The Season Begins

First of all, apologies for the absence. Mik, Kerry, and all the staff on board MV Philkade have had a busy few weeks!! When we last made contact through our Blog, MV Philkade was sat out of the water in the ship-yard getting serviced and generally cleaned up for the approaching 2008/9 season. It was literally 'all hands on deck' towards the end as we had made many improvements to the boat and we had to make the final touches of hanging the curtains, laying the carpets, scrubbing the decks, clearing the workmen's dust etc.

Finally we did it and on 2nd November it was a great feeling to see MV Philkade moored alongside Chalong Pier gleaming in the early evening twilight. By 8pm that evening, we were welcoming our first guests of the new season, a group of eight from Belarus that chartered the boat for 5 days and 6 nights to Similan and Richelieu Rock.

Since then, we have completed another trip with guests from Spain, France, Russia and the USA. Our second group did get a couple of day's rain on their trip but in general, things have gone swimmingly.

Mik and Kerry are particularly pleased with the condition of the reefs and marine life. Richelieu Rock has plenty of ghost pipefish and our pair of seahorses are still in their home. Leopard sharks, white tip reef sharks, barracudas, napolean wrasse and much much more have been spotted on the Similan Islands as well... and that's just with our first 2 trips.

Needless to say, for us, it's great to be back in water and back cruising the best dive sites Thailand has to offer on board the luxury and comfort of MV Philkade. Feel free to read more detailed reports of our trips on MV Philkade's official web-site.