The Junk

MARTINGoogle Reviewer

Incredible live changing experience!!! 💎 It left me speechless 👌🏽 High professional, safe and super friendly crew. Amazing food on board. Clean. Top diving gear. And for sure one of the best diving spots on earth on a boat with big history and an amazing crew.

jose vivasGoogle Reviewer

Amazing trip! Great dive sites even at the start of the season, with fewer divers around — even at Richelieu Rock. The Junk is a beautiful old Chinese sailing vessel turned into a perfectly run dive boat. The crew was outstanding, the food excellent, and the dive guides world-class — especially Jai. Big thanks to Bernard, our cruise director, for making everything run so smoothly. Highly recommended!

Tarun SatyakumarGoogle Reviewer

An 5 star experience from start to finish! I did a 5 day liveaboard to Similan+Surin on the Junk with 2 friends and we had an absolute blast. Brian, our lead and instructor is an absolute legend and the rest of the crew took incredible care of us throughout the trip. The attention to safety, conservation of marine life, and overall experience was impeccable The Junk is a slightly more expensive liveaboard compared to some others that sail from Khao Lak but the benefits are apparent immediately. First off, the ship is stunning and unique (a traditional, old sailboat that appeared even appeared in a James Bond movie). Second, the ratio of instructors and crew to divers was amazing solid leading to a great experience on the boat and in the water. Finally, the food was absolutely fantastic!! Would recommend in a heartbeat to anyone! ♥️

Katie F.Google Reviewer

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 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 was 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....

Mark LenherrGoogle Reviewer

This is truly an authentic experience from start to finish. The cruise director (BJ) and his team of experienced divers and support crew looked after our every need. What wonderful people. My daughter and I had one of the best holidays of our lives. We shared the adventure with 12 other like minded people from all walks of life, shared stories and made new friends. This is a culinary and diving adventure that we cannot recommend more sincerely. Bernard, you made this very special for us. See you again soon on another Junk trip. Mark & Anaïs