Liveaboard Diving in Thailand & Myanmar

  Amazing Diving with The Phinisi - I've just finished a 7 night liveaboard trip on The Junks sister liveaboard, The Phinisi.. what an amazing week with a great team of guests onboard. From the moment... read more I stepped onboard the reception was welcoming and great, instantly making me feel at ease as I was going as a solo diver

Having been on The Junk last year, my expectations were high as that was a trip I felt couldn't be topped but the last 7 days were just as fabulous (and a longer trip this time) so I felt like I'd won the jackpot again ️

As it was the last trip of the season, we sailed up to Surin islands for the incredibly insane diving at Richaliue Rock - wow, the best dive site in the Surin islands without a doubt.. as it was the last trip of the season, fewer boats were there so we had the dive sites to ourselves for 3 out of the 5 dives there - awesome experience watching the giant travellis, rainbow runners, long nose emperor fish, blue fin tuna and Barracuda hunting the bait balls of 1000s of fish.. to name just a few.. I feel incredibly lucky to have witnessed so much life at this thriving dive site.

At Tachai Reef we were blessed with a manta gracefully cruising passed us

Diving with such experienced divers was super fun and listening to their experiences and stories over dinner brought everyone together.

The crew on The Junk & The Phinisi are absolutely top notch, from Cruise Director Marco, the dive guides, chef Bee and assistant chefs, hosts, housekeeping, boat crew, engineer all so polite, welcoming and nothing is too much trouble for them morning, noon or night.

Thanks again for another awesome and memorable trip

Lisa ️

  You won’t regret to choose The Junk for your diving experience - I booked this trip (5days) with Andy’s Scuba Diving, and Lisa organized everything perfectly. The transfer from Phuket to Tab Lamu was super convenient. Even though it was almost the... read more end of the season and we had some rainy days, thanks to the amazing crew, everything throughout the trip was smooth, comfortable, and unforgettable.
Brian was an excellent tour leader — always focused on safety and respectful diving practices around marine life. The crew was wonderful, the food was delicious with great variety, and the mango sticky rice between dives was a highlight! P’Far’s hot drinks and smoothies after each dive were the perfect touch (especially coconut smoothie).
The dive sites were absolutely superb, fish were everywhere.
The Junk gave me a lifetime experience, I met many wonderful people there.

  Amazing trip, can’t wait for my next!  - One of my pet peeves about reviews of dive boats is people often primarily review the diving more than the boat so I'm going to start with and primarily focus... read more on the boat

It was an incredible trip! The boat is older and full of history. With it's age and overall style don't expect spacious spaces and ultra polished finishes so if that is was you're seeking - look elsewhere. If you're looking for an amazing crew, top notch safety, and delectable food this is absolutely the boat to go with.

From the booking and throughout the pre-trip period, the staff offered prompt and clear communication.

Onboard, they keep the boat incredibly clean and organized. They treat your gear with respect and (though I bring my own I always check out rental gear because it says a lot about a company) their rental gear looked in good condition. Both the cabins and shared areas are small so expect a more close knit experience and get ready to really get to know your fellow trip mates! Though small the cabins were comfortable and the AC/Fan combo did a brilliant job at keeping our cabin cool despite the May heat. Dive prep/loading/unloading the boat is run with clarity and precision. The food was AMAZING. It was by far consistently the best food I had in 2.5 weeks in Thailand and offered a diversity of cuisine but their main focus was delish local dishes. The staff was always attentive, respectful, and engaging.

You would see rib boats ripping through the water (especially at Richelieu Rock where I would argue every group should have at least 2 DSMBs deployed for extra safety) to a level that can be scary and screams boating accidents and quite frankly the Thai government NEEDS to do something about this BUT our boat captains always showed nothing but the utmost attention to safe navigation, diver awareness, and I trusted them completely.

Two things I would advise should you book with them: 1) minimalist packing is your friend, the cabins are quite small with very little storage. 2) They offer shampoo and body wash but I hate the commercial fragrance and as a long hair girlie I really wanted conditioner so in the future I would bring my own travel toiletries.

*We loved ALL of the crew and company so much we are were talking and emailing with them about our next trip before we even disembarked and I am so excited to go dive with them again.*

The diving - only a short clip on this because you can find enough reviews on it elsewhere. I hadn't been diving in Thailand for 8 years and with conditions of the reefs in other heavily traveled areas I traveled I was really curious to see what it would be like but I was incredibly impressed. The reefs seem very healthy, there was very little trash which has been a huge problem in other places I've been, and fish life is quite robust. I was disappointed at the lack of larger animals - not just the whale sharks and mantas everyone hopes luck will present - but even the smaller reef and nurse sharks. We saw none and only 2 turtles. Perhaps because the water temps were remarkably warm they moved elsewhere/deeper but I was surprised at their absence given the overall well appearing state of the reefs. The Surin sites were my favorite overall. Richelieu Rock was an incredible site but the traffic made it a bit of cluster - and we weren't even there at peak season .