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Welcome to Island Hopping in the Andaman Sea of Thailand
Koh Similan Islands
Koh Similan Islands lie approximately 100 kilometres northwest of Phuket in the Andaman Sea. In 1982, this 128 square kilometres area was declared a marine national park, and in recent years this group of nine small islands (Similan is derived from the Malay sembilan, and means nine) has become one of the leading attractions for visitors to Southern Thailand.
Ko Similan Islands have never been inhabited and for many generations, the only human visitors were the so-called Sea Gypsies who came to fish on the teeming reefs.
They were followed by dynamite fishermen who destroyed hundreds of years of coral growth with one bomb, collecting the dead and stunned fish before moving to new grounds. Commercial trawlers also came to wreak havoc with corals and fish populations alike. With the establishment of stations by the Royal Forestry Department on Koh Miang and Koh Similan, fishing within the national park boundaries was banned and the unwanted visitors were substituted by tourists, especially after 1987, when leisure boats and dive operators started coming out on a regular basis. Today, Koh Similan Islands and all reefs have recovered from earlier disturbances. Boats entering the Similan Islands National Park have to follow strict rules imposed and controlled by the national park officials, have to use the moorings prepared by the national park and use closed waste water systems to avoid any pollution. The Similan Islands receive a high number of repeating tourists, especially divers, giving a clear sign to others for the popularity and the quality of the protected waters and the diversified underwater world.
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