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February 2004
Similan Islands-new pinnacle at Elephant Head
Purpose of the project:
To find a new dive site and see if it’s appropriate for recreational diving trips.
Description of dive site:
We had noticed on sea maps, that in the area of the Similan Islands, just south from the Elephant Head dive site, there is a big underwater rock formation. Although it is a little bit too deep for normal recreational diving, we could dive there with air.
One of these rocks, situated about 1 km from the famous Elephant Head dive site that comes up to 20 meters depth. So Janne Miikkulainen and Jani Makinen went to check out about this new dive site.
Details of the dive:
We drove around with a rubber-boat and an acoustic depth sounder, finding the depth to be between 50 and 60 meters. When driving south we suddenly got a depth reading of 30 meters. We dropped off the decent line and went to put our equipment on. With a lot of eagerness the following dive profile was planned: 20 minutes in 50 meters with air, then 15 minutes with EAN 32 gas in 35 meters. So we could get an exceptionally long bottom time.
We jumped into the water, the conditions were perfect and we could not believe that it was possible to see the peak from the surface! Top of the rock was a bit over 20 meters and the visibility about 40 meters, the water temperature was 29 C, almost no current at all and an unbelievable amount of underwater life.
The dive site was full of magnificent rock formations, fully covered with soft coral and big sea fans. We saw a lot of big fish: sharks, barracuda, snappers, trevallies and many more. This dive site is suitable for advanced divers with normal dive gear during half-moon currents. It is a very good site for Nitrox diving. We have now made many dives on this site afterwards and at the right time of month this site offers tropical diving on its best.
Gases used:
Bottom gas 1: air, bottom gas 2: EAN 32, decompression gas: EAN 65
Equipment used:
Wetsuit 5 mm
2 X 12L aluminum 200 bar tanks
1 X 12L aluminum 200 bar stage-bottle
1 X 6L aluminum 200 bar deco-tank
2 X ScubaPro MK25 + S600 regulator
Diverite backplate, harness, wings
Reel + SMB |
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