Diving off Koh Phuket

Anemone Reef

Working for a dive company based in Chalong Phuket, i built a good idea about diving in this area. Our boat visits sites between Phi Phi Island and Racha Noi. Some of these sites are suitable to beginner dives; some are great for certified divers, all in all, they are fantastic dive sites you should definitely visit!

I just love being underwater, blowing bubbles and talking to fish. I have a couple of favoutrites sites areound the areas including; Anemone Reef and the King Cruiser Wreck. Anemome Reef, is where the King Cruiser Ferry Crashed into the top of in 2001, the wreck boat then drifted and sank not too far away. Both full of life, Anemone Reef has an abundance of living coral, with bright purples, blues and pure white everywhere you look; on a good day it site needed to be visited with a camera. It gets its name form the carpet of anemone corals all over the bommie anywhere shallower then 15 m. As well as coral, Anemone reef is often covered in hundreds of schooling fish and even the odd leopard shark.

Nudibranch

The wreck, can be penetrated, there are many large open spaces however, half of it has crashed down over the years so i do not trust it. There are many days where it is hard to get good visibility on the wreck because there are so many schools of fish getting in the way. As the wreck is situated between 18-35m, this site is only suitable to advanced divers up. But it is an incredible dive in which most divers want to do again and again and again!

Not far away is Shark Point, also a great dive site for all levels, that offers viewing of many smaller creatures including sea horses as well as the odd leopard shark and huge barracuda.

King Cruiser Wreck

Phi Phi Lei is an incredible island, drawn by tourists because of the gigantic cliffs, beautiful beaches and great dive sites. The main sites we visit are Palong Bay (aka turtle wall) and Hin Thao (aka turtle rock). Right next to each other these dive sites are very similar but have a few unique features. Palong Bay is often a popular sport to watch for black tip reef sharks who usually swim around the shallows less then 10m and on Hin Thao look out for green sea turtles who like to relax and find food within the shallows of this site.

Koh Bida Nok is another favourite site of mine. Similar to Koh Bida Nai, the island is small enough to swim around in one dive, however i like to take it slow and find the little creatures in all the nooks and crannies. Koh Dok Mai is another beautiful dive site in its own way, bright coloured coral, many types of schooling fish, wall dives usually down to 30m as well as the smaller moray eels, sea horses, lion fish and nudibranchs even with a coupe of caverns!

Phi Phi Lei

Racha Yai and Noi, usually offer good visibility and a nice easy dive. Perfect for non-divers  (snorkelers and DSD’s) and courses there are also deeper wrecks for the certified diver. The islands have many bays on the eastern and western sides which offers protection from wind, waves and current depending on which direction they are coming from. As shallower dives, the light is usually brighter so capturing photo’s of little critters is definitely on the plus side!