Phuket Diving Information - Scuba Diving in Phuket Thailand

Phuket diving sites number among the very best to be found. In fact, the readers of the top diving magazine voted Phuket diving among the top ten in the world. Diving Phuket's warm clear blue waters is best from mid-October to May, when the calm seas and rain free days make Phuket diving off Ko Kaew Noi, Ko Rajali Yai, Shark Point a truly unique experience.

Phi Phi Island diving is also one of the highlights for any serious dive itinerary, Phi Phi Island diving takes the diver to one of the most famous diving sites in the world, and facilities for Phi Phi Island diving are among the best for such a site.

Diving Khao Lak will introduce the diver to many new varieties of fish and coral. Khao Lak diving is a relatively unspoiled diving site offering much natural scenery and diving Khao Lak means entering into one of Thailand's premier marine national parks.

Scuba companies diving Phuket offer full training courses and equipment hire, so that experienced and amateur divers can experience diving Phuket waters without needing to worry about bringing more than their underwater cameras.

Expeditions regularly leave Phuket for dives around neighbouring islands, and further afield, most particularly around the enduringly popular Phi Phi Islands in neighbouring Krabi province, some 2 hours east of Phuket, and the Similan Islands, some 110 km northwest of Phuket, and the Raya Islands, 1-3 hours due south of Phuket, depending on the type of boat.

Diving equipment : Several dive shops concentrated in the Patong, Kata and Chalong areas have Asian and European expatriate(s) (speaking English and several other languages) and bi-lingual Thai dive instructors who offer inexpensive beginner's courses. All diving equipment is available for hire.

Phuket's western shore is dotted with a dozen pristine white sandy beaches, including Surin, Patong and Nai Yang beaches, which abound with aquamarine life. Listed among the top 10 Scuba diving destinations in the world, the beaches on the west coast of Phuket offer some supreme Scuba diving with the depths from about 30 to 45 meters. Good close-up photographs can be taken. Also, regular diving cruises and private trips can be arranged to other highly regarded diving areas such as the Similan Island.

Rawai beach is frequented by foreign Scuba diving enthusiasts because it is convenient to the piers where Scuba trips to nearby islands can be arranged

Only 5 km off Phuket's south coast and easily accessible by boats from Rawai and Chalong, He Island is well known for its unspoiled coral reef and is often referred to simply as Coral Island.

The Island is a part of a marine preserve, however, various water sports, and diving, fine accommodation and restaurants are all available. Daytrippers from Phuket make the beach somewhat crowded in the daytime during the high season.

Racha Yai island is an excellent place for beginner divers and snorkellers to start their diving adventures in Thailand. 1.5 hours from Phuket the island's dive sites offer 45 to 90 feet of visibility across hard coral gardens in the shallower waters with remarkable staghorn coral reefs down to 90 feet.

Racha Yai Island has clean, powdery beaches like those of the Similan Islands. On the east, at Ao Kon Kae Bay, is a coral reef where the diving is excellent. With well preserved hard corals in both shallow and deeper water, snorkeling and scuba diving are the favorite activities.

The smaller brother of Racha Yai island and slightly further from Phuket, Racha Noi has a fine selection of coral gardens for the diver to explore. Visibility is said to be even better here than off Racha Yai and offers some deeper dive sites.

Doc Mai Island is on a well-travelled dive route out of Phuket, on the way to Shark Point. Just off this small island, excellent wall diving is available - considered the best in the area. The underwater cliffs are alive with a multitude of marine inhabitants that colourfully tend the giant sea fans and soft corals that grow here.

1.5 hours east of Phuket, a small rock pokes just above the surface of the water. This unassuming rock is the natural marker for a national marine sanctuary and one of the most wonderful dive experiences available in the area. Shark Point's underwater limestone escarpment is alive with a staggering range of tropical marine life and is coated in a startling collage of soft corals and sea fans. Several dives need to be taken to truly experience the vast array of wonders Shark Point presents. The coral tapestry descends 75 feet to the seabed, where the harmless leopard sharks come to play and rest.

Not far from Shark Pointt, the submerged Anemone Reef is another playground for the friendly leopard shark, while vast schools of colourful smaller fish, barracuda, tuna and jackfish can also be observed here. However, the reef gets its name, fairly obviously, for the preponderance of sea anemones in the area. Vast fields of the spiny beasties stretch off into the middle distance, offering a pointed reminder of the sea's rich diversity and danger.

The Phi Phi islands is one of the most popular diving areas in Thailand, and is also popular with non-diving tourists. For this reason, it is often considered too busy by serious divers who prefer quieter dive sites. However, there is a very good reason why Phi Phi is so popular, and that is that few other places offers quite the diversity of dive sites and marine life.

While Phi Phi's limestone escarpments soar into the clear blue sky, beneath the water, they fall away into the water's darkness, offering divers fantastic coral-encrusted walls and caves. South of the islands, divers can experience the thrill of observing leopard, reef and nurse sharks up-close, and there are also occasional sightings of the magnificent whale shark in these waters.

The nine granite islands of the Similans National Marine Park, lay only fifty miles northwest of Phuket. Remarkable visibility of up to 120 feet, gives divers a rare opportunity to view vast panoramas of giant fan and soft coral spread throughout the 25 dive sites in the park. The granite cliffs of some of the islands descend over 150 feet into the clear waters, and the waters around the Similan Islands are home to literally hundreds of colourful and unusual fish and other species of marine life.

Bungalows are available and camping is allowed on only one of the nine islands - Koh Miang, where the National Park Authority also has a base. The authorities main office for the park can be found on Koh Similan itself

Thirty miles from Thailand's mainland and forming a natural marine border with Myanmar, is another of Thailand's national marine parks. The Surin archipelago's 1100 square miles contains only five islands, of which only two bare much plant life. These are Koh Nua and Koh Koli Tai, and they are joined by a shallow channel that can be walked across at low tide. Both islands have small, pleasant beaches and some interesting caves to explore. Of the Surin Archipelagos dive sites, Richelieu Rock is certainly the most interesting, as it is often visited place for Whale Sharks.