And a second opinion, this one from Thien's Dive Logbook:

July weather has been spectacular, with calm wind, flat sea, 30m visibility in the Racha Islands area, and whale shark sightings daily in Phi Phi and Shark Point Marine Sanctuary. I love LOW SEASON :-)

In the meantime, our friend Miso visited Kata Beach today:

Coming from Phi Phi Island, I went to Kata beach for the afternoon. The beach was so different from Railay Beach and Koh Phi Phi: not nearly as beautiful, but it was really fun. The waves were huge and dotted with surfers. We immediately dove in and body surfed for awhile, before having a dinner at our guesthouse

After furter treatment by marine biologists from the nearby Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC) in Cape Panwa, the three lucky survivors were taken back to sea by boat.


As local newspapers wrote, the rescue comes one week after the carcass of a female striped dolphin was discovered washed ashore at Baan Dan in Thalang and nine days after a pod of false killer whales beached at Koh Racha. The last was one of the largest mass strandings of cetaceans in the region and it is unknown if there are common reasons for this unusual events to occur several times in a row.

It is still unclear why the three rough-toothed dolphins, adult specimens of more than 100 kilogram weight and 20 years of age, went into the coastal mangrove forest, as their natural habitat is the open sea. They are generally thought to be rare in the waters around Phuket Island, however not much is really known about abundance and distribution of the species. Also a pod of normal size seems to be around 20 individuals, up to 50, not only three dolphins.

Rough-toothed dolphins are long-beaked dolphins with a smooth and stocky body adapted to their lives on the high oceans; the large flippers are also set further back on the body than in most other cetaceans. Rough dolphins are counter-shaded with white bellies and black to dark grey backs.

Links of Interest:

• False killer whales beach at Koh Racha
• Description of Steno bredanensis by the CMS
  

The majority of small whales, which were up to 4.2 meters long could be carried or pushed back to sea by local volunteers, but ten of them had to be loaded onto trucks and carried to another beach less than a kilometer away, where calmer waters made it easier to return them to sea.

Unluckily, one of the false killer whales died of shock.

Scientists weren't sure why the whales swam themselves ashore. "They may have run aground because of the strong wave, or they could have been misled by their leader's sonar signal", K. Wannakiat told AFP. "It's not the first time this has happened, but this is a very large number." As other media reported, it was one of the largest mass strandings of cetaceans in the last years for the region around Phuket.

False killer whales are not a threatened species. They are much smaller and less aggressive than their distant relatives, the Orca or killer whale. Like Orcas, scientists classify them as dolphins rather than whales, however other than their cousins they are completely black in color. Adult males reach a length of 5.7 m; females, 4.9 m. Groups of these whales may number from two to several hundred with both sexes and all age groups represented.

False killer whales are social creatures and are known for stranding themselves, especially if the pod leader is sick. When stranded, the whole group of whales often refuses to return seaward, despite the best efforts of volunteers, and even beach themselves again as long as the pod leader is still alive. Therefore some whale rescue organizations go even so far as to advise that the sick individual that led the group on the beach must be killed if it cannot be brought back to sea successfully.

See the video below for more:

Links of Interest:

• Rough-toothed dolphins beach at Cape Panwa Phuket
• Virtual Review
  

Waves
One of the islands which offers world class diving year-round, Koh Similan, is large enough that if there are large waves during the southwest monsonn in June, we can get shelter behind the island (on the East Coast). We will not have as many dive site choices if the waves are larger than normal (normal wave height is about 1m or 3ft), but that doesn't mean that we can't dive.

Visibility
And, since the Similans are almost 40 nautical miles from shore, visibility is never affected by rain run off. In fact, during the southwest monsoon, since the water is moving up from the southwest, waves and currents are bringing in clear, clean water from offshore.Liveaboards June schedule to the Similans
The main problem diving the Similan Islands during the summer months, June until September, is the lack of people wanting to go--not that we physically cannot.
At that time of year, people are traveling to more temperate climes rather than the hot tropics, so there are very few scheduled liveaboards during this time as we can't get enough people together on a consistent basis. Almost every boat at one time or another has tried a summer schedule and few, if any, have ever been successful at it.

Links of Interest:

• Similan islands dive sites
• Diving at the Similan Islands image gallery
• Great weather and diving in the Similans in March
  

Today, amidst great excitement, a convoy of 15 flatbed trucks loaded with the remains of the ten decommissioned military aircraft arrived at Phuket after a three-day overland journey that began in Lopburi. There, the convoy departed from Koke Krathiem Air Force Base in Lopburi.

On May 5, the aircraft skeletons are to be dropped into the sea at a depth of about 15 to 20 meters. They will be arranged in a concentric pattern with two helicopters in the middle. These will be surrounded by an alternating circle of airplane and helicopter fuselages, creating about 2,500 square meters of artificial reef. An additional attraction is an abandoned offshore tin-mining sledge nearby.

A representative of Aqua Divers in nearby Nai Thon Beach told local newspapers that the sinking operation will be conducted with the help of both the Royal Thai Navy and National Parks Department. The wings of the aircraft were clipped at about mid-length and the rotors removed from the helicopters and the remaining hulls will be fixed with concrete blocks to the seabed. Upon completion, the entire site will be surrounded with a circular barrier of concrete blocks to prevent any migration of the structures across the sea floor.

The TAT estimates that the new dive attraction off the coast of Bang Tao Beach will attract 200 divers daily and might generate 140 million Baht in income per year.

Links of Interest:

• Similan islands dive sites
• Diving at the Similan Islands image gallery
• Diving in the Similans in June