see magnificent macro including (though not limited to) Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Seagrass Ghost Pipefish, Bendstick Pipefish, Tiger Tail Seahorses, endless Nudibranchs, Devil Scorpion Fish, Peacock Mantis Shrimp and many more. But there's big stuff here too, in the same time period I saw Whalesharks (plural), Grey Reefs Sharks, White Tip Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks, and Whip Rays. Though none of these things are guaranteed, something that gets people talking for a few days always seems to turn up.
But I think it is just pipped at the post by Ko Tachai Pinnacle. The top of this boulder pinnacle sits at around 11 metres and is NOT for the faint hearted, especially on it's good days. This is because it's good days are the ones when the current is ripping off the south of the island of Ko Tachai and straight across the pinnacle. It's on days like this that huge groups of Giant Trevally, Barracuda, Big eye Trevally, Big Mouth Emperor's and like like come in to feed on the enormous schools of Neon and Yellow Back Fusilier. Just get down as quickly as you can and try to shelter behind a boulder while the action goes off. High energy diving at it's best!! Mik
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