The Smiling Seahorse

Frank the owner of the boat, a tall, French, fish loving guide, friend, and entertainer who walks around like the Thai fishermen wearing local clothes and a winter hat to keep the wind out of his ears, along with the crew gave a trip of a lifetime. Frank jumps in the water each day along with the divers purely because he loves diving and taking AMAZING pictures. He sat and talked to me about remedial camera skills, settings, and technique to take the best pictures even though his level of photographing is light years beyond what I’m doing. He is genuine, kind, insightful, and informative. You can tell that Frank loves being on the boat being with the divers, making friends and because of that you get treated like his friend from the food he plans like the barbecue night with massive ribs, chicken, and potatoes and opening some rum for everyone to enjoy (at no cost) as the music plays and people let their hair down. Then the final meal was mouth-watering steak, with pasta, and delicious veggies in a cream sauce. When you are treated like the owners good friend on the boat, you get the best of everything. Taking a trip on the Smiling Seahorse to me is like feeling that I should have had to pay more for the trip that I actually did. I love to get the best deal, even if that means having to put up with some not so nice things. This trip I feel like I got so much more than what I paid for. I cannot say enough about this trip. I’m sad it had to end and now any other live-aboard I go on in the future will have a very, very high bar. Thanks Frank and the team!

I set sail with The Smiling Seahorse on a 5 day / 4 night North Andaman Trip from February 28 to March 3rd, 2024. For context, I am an Advanced PADI diver with 30 lifetime dives before I boarded the boat. This was my first liveaboard experience and I was accompanied by four friends who I had dived with previously in Dubai and four other divers. My only understanding of what to expect was from watching a few nice YouTube videos from The Smiling Seahorse’s channel, but that was theoretical. It was time to finally experience the live-aboard life in person.

Let’s start with the boat - The Smiling Seahorse (TSS) is 25m long, custom-built craft with 8 rooms that divers can either share or occupy individually. There are three levels - a lower deck with rooms, chef’s kitchen and dive equipment where divers can jump on a Zodiac and head to their drop off points; a main deck with the captain’s quarters at the help, more rooms, a main gathering area where all meals are had and briefings delivered, and finally, a sundeck to relax and enjoy the incredible views of the Andaman Sea, many islands and more.

TSS is owned by a French couple Frank and Camille Fogarolo who have run this live-aboard for 12 years. While Camille was present to greet us when we arrived and ensure that we settled in smoothly, Frank was with us for the entire trip. Tall and lean, Frank is a veteran diver who runs a professional operation. His first briefing was the main one. It was both comprehensive and detailed and covered our plan plus do’s and don’t on the boats and in the water. Frank then introduced us to his team of dive pros — Velika (from Switzerland), James (England), Min (Thailand) and Mici (Hungary) — each with 2,000+ dives. We were divided into smaller groups with one of these pros as our group leads. The rest of the staff, all Thai, included the captain, chef and crew who looked after us and the boat from end to end.

Unfortunately for me, I caught a bad throat infection a day after arriving in Thailand, so I could only make 7 out of 14 total dives on this trip, but all said and done, those dives were great. The visibility was amazing on almost every dive, with understandably the least on the sunset dive at Richelieu Rock. They really save the best for last because the marine life at Richelieu Rock was extraordinary. While going in and out of chilly thermoclines, I swam through tornados of barracuda, swarms of tiny sliversides, countless fusiliers, waves of long, slim cornetfish, mixed hordes of trevally and Smalltooth Emperors. It was stunning.

I am so grateful for Velika who led me through my first three dives at the amazing Similan Islands and then for James who I dived with at the brilliant Richelieu Rock. Velika was kind, patient and caring. James gave me tips on how to better equalize the pressure in my ears as I was having trouble with that. Both had a deep understanding of our dive locations. On our last day, I sat with James for an hour and he helped me identify all the marine life we saw - ghost pipefish, box fish, trevally, cornetfish and many more. I feel a lot more educated now. I gained both knowledge and experience from Velika and James and really glad that our paths crossed.

The food on board included breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in between. The cuisine included Thai and Italian with a barbecue surprise on our last night. There were more options for non-vegetarians (including chicken, pork and lamb) than for vegetarians, but enough to get by. Meals were mostly stir-fried or deep-fried and served with rice. Spice levels varied from spice-free to really hot, so we definitely had range. Breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, soy-milk as the alternative for regular milk, beers, wine, crisps, juice and soft drinks were all on board and fueled us from dive to dive.

