Just returned from 6 days aboard Diva Andaman in Thailand's Similan Islands. Cannot recommend Diva Andaman enough. The wooden sailing boat is gorgeous and with a maximum of 12 guests, you can have as much private time and space as you want. There are private rooms for each guest/couple - we had a large bed with private bathroom and shower, closet and storage space, desk, air conditioning, and soaps were provided. The rooms are all dark wood, and the sheets are made during the day when you're out diving. The meals were delicious, cooked by a Thai chef and two assistants, and you could request special food if your diet requires. Each evening we would dine upstairs under the stars with candlelight - fresh bread and a three course dinner - the most delicious Thai food I've had.

The pace of the day is just right, there's no rushing, 4 dives per day, meals after each dive. The staff is fantastic and ready to help in any way they can. Great dive guides who are passionate and knowledgeable, and very good dive sites. The coral is recovering from the tsunami and bleaching in years past, and the hard coral is making a comeback, which was great to see. We were looking for a ghost pipefish during the trip and mentioned this to the dive guides...the next dive, 30m down, under a ledge, they found one for us! Lots of varieties of fish - tangs and triggers galore, anthias, parrotfish - what was fun was the great abundance. Large groups of tiny schooling fish floating and darting around the reefs. No large fish, other than a school of barracuda, but there have been whale shark and reef shark spottings. Visibility was decent for the area (the guides were complaining about the 45'-60' visibility), but compared to California diving the visibility was fantastic.

There were options to go ashore to visit beaches or hikes, as well as kayaking. Often, we would go snorkeling between dives for a while. Lots of open deck space on the boat to sit in the sun or shade and relax. The last evening the owner, Yannick, and staff opened the champagne bottles and wine and toasted the trip - unbelievably classy... I'm afraid I'm going to be spoiled for life with liveaboards from now on. They even cleaned our gear the last night so it was dry by the time we left.