Mermaid I is a high class liveaboard, with an excellent reputation of providing the ultimate liveaboard adventure. This large 28 meter steel, twin engine boat comfortably holds fifteen passengers in a variety of room types. All rooms feature en-suite facilities, fridge and TV/DVD player. The large saloon area is a great place to relax before or after a dive, with an extensive library of marine life books and magazines, plus a TV and DVD player with a wide selection of movies onboard. For the photographers amongst you, a specially designed photo lab is at your disposal on the lower deck.
The boats experienced staff will look after you above and below the water, and their fantastic chef will make sure you’ll never go hungry, with a mouth watering selection of Thai and International cuisine. The dive deck and platform are large and well designed, offering divers ample room to prepare before the dive. The photographers are well looked after with four fresh water wash tanks and a camera table located on the dive deck. Mermaid I also has Nitrox facilities onboard for guests, and courses are available for those who don’t hold the correct certification.
Cabin and Bathroom Facilities. There are seven 8 cabins onboard, 1 Master State room with King Size bed, 1 Single and 4 Deluxe cabins with double or twin beds, plus 2 budget cabins located below deck. The State, Single and Deluxe cabins all feature private en-suite bathrooms, fridges, panoramic sea views and TV, DVD facilities. The budget rooms also feature en-suite bathrooms, fridges and TV, DVD facilities.
Cabin Facilities:
Air Conditioning
Bedding and Blankets
Towels
Bathrobes
TV and DVD player
Toiletries
Reading Lights
There are also fresh water showers located on the dive deck, for customers to rinse off after the dives.
If you have any special requirements, regarding cabin arrangements, please let us know so that we can help you arrange these before the trip leaves.
Facilities and Food Crew West Coast Explorer Prides itself on its crew and on every trip where will be:
Tour Leader
3 Divemaster’s
Captain
Cook
Engineer
3 x Deck Hand
Onboard Facilities
6m x 7m Dive Deck
2.5m x 7m Dive Platform
60m2 Sun Deck
Saloon
TV, DVD, Stereo
Extensive Library, containing Fish Guides, Dive Magazines and general titles.
8 Bathrooms
2 Fresh Water showers on the dive deck
Small Dingy – Used to pick up divers and also take people on to the islands to explore
Food and Drink All Meals are served in the Sawasdee Restaurant located on the upper deck. The food is all prepared by the onboard chef, and is a fantastic mix of Asian and International cuisine. The meals are all served on a buffet, and are to the highest standards. In between meals fresh fruit and light snacks are available throughout the day, so don’t worry you’ll never go hungry. There new barbeques are also proving very popular. Fresh Water, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and soft drinks are also available free of charge. And after a long hard days diving, beer and wine are available at a small cost.
Note: If you have any specific dietary requirements, please let us know when booking.
Destination : The Mermaid I Liveaboard travels to Similan Islands and Surin Islands, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai, Richelieu Rock in northern Thailand & Southern Myanmar / Burma. Period : November - April Duration : 10 Days / 9 Nights No Dives : 30 Dives
Prices
Master Cabin : 1 x King Size Bed
2495 Euro
Single Cabin : 1 x Twin Bed
2495 Euro
Deluxe Cabin : 1 x King or 2 x Twin Beds
2295 Euro
Standard Cabin : 1 x Double & 1 x Twin
2095 Euro
Itinerary
Departure Day :
Guests transfer to Patong between 17:00-18:00 checking in at Royal Phawadee Village. Transfer to MV Mermaid I by 19:00 for boat and safety briefing, settle into your cabin then set up your equipment. Prior to getting underway, the crew set off firecrackers to bring good luck for the cruise, dinner is serviced and we sail usually calm seas for 6 hours to the Similan Islands
Day 1:
Wake up call at 7am in paradise ! After a continental breakfast, 1st dive around 8am at the beautiful coral encrusted crystal clear East Of Eden followed by a full western breakfast. Visit Princess Beach, visit the small museum or shop for a Similans souvenir. Dive 2 at Koh Bon for chance for Manta. After a delicious lunch and time to relax, enjoy a 3rd dive at Koh Tachai for pelagics and the chance for whale shark and mantas followed by an interesting night dive. Then relax with a cool beer and new friends after a delicious dinner.
Day 2:
First dive today either at Koh Tachai or the world famous Richelieu Rock. After breakfast, dive 2 and 3 at Richelieu Rock then its north to clear the Burma border Relax on the wonderful sundeck or sort your Richelieu photos in our spacious saloon After clearing the border and a delicious dinner, we head off for our 1st stop in Burma.
Day 3:
Wake up in Burma and get ready for some fascinating diving. Today we dive High Rock, Stewart Island, Rocky Island and experience some great macro opportunities such as rare nudibrancs, stick pipe fish, spindle cowries and more. Not into small stuff - then check out the millions of moray, stone fish, scorpion fish, lion fish in full predatory action.
