 The marine parks greatest achievements however, are those accomplished under the water where the environment required even more urgent attention than on land; for decades the coral formations and their marine life have been literally devastated by crude dynamite fishing techniques and trawling.
Nowadays strict regulations are enforced banning any type of fishing in the immediate area.
The results of these restrictions are already becoming evident; corals are slowly flourishing to return to their former splendour, populations of reef inhabitants are growing to previous figures and sizes and there is a marked increase in visiting pelagics.
The claim of Mu Koh Similan as being listed as one of the top ten diving locations in the world is
certainly a very fair description; there is over two hundred known species of hard corals alone residing in this Marine National Park, not to mention a myriad of soft corals. All these living structures are further highlighted by a tremendous diversity of marine life; colourful reef fishes mingle with all manners of equally splendid and in some instances 'surreal like' aquatic creatures. The surrounding waters are renowned for they're clarity generally with exceptional visibility during the northeasterly monsoon winds between the months of November and May. However a more restricted visibility is experienced during March, the country's hottest month when a rise in the water temperature brings in elevated numbers of microscopic creatures, giving the water a greenish sheen!, on the positive side this planktonic bloom attracts a wealth of pelagic visitors, transforming reefs otherwise inhabited with a diversity of colour into exiting high action dives featuring amongst others, manta and eagle rays, barracuda, rainbow runners, tunas, bonitos, jacks and a variety of reef sharks!
 Generally the sites along the eastern coast feature gentle sloping reefs and drop offs with impressive gardens of anemones and hard and soft corals descending to giant boulders, mostly buried amongst sand and fragmented coral substrate which have been allowed to settle in the more calmer sheltered conditions than those on the opposite coast, these are the areas more favoured by snorkellers. The archipelago's western coastlines is quite the opposite with giant boulders tumbling down to the seabed in some instances exceeding depths of 40m; their interconnecting gaps kept free from build ups of sand and coral fragments by the stronger currents that flow during the south west monsoons. This has created exciting diving adventures through the interconnecting swim-
 The Similan archipelago mainly comprises of nine small granite islands sitting in the Andaman Sea 92 km (55 nautical miles) north west of Koh Phuket, is affectionately referred to as the country's most beautiful and unspoilt Marine National Park.
 There is a dramatic contrast between the land formations of the east and west coasts on all the islands, the former experiences kinder weather conditions, as they do not have direct contact with the harsh south westerly monsoon winds between May and November; these more sheltered coastlines feature sandy beaches underlined by gentler sloping reefs whereas the west coast features hard rugged shorelines of stacked weather beaten granite boulders rising from the seabed to be crowned by trees forced over to lean inland by the heavy monsoon winds. The islands granite masses are covered with forest, the majority of which are extensive areas of lush tropical rainforest.
 The announcement declaring the area as a Marine National Park was an important and necessary move in order to eliminate any further deterioration both below and above water. The Royal Forestry Department installed two fully staffed park offices one on Koh Miang (island #4) the other on Koh Similan (island #8) to enforce strict regulations; these were the islands first land based inhabitants.
The presence of these officials has successfully quelled the cutting of trees for beach fires and has vastly reduced the amounts of litter left by increasing numbers of visitors to the islands. |
