Smiling Seahorse, Thailand
- 9.2 Superb 32 Verified Reviews
-
- Nitrox available
- from $ 170 / day
Read 32 more reviewsExcellent food and drinks
“My wife and I just spend an amazing week living aboard The Smiling Seahorse which took us through the many renown diving spots Tha…”
Highlights
Newly built for 2018, the Smiling Seahorse liveaboard offers fantastic dive trips to Thailand and Myanmar. The 3-night 'Best of Thailand' trip showcases some of the best dive areas in the Andaman Sea, including the Surin Islands, Richelieu Rock, Koh Tahcai & Koh Bon. The Myanmar dive trips are a fantastic way to explore this newly opened dive area and to get up close with manta rays, eagle rays, mobula rays, leopard sharks and cool macro critters such as frogfish, seahorses, and pipefish. The spacious dive deck at the back of the boat allows ample room for kitting up and gear storage and a dedicated photography room.
The Smiling Seahorse is 25m long and accommodates 16 divers over 4 decks. On the upper deck are 2 standard cabins with one double or two single beds and shared bathrooms. The 4 deluxe and 2 master cabins on the main deck have en-suite bathrooms, and all cabins feature air-conditioning. There is also an open-air dining room, a huge sun deck, and a camera station for photographers.
The experienced and professional crew of the Smiling Seahorse liveaboard offers a warm welcome. Book online today to reserve your space.
Choose your departure date
Included: VAT, Drinking Water, Soft drinks, Tea & Coffee, Beach BBQ, Full-Board Meal Plan (All meals), Snacks, Diving Package, Kayaks, Cabin Towels, Deck Towels.
Required Extras: National Park Fees (30-300 USD per trip).
Optional Extras: Gratuities (1,000 THB per day), Airport Transfer, Hotel Transfer, Alcoholic Beverages, Nitrox, Nitrox Course, Private Dive Guide (3,500 THB per day), Rental Gear (600 THB per day), Scuba Diving Courses, Land Excursions, Snorkel Gear.
Book now, pay later: You can easily place your booking online. We will then hold the spaces for you and you can confirm with a payment later.
* Extra fees are shown per person.
Pay by bank transfer or online with Best Price Guaranteed
Boat features
Food & Drinks
If you have any specific dietary requirements whilst on-board your cruise, you can add this to your special requests on step 2 of the booking form. We advise limiting these requests to religious beliefs or food allergies.
Diving
The crew speaks English, French, and Spanish.
Gear Rental
There is diving gear available on this boat. Please provide your rental needs on the booking form. See below for further details on inclusions and pricing. Show prices.
Drawings & Vessel Layouts
Accommodation
Boat Specifications
- Year built 2018
- Length 25 m
- Max guests 16
- Number of cabins 8
- Number of bathrooms 8
Boat Navigation and Safety
Smiling Seahorse Reviews
- 9.2 Superb
- Vessel 8.9
- Crew 8.9
- Food 9.8
- Diving 9.5
- Value 9.1
- 10 Exceptional
- Taryn L
-
![United States]()
United States
Sail the Andaman Sea in a friendly atmosphere
My wife and I just spend an amazing week living aboard The Smiling Seahorse which took us through the many renown diving spots Thailand has to offer. The past 7 days, we sailed the Andaman Sea, stopping at busy Richelieu Rock by the Mu Ko Surin National Park and exploring the wonders of Ko Tachai and Ko Bon. We were amazed at the beauty of Breakfast Bend (3 trees), the imposing Elephant Rock (Hin Pusa) and Shark Fin Reef (Hin Phae) dive sites off the coast of Mu Ko Similan National Park. We were greeted by superb Oceanic Mantas at Red Rock (Hin Daeng), Purple Rock (Hin Muang) right in the Strait of Malacca and gasped at the grandeur of Cathedral (Koh Haa Yao). Last but not least, Ko Li Pe delivered schools of Fusiliers, Trevalis and Small Tooth Emperors reigning over the rest of the innumerable schools of fishes at Stonehenge and 8 Miles Rock (Hin Paad Mile). The crew on board was the friendliest and always helpful, accommodating my wife’s (many) food allergies with kindness. Speaking of the food, the chefs on board are incredible and you are in for a treat after each dives (my favorite being the post-morning dive breakfast). Our cabin (number 1) was spacious with a large bed and ample space to organize and store our luggages away. The bathroom was clean and perfect for a week on board. The entire dive masters crew was always professional, taking the time to go over the dive plan, answering any concerns and helping locate and identify the many hidden wonders discovered during each dive. We highly recommend signing up for the black water dive if this is something you have never done as Franck (the owner) is an amazing photograph and will lead you through a new way to discover our animal kingdom. Kudos to Franck and his team for organizing everything in a seamless fashion getting on and off the boat and everything in between. Thank you for having us, we’re looking forward to discovering Burma in a future adventure!
- Recommended for
- Friendly and knowledgeable crew, amazing food, incredible dive sites
- 10 Exceptional
- Tim P
-
![United States]()
United States
Thrilled to have dived the Andaman sea with the friendly professionals of the Smiling Seahorse!
Such diversity of dive sites and creatures, pointed out so as not to be missed by James, the informative talks each day by Gavin, and the joy of new fellow divers on board, and the hard working crew amazed.