This was such a great trip. The TSS experience and team were wonderful and I would happily recommend them to anyone considering a liveaboard in Thailand. I could not make the second trip to Myanmar with them but I look forward to that the next time.

No words enough to describe this experience: Thank you so much to the whole team of the Smiling Seahorse for such an absolutely amazing week!! If you're looking for the diving experience of a lifetime in Thailand or Burma, then look no further and book immediately with the Smiling Seahorse: the team is super well organised, professional and very experienced. And the food... soooo good!! I will definitely go again and can highly recommend to anyone!!!

My time aboard the Smiling Seahorse was nothing short of amazing 🤩The ship itself was clean and spacious, with lots of comfortable places to relax after each dive. My team's guide, P'It, was knowledgeable and friendly, with a keen eye for finding the tiniest of creatures. Everything on the boat was done efficiently - the only thing you need to worry about as a diver is eating, sleeping and diving 😉

Franck and Camille are kind and compassionate hosts with an abundant knowledge of diving the Andaman (and some seriously impressive photography skills!!) All other boat crew were equally helpful and kind.

I'm already looking forward to my next trip ;)

On a friend's suggestions I for a liveabord in the Andaman Sea I booked my trip in November on the Smiling Seahorse. Chatting back and forth with the staff to organize the booking itself and various transfers was prompt and efficient and I arrived onboard without any complications.

The ship's layout has enough space so that it doesn't feel cramped, and the sundeck as well as the cushion area at the back of the boat were made good use of by everyone between and after dives. The diving was very enjoyable with a large variety of creatures to see and very varied topography underwater which was highly impressive. A special mention goes out to the black water dive which is truly amazing and opens your eyes to things that swim around the ocean but are usually not seen.

The staff on board was very attentive and forthcoming. The cooks prepared various delicious meals while the supporting staff made sure to aid people as needed when gearing up and getting back from their dives. The dive briefings were given by the individual dive guides, all of which did an amazing job at adjusting the diving to the guest's preferences, be that for the type of diving, difficulty of the dive, or special creatures to see. Finally, James being in charge of everything made sure everything went smoothly using his particular sense of humor.

Frank, Camille, and the entire crew provided an an awesome 4D/4N diving experience through the Surin and other north of Similan islands. The boat was nice, the food was very good and plentiful (not something we expected going in), and the dive sites they chose were excellent - we even spotted a whale shark! Itt was our dive guide and she so much fun to dive with. This was our first liveaboard trip and they made it very easy for us. We were very impressed with how organized everything was and also appreciated their flexibility in changing up the schedule to make sure we had the most enjoyable dives. We highly recommend them and would happily come back.

Went on my first liveaboard to the Surin & Similan islands with the Smiling Seahorse in October 2021. I had an amazing time with Franck, Cami, the crew and other passengers! All of the dive guides are super knowledgeable of the dive sites, respectful of marine life, and simply fun to be around (special shout-out to my girl It!). The boat is well-equipped, comfortable and has plenty of space to relax and hang with other divers. 10/10 you need to take this trip!

Great crew, chilled vibes, good food and great diving. Would totally recommend Franck, his team and the smiling seahorse to other divers. We did a 7 day trip starting in Khao Lak and ending at Phuket.

Fantastic boat, super comfy and very well prepared, super helpful and nice crew, always smiling and ready to assist, really nice and delicious food (including BBQ, salami, cheese, good nice pork steaks with proper sauses and all the things that are quite expensive in Thailand and normally you don’t get in a dive trip).

Very experienced guides and tech crew as well, everything was smooth and enjoyable, nothing really to complain about, I would definitely choose it again!

What a wonderfull trip we had, very nice dives despite the weather: rough sea, bad visibility, lots of wind and rain and still we enjoyed every minute of it. Because of the weather some divesites were not accesible but a good Alternative was offered and the crew always helped us savely back on the boat. One of us used a lot of air but was guided by our diveguide to the boat while we could finish the dive, thx for your trust. The black water dive was a new and very interesting experience . Just one remark, we chose not to use nitrox, the 4th five of the day should be a shallow one. As we chose the standaard room we had only two bathrooms to share with 5+crew, turned out to be no problem, they we're kept very clean.
Definitly will try out the Birma route in the future!

With the crew of the Smiling Seahorse I took part in a wonderful cruise between the Meurgui archipelago and the Burma Banks. They were wonderful days full of pleasant surprises and incredible dives.

