Dive Review of Manta Queen 8 in
Thailand/Similan and Surin Islands

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Manta Queen 8: "Bucket List Thailand", Mar, 2019, by Jeffrey Watkins, NV, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 3 Helpful votes). Report 11151.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This was part of a two week trip with a week in Malaysia and a week in Thailand. You have to visit Richelieu Rock sometime in your diving career because the site is incredible. This liveaboard boat is a budget operation. It is not nearly as nice as an Aggressor-style liveaboard. The experience was fine, but I would want to try a different liveaboard if I come back here again. I would try a "fancier" boat and pay more money for a less crowded experience. The boat was mechanically sound. My room with a bath, was fine. The plumbing worked fine. The food was ok. The dive briefings were very good. The Nitrox was reliable. The dive deck was very crowded. It was hard to find space to suit up. There were 20 divers on board which was a lot. I felt rushed to get suited up on almost every dive. There is limited room for each individual to get dressed. They divided the divers into two groups to limit the chaos, but this didn't help much, because our group all shared the same narrow aisle for setting up. The diving overall was very good, but there were some low points. The first day of diving was mediocre. We got blown off one dive site due to strong current. The diving improves with each move toward the North. The diving on day 3 at Richelieu Rock was excellent and delivered the best 4 dives of the trip. The diving was done from the mothership (not a panga). Entry was via a giant stride entry. Re-boarding was via two ladders on the back of the boat. The diving was fairly regimented. The divers were divided into small teams of five with a team divemaster leading the dive. You enter the water as a team, the DM leads the team, and you finish the dive as a team. I wish that dive times could be a little longer, most were 45 minutes, but I didn’t have a lot of extra air remaining on most dives.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Fiji, Bonaire, Belize, Turks and Caicos, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Palau, Chuuk, Sipadan
Closest Airport	HKT	Getting There	SFO, SIN, KUL, HKT
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	81-84°F / 27-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	60-90 Ft/ 18-27 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	stay with the group
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	I'm not a photographer.

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Dive Review of Manta Queen 8 in Thailand/Similan and Surin Islands

Manta Queen 8: "Bucket List Thailand", Mar, 2019,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Manta Queen 8 in
Thailand/Similan and Surin Islands