Day 4:
Some call it "In through the out door" some call it Shark Cave - awesome diving awaits what ever you call it ! Maybe the nurse sharks will be in the chamber ? Maybe some Grey Reef sharks in their sleeping formation cruising in the canyon ? If not, then you will still be busy with loads of snappers, bait fish, sea horse, ornate ghost pipe fish, beautiful soft corals housing rare and unusual cowries and more.
Day 5:
Today's feature site is Black Rock where we make 3 dives and 1 sunset dive. Awesome dives with grey reef shark, white tip reef shark, leopard sharks, huge garoupa, giant marbled rays and trevally, huge remoras and masses of pelagic fishes. Top this off with ornate ghost pipe fish, frogfish and a million glass fish and this day will please every diver ! Weather allowing we will cruise 8 hours overnight to the Burma Banks.
Day 6:
An early start on our shark safari for nurse sharks, white tip and black tip reef sharks, silvertip sharks as we do 4 day dives on Heckford Bank (Big Bank) and Silvertip Bank. The Banks are really weather dependent as they are way out to sea. If the conditions are not favorable for the Banks, we will divert to some other great sites in the area.
Day 7:
North East Little Torres is good for sharks, huge rays and eagle rays plus a good fish site. Then we head to our northern most destination Tower Rock, famous for schooling Mobildae Rays - awesome diving and loads of fun! If we hear the Burma Banks are running - we will divert and check out the shark action! Overnight to the south, the Western Rocky area awaits.
Day 8:
Keep your eyes open for bull shark, white tip reef sharks and leopard sharks at Fan Forrest Pinnacle during dive 1 & 2. After a scrumptious buffet lunch of Thai and western specialities Its time for a snooze on the sun deck, write up your dive log before the next dive around 3-4pm The afternoon dive at Western Rocky Island is a treat for all with a tunnel going through the island full of glass fish, hinge beak shrimps and a regular haunt for nurse and other sharks. Before dinner, we make a night dive around Western Rocky for all the night treasures Burma offers. A great day's diving complete !
Day 9:
2 good dives around Western Rockies or closer to the mainland - then we cruise to Kaw Thaung for border clearance and maybe some sightseeing. Relax on board, sort pictures, snooze a little and enjoy the sunset at we cruise south to Thai waters and more great dives in the Similan Islands.
Day 10:
Last but not least, East of Eden or Anita's Reef followed by Boulder City or Shark Fin Reef - a great way to end a super 9 day safari. Make sure you leave some film/disc space for loads of reef fishes, pelagics, sharks, nudis and more ! Then enjoy lunch as we cruise south to Patong Phuket. The crew will rinse your gear for you ! We arrive at approx 16:00 hours and will transfer you to your hotel where you can dream about your next cruise on board Mermaid Liveaboards !
INDONESIA - BALI & KOMODO Cruise
Destination : From June to October the Mermaid I Liveaboard travels to Lombok and the Komodo National Park in Indonesia. Period : June - October Duration : 10 Days / 9 Nights No Dives : 28 Dives
Prices 10 days/9 nights - 2010
Master Cabin :
2435 Euro
Single Cabin :
2435 Euro
Deluxe Cabin :
2195 Euro
Standard Cabin :
1995 Euro
Prices 10 days/9 nights - 2011
Master Cabin :
2495 Euro
Single Cabin :
2495 Euro
Deluxe Cabin :
2295 Euro
Standard Cabin :
2095 Euro
Itinerary 10 days/9 nights
Departure Day :
Check-in on board MV Mermaid I between 14:00-16:00 hours in Benoa Harbour Bali. After the boat and safety briefing, we'll set up equipment and you can settle into your cabin. Dinner will be served approx 19:00 hours as we cruise into the sunset on overnight journey to Moyo Island, north west Sumbawa.
Day 1:
Start your adventure with a great dive in the calm, clear waters of Angel Reef at Moyo Island. Massive elephant ear and barrel sponges, schools of long fin banner fish and red tooth triggers. In their hundreds, frog fish, nudibrancs, eels, surgeon fish, snapper, dog tooth tuna checking out what is for lunch ! Visit the local village then its lunch for us ! Next is a great dive at Panjang Reef – are the pygmy seahorses around ? Then we cruise 2 hours to Satonda Island for a world class night dive after watching a million bats fly at sunset. After a great dive and dinner we cruise overnight to Sangeang Island, off the north coats of Sumbawa.
Day 2:
The Nusa Tengarra region has some extremely interesting and unique marine life. Today we spend the day diving around Sangeang Volcano - 2-3 dives for rare nudibrancs, pygmy seahorse, leaf scorpion fish, blue ribbon eels, black sand diving with all its treasures and underwater hot springs that support this very unique marine environment. Night dive here too or head on over to Gili Banta for the chance for Star Gazers and coral cat shark.
