What happens to Phuket Liveaboards in Low Season?

Dilok Shipyard Phuket

With the Similan liveaboard season running from late October until early May some may wonder what the boats do for the rest of the year.

Liveaboard owners are always looking for a way to earn some revenue during the low season. Every year we receive low season schedules for boats who plan to run trips throughout May-October to the Phi Phi Islands or the Racha Islands. These schedules are often wishful thinking because the boats struggle to find bookings are rarely run more than one or two trips. Diva Andaman has done well with her Racha and Phi Phi trips because they are short and they focus as much on non divers as divers. MV SaiMai has also had several low season charters, at just 6 guests maximum it easier to find enough guests to run. The Junk finds it harder to fill the boat for her low season 6 night trips.

The Junk has another unique way of earning her keep in low season. She has been rented out several times by film crews. She was used in the movie Shanghai which was filmed in Bangkok in 2008. She also starred in The Swiss Family Robinson and a documentary called Das Weisse Gold. This is a great deal for the Junk, production companies pay well and she normally gets a complete repaint out of it.

Some liveaboards are lucky enough to get chartered for the low season. This year Giamani was sailed round to Koh Samui where she was chartered by a group of tec divers. She is returning to Phuket now and will head straight into the ship yard for a spruce up before the Similan season starts.

In previous years Thailand liveaboards spent the Thai low season diving in Komodo or Manado. However with a change of Indonesian regulations, Thai flagged boats are no longer able to operate as liveaboards in Indo. Mermaid 1, Mermaid 2, Black Manta and Queen Scuba therefore all took the decision to leave Thailand and re flag as Indonesian liveaboards.

White Manta in Phuket Shipyard

Most boats just don't run in low season. They get put on the hard stand in Ratanachai or Dilok shipyards. It's a chance for the crews to take a well earned holiday. After 6 months of living aboard many of them go home to their families for a couple of months. Some go and get jobs in other countries. Dive crew go to Bali or Egypt. I know one Thai cook who is currently working on a liveaboard in the Maldives. It's a time for hiring and firing as some crew members quit never to return, some are fired and some are poached by rival boats.

About this time of year the shipyard work starts in earnest as the boats are prepared for the high season. For most that means engine maintenance and a paint job but some boats go through more extensive redesigns and improvements. Nautica has changed her Nitrox membrane system this year. Also, some boats are built, White Manta is new this season, and others change owners. Viking of the Orient will sail as MV Hallelujah this season.

Low season is when a lot of companies decide on their schedules for the next season and schedules tend to change a lot as full charter requests force changes. This year we are seeing an increase in shorter trips and also more emphasis on Surin only trips. MV Daranee is departing from her usual 4 day 4 night format and offering Surin or Similan trips instead. It will be interesting to see if it's popular. Fewer boats are scheduling Burma diving this year. Maybe because of the entry costs or maybe because the sharks have largely been fished out.