Every season Wicked Diving teams up with the National Park to help clean the reefs and beaches around the Similan Islands.
In this article we recount one of our previsou cleanups around Island number 4 (Koh Miang), and Island 1 (Koh Huyong) in the Similan Islands! Wicked Diving, The National Park Service, Green Fins and some divers from Singapore and Bangkok headed out to the Similans to get to work.
We landed in Princess Bay on Island 4 and were met by Manah and his staff from the National Park team as well as as Justine and the crew from Green Fins, and the rest of the volunteers. A quick briefing of what was ahead of us for the next 2 days, and we geared up to hit the beach.
1st task – line up along the beach, spread out…and hit the water with clippers and mesh trash bags for collection! The goal was to pick up any trash, tangled fishing lines, old tires…and whatever else didn’t belong on this great snorkeling reef!
After collecting all that we could we dumped the trash into proper bins for removal and headed back to the beach for lunch provided by the national park… and then hit the beach in Princess Bay once again with trash bags in hand to clean up the area on the beach, around the bungalows and tents, and some of the trails before heading over to the other side – Honeymoon bay.
In full gear we trekked over to Honeymoon Bay, got our tanks and mesh bags and plunged once again to clean all the debris and trash from the reefs!
DAY 2 – The forbidden fruit!
We all got up for breakfast and then transfered onto our ride over to ISLAND 1. Island 1 has been closed to the public for some time and is the home to a turtle hatching assistance and research group. No diving, snorkeling or fishing is allowed around the island, and no visitors.
What that leaves is pristine beach – aside from the washed up rubble and trash that we were there to pick up! From old fishing cages to general trash, plastic and glass bottles, and anything else that had washed up, we gathered it all in trash bags, sorted it, and then loaded it onto our boat for removal.
Back to Island 4 for one last sweep on the reef at Honeymoon Bay, and then back on the Liquid Speedboat home!!
It was a great trip all around, and we are hoping to be a part of many more efforts like this to preserve the islands that we use for recreational diving and tourism. Many thanks to the National Park Service for organizing everything, Green Fins and the other diver groups from Bangkok and Singapore as well as all that participated from Wicked Diving : Klaus, Marcel, DMT’s Adam and Darcy, Sarah, Rich, Poy and Robyn. From Big Blue: Sonia and Simon. And Liquid Adventure and Keith for the transfers and support! –robyn WICKED DIVING
