Blue Dolphin Liveaboard Review

Blue Dolphin is a new Thailand liveaboard boat which does 4 day diving trips in the Similan Islands, the location of Thailand’s best diving. Here’s my review after two trips on the boat.

Blue Dolphin liveaboard

Blue Dolphin is the new Similan islands liveaboard launched by Big Blue Diving in December 2022. Big Blue is one of Thailand’s oldest and largest dive operations with operations in Khao Lak and on Koh Tao. (You can read the history of the company here).

Update November 2024: The third season for Blue Dolphin has just begun and I’ve been back on the boat several times since originally writing this review. Things have remained pleasingly consistent, so this review remains largely up to date. Pretty much all the same crew have stayed with the boat which is a good sign. There is now a dedicated camera cabin (Cabin 5) where there are two bunk beds and a large bench for camera gear if you need the space. But my favourite new thing is that every time you come back from a dive, there is a hot face towel and a cold drink waiting for you. Luxury. In summary – Blue Dolphin is still a solid choice for a Similan liveaboard.

Blue Dolphin liveaboard

Liveaboard Overview

The TL;DR on Blue Dolphin is that it’s a solid mid-priced choice for a Similan liveaboard – it’s new and custom built, it’s efficiently and safely run by an experienced team, and has the liveaboard essentials you would expect: decent, plentiful Thai food, hot showers, comfortable beds.

Having only 14 divers maximum on the boat makes a big difference too, giving more space on the dive deck, dining area and camera table. It’s also great to see a new Similan liveaboard launching after Covid forced several Similan liveaboards permanently out of business.

You can check pricing and availability for Blue Dolphin on their website and on Liveaboard.com

Master cabin, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

A quick overview of the liveaboard setup:

14 guests total
7 cabins, all with their own aircon units

Cabin types:
Upper Deck master cabins with en suite bathroom
Lower Deck master cabins with en suite bathroom
Lower Deck Quad cabin – shared bathroom
Lower Deck double cabin – shared bathroom

14 dives over 4 days. 3 full days of diving (4 dives a day) and 2 dives in the morning on final day.
Breakfast, Lunch, mid-afternoon snack, Dinner all included. All day snacks of crisps and fruit available.

En-suite bathrooms, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The Dive Deck

The dive deck operates with four groups of divers (4 divers maximum to 1 dive guide) taking turns to gear up so the dive deck never gets too crowded.

Dive deck, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

Nitrox

Nitrox is available for all dives and generated by the on board compressor. This didn’t fluctuate much percentage wise over the course of the trip.

Camera shelves, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The Camera Table

In the centre of the dive deck is the camera table. This has secured crates underneath it to store camera rigs. The table is big enough to hold 2 to 3 big DSLR camera rigs or 6 to 7 compact camera setups. There is a small perspex enclosed area at one end of the table for opening up cameras and swopping out batteries and memory cards etc with shelter from the wind. (The perspex shelter was added after these photos were taken). There is a rinse tank at the other end of the camera table.

Camera shelves, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

There’s also a communal charging station – 5 shelves of surge protected power strips for charging camera batteries etc.

Sun deck, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The camera area is fine for smaller cameras, but I preferred to take my bigger camera back to my cabin for the usual faffing about between dives. The table also tends to be a catch-all area for dive computers and other paraphernalia to be deposited. I missed the dedicated camera room that you find on my other favourite Similan liveaboard, the Smiling Seahorse.

Corridor, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The Chase Boats

2 inflatable rib chase boats to take divers to and from the liveaboard (as of 2022 it’s illegal for divers to enter the water off the back of liveaboards). These are both competently handled by the boat boys who are very helpful at pulling in your dive gear and handling cameras. It’s a standard fold-down ladder to climb back into the chase boat and backroll entry.

Outdoor dining, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The Dining Area

On the upper deck, there’s an open dining area that can sit all 16 guests and crew, with an enclosed tv room / briefing room / lounge. There’s also a spacious sun deck above – sun cream most definitely required.

Outdoor dining, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The Food

An excellent array of Thai food dishes for lunch and dinner, with Western breakfast of bacon and eggs as well as congee. There is the afternoon snack too. Beer and wine is available to purchase, including a few craft beers.

Master cabin, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The Cabins

Because Blue Dolphin is a new liveaboard, the cabins have the shiny glow of new paintwork, fixtures and fittings. The design of the cabins shows some nice thoughtful touches – the toilets are angled at 45 degrees to give more room sitting down, the beds are arranged with two singles below (which can be a one double bed) and 1 bunk bed above. The general decoration vibe is muted grey and white with some light wood veneer – it’s like Muji meets Ikea. More importantly, everything feels like it’s well-organised and has its own space.

There are USB charging points for phones on a small shelf behind the bed’s headboard which is useful, along with dedicated reading lights. The cabins work so that they can be configured into double or twin setup, with the second single bed above the first to give more space.

Standard bunk cabin, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

The Boat Crew

The staff on Blue Dolphin are great – the kitchen team crank out consistently great food from a tiny galley, the boat boys are excellent at handling the inflatable chase boats in both rough and calm conditions and are also adept at picking up divers post-dive and handling camera gear.

Standard bunk cabin, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

Takeshi Omura, Big Blue’s director, is present on most of the liveaboard trips to take care of Big Blue’s Japanese clientele, along with cruise director Steve Boot who oversaw the construction of the boat. That means they are both keeping an eye on everything running efficiently and have an intimate knowledge of how the boat works as they designed it and put it together. It does make a difference when the boat owner is on the trip.

Quad cabin, Blue Dolphin liveaboard

Conclusion

The Blue Dolphin liveaboard is definitely worth considering for a mid-priced Similan Islands dive trip. It’s nice being on a boat that’s brand new. It gets the essentials right – good boat crew, sizable dive deck, not overcrowded with too many guests, good food, clean cabins. The thought that’s gone into the cabin design gives it a modern, contemporary feel. My only gripe is the relatively small space for big cameras, but for most divers that won’t be an issue.

You can see more info about the Blue Dolphin on their website and at Liveaboard.com, including pricing and availability.

Disclosure: I paid for my own trips on Blue Dolphin, getting a 10% discount as a returning Big Blue customer. Images used on this page are Blue Dolphin’s own publicity shots rather than my own but are realistic. They’ve not used camera trickery to make rooms look bigger and so on.