Diving dynomite!!

I can now add Phuket to my list of dive locales! I made a one day trip up to the Similan islands - too bad I couldn't afford a little longer.
The day started early, 6:30 am pick up. What is with all this earliness - I thought divers were laid back!
We had to make a 1:30 minibus ride up the coast to the pier. Perfect time for a little nap! Once we arrived there was a quick breakfast / bathroom break then onto the speedboat. There were 16 divers plus some staff, so it was a bit cramped. I didn't realize we had another 1:40 by boat to the dive ship. Just when I thought could this last any longer squished up at the back of a bouncy speedboat, it started to pour with rain. Let this be a lesson; just when you question 'Could it get any worse?', it usually does!
We arrived at the dive ship still quite soggy, but we were there to get wet anyway.
These dive ships are live aboards as well, so there were already several people aboard. You can spend one to a couple of nights onboard and do up to 5 dives a day. Paradise, but it costs a pretty penny. Next time I hope my budget can stretch to a night or two.
We had a quick briefing on the site we were headed to and then downstairs to suit up. In contrast to my instructional dives at Koh Tao, all my gear was arranged, I just need to step into it. Nice! We were rushed off the boat and were quickly descending into the new murky depths.
The fist site was 3 Trees. Apparently it is near three trees on shore, but who looks at shore when there is an underwater world to explore. As we went down you could feel the tide shifting and dragging you inland. We made a 47 min dive with a maximum depth of 32 metres. The highlight was definitely a medium sized turtle - my first. It came gliding over the edge of a boulder and didn't even give us a sideways look. Amazing. I want to abandon my buddy (sorry Jerry) and follow it all day. I also glimpsed a trumpet fish that must have been about 750 cm long. There was also a family of four clown fish in a big fat juicy anemone. Those always look so fluffy you just want to run your finger through it - but they are stingers, so not a good idea. I definitely need to look into getting an underwater camera.
When we surfaced we were picked up by the dive boat. There is something ominous about a 60 ft vessel barreling down on you. Makes you want to decent again to the safety of the sea. But obviously they know what they are doing because we were quickly scooped up, rinsed off and sent upstairs for lunch.
After about 1:45 we were ready for our next dive at Christmas Point. This site I'd quite different with far more boulders and less reef. Here the big treat were a family of five Napoleon fish. The largest of which was almost a metre on diameter. At one point I was also flanked by a couple of big barracuda. Thankfully they didn't look hungry. This site also had several swim throughs. Our dive master took us through several passage ways with a number of twists and turns. Just before our ascent we caught sight of a clown trigger fish nestled into the rocks. They look like they are wearing lipstick.
We were back up, warm shower, hot tea. All equipment managed and the speedboat was back to pick us up. We spent 6 hour getting there and back, for 2 hours of diving, but it was totally worth it. It was like being in your very own Disney movie. You got to try it!!