Scuba Diving in Similan Islands
Batfish Bend
On the north east corner of this island, Batfish Bend has fantastic diversity but is somehow overlooked by most Similan liveaboard trips and therefore is one of the more pleasurable experiences here.
Batfish Bend gets its name from the schools of 50 or so longfin batfish that seem to hang out here. These fish are inquisitive so, as long as you approach them slowly, you are likely to be able to get a close up encounter.
There are expansive reef flats and gently sloping beds of healthy hard corals. There are some of the largest table corals you are ever likely to see, staghorn corals, hibiscus corals, branching and encrusting fire corals, and massive lobed leather corals, as well as white wire corals.
Sometimes swimming high above the reef in open water and at other times resting in slots in the pore corals, you'll find red-toothed triggerfish, surprisingly named after their front teeth colouration and not their splendid blue bodies. Watch for blackbelt hogfish hiding out under the table corals. Adults have red heads and yellow tails, their rather shy juveniles have dark brown bodies with splendid bright yellow spots.
Other fish common to this Similan dive site are raccoon butterflyfish, meyer's butterflyfish, humphead unicornfish, Oriental sweetlips and bigeye. Big fish that you may see here include brown marbled grouper and impressive-sized blue yellowtail emporers.
Thailand's last few Napoleon wrasse can sometimes be found here too. These magnificent creatures have been shamefully hunted into near total obscurity in the Similan Islands for Chinese fish market demands, just like in most places in the world.
Breaking the splendour of the reef are several large boulders at the deepest section of the dive. Here are often resting leopard sharks, some huge greenish sea cucumbers (stichopus variegatus), up to ½m long, and nesting green triggerfish. The boulders are decorated by gorgonian and knotted sea fans and these in turn host cleaner and multibar pipefish - strange red and white striped creatures. Many nudibranchs including Chromodoris Geminus (magnificent sea slug) also make this Similan site their home.
As if that were not enough even for the most hard-to-please divers, this site happens to have more than its fair share of cleaning stations too. Often you'll see fish such as dogtooth tuna and chevron barracuda with mouths agape, posing in the most compromising of positions.
Batfish Bend Reef Basics: Fringing reef with boulders
Depth: 8 - 27m
Visibility: 20 - 40m
Currents: Can be strong
Surface conditions: Can be rough
Water temperature: 26 - 29°C
Experience level: Beginner
Number of dive sites: 1
Diving season: October to May
Distance: ~90 km northwest of Phuket, 65 km west of Khao Lak
Access: Liveaboards and daytrips
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