- Recommended for
- The diving, the food, the people made this a great trip.
- 10 Exceptional
- Craig F
-
![United States]()
United States
Perfect introduction to liveaboard diving
This was a new experience for me, and I quite enjoyed the crew and my fellow divers. Six dives on Richelieu Rock were wonderful. It was crowded with other dive operators but big enough for us all.
- Recommended for
- Crew, food, itinerary
- 10 Exceptional
- Daniel R
-
![United States]()
United States
Fantastic boat, crew, equipment, and guides!
This is a really well run operation. Our tour director Franck was on top of everything from helping us stay safe and healthy to taking amazing underwater photos. The boat crew and guides worked seamlessly together to ensure all the guests had the best possible diving experiences. Food was tasty and we always had plenty of snacks on hand after a dive. I started out as a very beginner diver (11 dives) and learned a ton from the guides and other more seasoned divers. The underwater world of the Andaman sea is amazing: I saw octopus, sharks, cuttlefish, rays, etc etc. We did night, blackwater, and cavern diving as well.
- Recommended for
- Superb crew, Clean and modern boat, smooth diving experiences
- 10 Exceptional
- John D
-
![United States]()
United States
Great boat fantastic crew!
Tiger sharks Nurse sharks Tons of rays Cuttlefish
- Recommended for
- The boat and crew were top notch, we saw THREE tiger sharks, Burma banks was an amazing dive site
- 9.6 Exceptional
- Rob C
-
![United Kingdom]()
United Kingdom
Truly superb live aboard experience!
This was our first liveaboard diving trip so we have nothing to compare this with, however, I can honestly say that our expectations were more than exceeded in every respect. The Smiling Seahorse operation is superbly run and managed by its owner Franck, an extremely personable individual and diving enthusiast, who goes to great lengths to ensure that no detail of your stay onboard is overlooked. After being swiftly administered on arrival, Franck then delivered a welcome address to all passengers to explain how the boat functions, where everything was and then introduced all of his staff, from the captain and diving instructors to the chefs and general assistants. This was a great touch and showed how invested he is in his crew and for us to meet each and every one of the staff onboard. We were assigned our diving instructor (Mici) and dived with another couple of similar experience for the duration of the trip. Mici went to great lengths to put us at ease and explained every step of each dive we undertook but made absolutely clear that safety was her primary concern throughout. We undertook our PADI AOW qualification whilst diving and this was seamlessly integrated in to our diving programme. Some of the dives were quite challenging due to varying currents and invariably plans had to be changed underwater to reflect the conditions but at all times she had the whole group’s welfare and safety in mind. On all of the dives, the pace at which we covered the terrain was excellent and she was always attentive and keen to point out the abundant wildlife. The diving itself was varied, with Richelieu Rock providing the most spectacular array of sea life, from huge shoals of Trevally and Barracuda to amazing fan corals to name but a few. Visibility wasn’t always great and at times the currents were strong but we viewed this as positive learning and we always managed to see some incredible sights. The food onboard was simply outstanding! We are vegetarians and the chefs went to great lengths to ensure that we had an appropriate choice for each meal - the food was largely Thai inspired and was truly delicious. On one evening they even prepared a BBQ on the sun deck and this was preceded by some delicious rum cocktails, which went down very well! At various intervals Franck would make announcements to ensure all were informed or (as a keen underwater photographer) brief us on other aspects of diving (black water diving), which was offered as an additional activity. Despite the broad international makeup of the guests onboard, all were made to feel part of the ‘family’ and we made some great acquaintances during our trip. Overall, Franck’s outstanding leadership of the Smiling Seahorse and attention to detail is what made this trip so successful and enjoyable for all concerned. We would thoroughly recommend to anyone considering a live aboard and will undoubtedly be back again.
- Recommended for
- Boat leadership; diving instructors; food
- 9.6 Exceptional
- Matthias K
-
![Germany]()
Germany
It is just perfect !
Diving, Eating, Relaxing and that 4 times a day 😎
- Recommended for
- Dive sites, Crew and the Food
- 9.2 Superb
- Aminul I
-
![Bangladesh]()
Bangladesh
Great diving with a bunch of cool people
Awesome dives through out the trip. Although we were not lucky enough for whale sharks or manta rays, dive sites were full of life and energy. Koh Bon was marvellous with its visibility and rocky rugged beauty. Awesome.
- Recommended for
- Dive planning, black water dives and dive food
- 9.6 Exceptional
- Tim G
-
![Switzerland]()
Switzerland
Great diving with an experienced and professional crew
The amount of fish we saw! James as a cruise director and dive guide. The variety in food despite the tiny kitchen
- Recommended for
- Well guided dives, small groups, great food and crew
- 8.8 Fabulous
- Matteo A
-
![Italy]()
Italy
Best way to go diving in the Mergui Archipelago and the Burma Banks , hands down.
The trip was logistically setup in a very clever way. Each and every day there were highlights and surprises to be discovered. I experienced my first two Blackdives after almost 3 decades of recreational diving and it was mind-blowing. Frank and his team work very hard let the clients enjoy the cruise, and, last but not least , the security was considered paramount every time.
- Recommended for
- Diving guides, Blackdives and laid back atmosphere
