Diving the Similan Islands

Elephant Head Rock

The site is named after an unusually shaped rock that juts out of the water just southwest of Koh Similan. The huge boulders that form Elephant Head Rock create daring swim-throughs, arches, caverns, gullies and tunnels.

Follow the steep channel down through the big boulders to gain access to the entrance to the swim-throughs. At the top of the channel on the dominant boulder is a small orange/yellow sea fan. Take a look on its fronds and you'll find a colony of spiders crabs, and close-by are large black egg cowries. Watch out for cuttlefish and mantis shrimps as you sink further down to entrance floor.

Swimming through the tunnels you'll come across blue-ringed angelfish, Andaman sweetlips and bicolour parrotfish. Yellow goatfish and snappers always hang around at the deepest levels, as well as several species of lionfish, grouper, and the occasional olive Ridley's turtle or hawksbill turtle. Take a look under the overhanging ledges to find several species of the larger snappers, such as one-spot, mangrove and black and white, as well as giant sweetlips.

Down at 30 metres on the sand you can look for purple fire gobies and the rare McCosker's dwarf wrasse. A little shallower is the endemic Similan jawfish.

Back towards the centre boulder pinnacle, giant trevally dive past, performing their daring mating manoeuvres. Mating couples sport different colours, one being typically silver, the other jet black. Hang out in the shallows here to off-gas at the end of your dive. Powder blue surgeonfish make their way across the boulder tops, grazing on the algae. Bigeye bream hang out here, seemingly eying you curiously, as large trains of travelling robust fusiliers arrive on the scene from other nearby feeding stations.

The southern most point of Elephant Head has a tiny group of submerged pinnacles in very deep water. A great place to observe small reef sharks. There is a possibility of strong surge and current. This makes it one of the more challenging Similan Islands diving sites.

Elephant Head Rock Reef Basics: Boulder pinnacle and wall diving
Depth: 5 - >40m
Visibility: 20 - 40m
Currents: Can be strong
Surface conditions: Can be rough
Water temperature: 26 - 29°C
Experience level: Intermediate - advanced
Number of dive sites: 2
Diving season: November to April
Distance: ~90 km northwest of Phuket, 65 km west of Khao Lak
Access: Liveaboards and daytrips

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