Day 3:
2 dives at Sangeang Island for rare nudibrancs, pygmy seahorse and underwater hot springs that support this very unique marine life. Cruise to Gili Banta for exhilarating dives at Tanduk Rusa for big fish and amazing corals or GPS Point, famous for its sharks and pelagics. Then we enter the Komodo National Park and night dive at Gili Darat South Passage - sleeping turtles, colourful reef stone fish, Spanish dancers – calm sea- a great place to stay the night.
Day 4:
If the tide is right we hunt grey reef shark and dolphin at Taka Toko Gili Lawalaut. Dive 2 is a fast drift with pelagics and manta at Lighthouse Reef or the Old Passage. Then Crystal Rock awesome soft corals and the chance for sharks, turtles, giant Maori wrasse, a ‘fish soup” dive with a high chance of eagle rays too ! Then we cruise south for fascinating night dive at Pink Beach near the entrance to the Komodo National Park
Day 5:
Start your day with an exciting visit to Komodo National Park to walk with the dragons ! Then relax as we cruise 2 hours south to Horseshoe Bay Rinja Island. Spectacular diving awaits at the world famous site Cannibal Rock – rare nudibrancs, frogfish, spectacular corals, sponges, ascidians, huge black coral bushes, turtles, cuttlefish, loads of reef fish too ! Watch dragons on the beach, monkey, deer, wild pigs along the shore, go beach combing…. Maybe even a chance to follow whales and dolphin feeding in the calm bay. We overnight at this peaceful place, night diving at one of the many fabulous spots
Day 6:
The Three Sisters call us to Padar Island for sharks and nudibrancs, surgeon fish and devil Rays. Manta Alley or Takat Makasar follows for the chance for a manta aggregation – WOW ! Batu Bolung aka “Current City” is the home for large Napolean Wrasse, turtles, blue fin trevally Or maybe a dive at Tatawa Kecil – we check out the currents first to make sure the dive will be cool for everyone on board ! Then we say goodbye to Komodo National Park with a fabulous Night dive at Gili Banta with Coral Cta Shark and more then we cruise west enjoying a post dinner night dive along the way. Overnight we cruise to Satonda Island
Day 7:
We enjoy two fantastic dives at Satonda and Moyo Islands for more chances for ghost pipe fish, ribbon eels, turtle, cuttlefish and more before we cruise overnight to Benoa in the south of Bali.
Arrival Day:
After breakfast we transfer you ashore at 9am to continue your vacation…or its time to head home to start planning your next Mermaid cruise !
FOR DIVER SAFETY INDIVIDUAL DIVE COMPUTER USE IS MANDATORY - No Sharing
Equipment Rental per day
Full set (Scuba Equipment rental): 800 THB
BCD: 300 THB
Regulator: 300 THB
Wet Suit (shorty): 300 THB
Wet Suit (long): 300 THB
Mask & Snorkel & Fins: 300 THB
Computer rental: 300 THB
Compas: 200 THB
Digital Camera Rental: 1,500 THB
Nitrox Tanks Per filling:200 THB per fill - 10% discount for whole trip on Nitrox
Departure and Arrival Times : Guests are required to arrive in Phuket no later than 18:00 hours which allows us to make our planned 19:00 departure from Patong, Phuket. Final cruise departure time is subject to guest arrival times. Please liaise with Agent Liveaboard if your flight times cannot fit this schedule and we will do our best to accommodate.
Transfers : Transfers from/to the airport or hotels anywhere on Phuket Island are free of charge. Guests arriving in Phuket on departure day will be transferred to Royal Phawadee Village where a courtesy room is available. Relax by the pool or on the beach, have a massage, enjoy lunch in one of the delicious restaurants or go sightseeing till cruise check in time at 18:00 hours.
Pick up times : 17:00 hours - Chalong, Rawai, Nai Hairn, Phuket Town, Bang Tao, Nai Yang, 17:30 hours - Kata, Karon, Kamala, Surin, Kathu 18:00 hours - Patong
Please Note : Similans Marine National Park Entry Fee of 400 Baht per person per each entry for both divers and non divers and National Park Fee for divers of 200 Baht per diver per day (diver only). (Prices may change without prior notice from the Thai Forestry department).
Dive Travel Asia Co., Ltd
82/9 Moo 4, Patak Road
T.Rawai, A.Muang
Phuket, 83130
Thailand
Tel: +66 (0)86 291 5723 Alex (English) Tel: +66 (0)89 866 2809 Sopit (Thai)
E-Mail:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.divetravelasia.com
Tourisim Authority of Thailand License No. 31/0759
