Similan Islands
I enjoyed doing my Advanced course on a Similan Islands liveaboard over Christmas. The liveaboard itinerary had a wide variety of dive sites that were well-suited to the five course dives, which included fish identification, night, and drift dives in addition to the mandatory deep and navigation dives. It was my first liveaboard and I loved the easy routine of "dive, eat, sleep, repeat" and how many dives I was able to complete in such a short timespan. I saw a wide variety of marine life typical to the region, including leopard and reef sharks, stingrays, turtles, and loads of fish and macro life. I was not an experienced diver with only 6 logged dives at the time I embarked the boat, but I found the conditions suitable to my comfort level (aside from the night dive, which I swore I would never do again but am now a Night specialty instructor). We got to experience some topside activities, including a hike to a strangely perched boulder on a small island and I recall passing the beach from "The Beach", completely overcrowded with tourists and boats. If you're in Thailand, a liveaboard to the Similan Islands is a great way to get some dives in without breaking the bank or taking too much time. It's easy to get in and out of Phuket, where many boats depart from.
