Nicobar Pigeon and the Similan Islands

We gave it serious thought before booking the boat to the Similans for the Nicobar Pigeon, we really wanted to see them but we had heard lots of reports saying that you had to stay on the island overnight and be up at the crack of dawn to stand any chance of seeing them and even then there was only a slim chance - but we thought this would probably be the one and only chance so we joined the 20  snorkellers on the boat who just couldn't understand what the devil we were doing and just why we didn't want to hire snorkel gear and as you can see we saw the Nicobars and they were probably the easiest bird of the trip - they were wandering around the restaurant from 10.00 to 1.00 but always in deep shade.  They were far too close for digiscoping so this was one of the rare occasions when the 100-400mm came out.