I’m so happy to have done my first live aboard with Franck and Camille on the Smiling Seahorse! Each dive was unique and spectacular, and I particularly enjoyed the sunset and black water dives. As an aspiring underwater photographer, I greatly appreciated Franck’s advice and critique —there is no one better suited than him to help me get the best underwater shots! I also appreciated having a dedicated space on board to set up and store my camera gear.

I dove in a group of four with P’It as our lead. She was an amazing guide with awesome, hand-drawn graphics of each dive site. The dive deck was well-equipt and spacious, with a wonderful boat crew to assist as needed.

This was my first time diving in the Andaman, but I will definitely be back! I can’t stop thinking about how cool the black water dive was — I need to go again! 🤩

Thank you Franck and Camille…I will come back soon

I just came back from a 4N trip to the Similan and Surin Islands with the smiling seahorse. I can wholeheartedly recommend it! The entire operation is highly professional, making it very safe and fun to dive these great dive sites. The entire crew is focused on the safety, comfort and well-being of the guests. One thing I really liked was that the boat is specialized on divers who are at least advanced open water. It ensured the groups were homogeneous in their experience. Nothing against new divers, but for them too it is more enjoyable when they dive with people of their level, and not feel like the odd ones out.

The boat is in great condition, cabins are comfy and very clean, food is plenty and very good.

Thanks again to the crew and to James, who did a fantastic job leading the tour, and who was a great dive guide for my group.

Amazing Liveaboard

We did 2 liveaboards on this boat in 15 days, that already says a lot about the super team, the very comfortable boat and the great atmosphere on board.
Franck, Camille and the crew are spending a lot of energy to let you enjoy this amazing cruise.
Nothing more to say than "dive, eat, sleep"and for sure enjoy!! A real oxygen breathing and not only in the tank 😁
Incredible sharing experience with the team, the buddys and the ocean 👌
Thanks a lot to them

Aurélie & Jérôme

I cannot recommend this LiveAboard enough! I just returned from the 4D/4N LiveAboard in the Andaman Sea and everything was perfection. From the minute you are on board Franck and the crew make you feel safe and comfortable. The entire trip was very well organized from the layout of the boat, dive schedule, dive groups, safety protocols, food, guest responsibilities, and the crew did not hesitate to help. You will be happy you chose the Smiling Seahorse!

We just came back from a wonderful 6day/5nights trip through the north Andaman sea. The boats set up is perfect and you find different areas to socialize but also to relax. Everything is very clean and neat and the crew takes great care about all your needs. They even recognize what you need before you recognize it yourself! :) The diving is well organized, staff very experienced, and the diving is in small groups up to 4ppl per guide and very relaxed. Something very exceptional is the food! We spend a lot of time in Thailand already but have rarely eaten better food. Please also take the chance to do a blackwater dive - this is a very special and magical experience which you can have only in very few places in the world! On the last day they dropped us off on Koh Phayam without an extra charge. Thank you so much again for this really good experience, exceptional diving and for all the smiles! We can 100% recommend this trip! Isabel and Martin :)

Great guys. I can fully recommend the smiling sea horse. Food and service was awesome on board. When you dive everybody tries to do their best, so you can enjoy your dives. What makes it even better is the passion they have for diving and spread tbat on board. It starts by the owner Frank and down the whole team and crew. Definetly coming back for the Burma trip!

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves during our 6 day / 5 night diving tour around Burma's Mergui archipelago. The diving (17 dives!) was amazing - lots of sea life and fantastic location choice by Franck&co. Highly recommend our guide, Tod, as he was super knowledgeable, safe and a lot of fun! My wife and I took our advanced OW certification on board. Organization all around was great both beforehand and while on board. Food on board was superb as well. Can't recommend enough!

Let's keep it simple: very cool experience. Thanks to the boat, the crew, the guides, the sea creatures for posing in front of our camera. Overwhelming. Hope to be back one day.

Had an amazing time on the smiling seahorse live_board. Frank, the owner, his wife, and their lovely hard-working staff were extremely accommodating and made the trip go pleasantly smooth from start to finish. The boat is great. Roomy, cozy, and thoughtfully laid out to maximize comfort. Food was excellent and plentiful. Unlimited refreshments and snacks at your fingertips. Friendly and competent staff/boat crew that take care of everything for you so I felt very pampered. I would definitely dive with them again. Superb service and experience!