Qualla: Similan Islands

Similan Islands: Introduction

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit KOSIN SUKHUM, CC BY-SA 4.0. The word "Similan" comes from the Yawi language and means nine. When the archipelago was first named, only nine islands counted. Two more were added to the national park in 1998, but the old name stuck -- a reminder that places often outgrow the words we use for them. Seventy kilometers off the coast of Phang Nga Province in Thailand's Andaman Sea, the Similan Islands sit at the maritime border between India and Thailand, an eleven-island chain where granite boulders tumble into water so clear that divers can see the coral sixty feet below before they even submerge. Established as Mu Ko Similan National Park in 1982, this archipelago has become one of the world's premier dive destinations. It has also become a cautionary tale about what popularity costs.

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Image: KOSIN SUKHUM | CC BY-SA 4.0

Similan Islands: Numbered Islands, Uncountable Life

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mathias Krumbholz, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Thai Department of National Parks assigned each island a number, running from south to north: Ko Huyong (Island 1) through Ko Tachai (Island 11). The system is practical but stripped of poetry. Ko Similan, Island 8, is the largest, and its surrounding waters average sixty fee...

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Image: Mathias Krumbholz | CC BY-SA 3.0

Similan Islands: Too Many Footprints in the Sand

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chowalit, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 2017, Mu Ko Similan National Park was receiving approximately 912,000 tourists per year. During peak season, from mid-October to mid-May, five to six thousand visitors arrived daily -- and on busy days, the number pushed past seven thousand. The coral showed the strain. Enviro...

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Image: Chowalit | CC BY-SA 3.0

Similan Islands: Nets in the Reef

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit 29cm from Hong Kong, CC BY-SA 2.0. Fishing is officially prohibited throughout both the Similan and Surin National Parks. The prohibition exists on paper; the water tells a different story. Divers regularly encounter fishing nets tangled in the reefs and illegal traps scattered across the seabed, particularly outs...

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Image: 29cm from Hong Kong | CC BY-SA 2.0

Similan Islands: The Wave That Changed Everything

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit User: (WT-shared) Similanscuba at wts wikivoyage, Public domain. On December 26, 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami struck the Similan Islands with devastating force. Scuba divers underwater at the time reported being caught suddenly in violent, swirling currents that tossed them through the water column. On land, camcorder footage captured the wa...

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Image: User: (WT-shared) Similanscuba at wts wikivoyage | Public domain