Thailand Diving
Thailand Dive Regions
- Andaman Sea
- Gulf of Thailand
Thailand Diving
Andaman Sea
Andaman And Nicobar Islands
Floating in splendid isolation, cast of the Indian mainland is the archipelago ...
Floating in splendid isolation, cast of the Indian mainland is the archipelago of 572 emerald islands, islets and rocks known as Andaman & Nicobar Islands. This Union Territory stretches over an area of more than 700 Km from north to south with 36 inhabited islands. Once a hill range extending from Burma (Myanmar) to Indonesia, these undulating islands are covered with dense forests and endless varieties of exotic flowers and birds. The topography of the islands is hilly and abounds in evergreen forests. The sandy beaches on the edge of meandering coastline are fringed with coconut palms that sway to the rhythm of the sea. The sea around the islands offer excellent scope for water sports. The rare flora and fauna, underwater marine life and corals, with crystal clear water and mangrove-lined creeks, offer a dream-view of the rare gifts of nature. The clean and wide roads, free of filth as well as unpolluted fresh air will attract any nature-lover, who seek absolute peace and tranquility in the lap of mother nature. Adventure tourism like trekking, island camping, snorkeling, scuba diving etc., are the real attractions. A visit to these islands is a memorable lifetime experience.
Mythologicaly, the name Andaman was presumed to be derived from Hanuman, who was known to the Malays as Handuman. Since Prehistoric times, these islands were the home of aboriginal tribes. The tribes of the Andaman group of islands are the Great Andamanese, Onges, Jarawas, and Sentinatese, all of Negrito origin, while the tribes of Nicobars are the Nicobarese and Shompens, both of Mongoloid stock. The first settlement by the British took place in 1789, then abandoned in 1796. The second settlement was basically a penal settlement, taken up in 1858, after the First War of Independence, when Britian cast off their convicts, Moplas, some criminal tribes from Central and United Provinces, refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka as well as ex-servicemen.
In these islands people of all faiths -- Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs etc., and of all languages like Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Nicobari etc., -- live together in complete peace and harmony. Inter-religion and inter-regional marriages are common. This amazing racial and cultural mix is correctly described as Mini-India.
The reserved and protected forests extend over 86% area of the territory and the forest cover is more than 92 percent. About 50 percent of the forests has been set aside as Tribal Reserves, National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries, which are inviolate. Luxuriant mangroves, perhaps the richest in the world, occupy nearly 5 percent of the territory. More than 150 plant and animals species are endemic in nature. Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park is rich in corals, varieties of colored fishes, sea turtles etc., besides other marine life. It is a birds paradise -- more than 271 varieties of birds inhabit the idyllic landscape, out of which 39 are endemic. Megapode, Swiftlet, Hornbill and Nicobar Pigeon are some of the specialties of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
Koh Phi Phi
Actually two Islands Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh these ...
Actually two Islands - Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Leh - these two awesome sisters languish in the ocean like a pair of emerald jewels studding the emerald waters of Phang Nga Bay. Koh Phi Phi is one of the most picturesque islands in the world. You'll marvel at the stunning movie-set desert-island scenery both above and below the waterline. Phi Phi scuba diving offers more than 15 different sites with many walls, caves and caverns. The islands lie in Krabi Province, so the sea life is substantially different from our other Thailand destinations. Both hard and soft corals prosper harmoniously amongst the myriads of marine life. Here's your best opportunity to happen across green turtles, black and white banded sea snakes, angelfish, crocodile long-toms and sharks.
Bida Nok - "Outer Father" is a small limestone cliff islet, two kilometres south of Phi Phi Leh. It is Phi Phi Islands' best dive site, due to its great diversity of marine life and is often visited on Thailand liveaboard cruises. South West of the islet, just outside a large sheltered bay is where the most beautiful coral and rock formations can be found. It's also the best area for seeing banded sea snakes and hawksbill turtles. The cliffs descend straight into the sea and are covered with soft corals and anemones of purple, green, blue and pink. This creates magical, colourful wall diving. Look closely into the crevices and zigzag clams for all types of moray eels, the most common being the white-eyed moray. Caverns and overhangs are plenty, with a beautifully diverse finger reef replete with gorgonian sea fans, sea whips, giant brain corals, table corals and bubble coral. Bida Nok is home to lionfish, bearded scorpionfish, bird wrasse and moon wrasse, moorish idols, parrotfish and honeycomb grouper.
Maya Wall - On the west side of Koh Phi Phi Leh is Maya Bay, made famous by "The Beach" movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and now Phi Phi's most popular snorkelling destination. It's possible to dive the walls outside of the bay to the south and the north with the latter offering more of interest. The island walls, so beautiful above the water, are just as stunning below and in many places huge boulders have fallen and fused together to create exciting swim-throughs filled with glassfish. A good dive light is useful for looking into and under rocks in search of critters. This site has mainly hard coral cover which is not as prolific as at other Phi Phi dive sites but is still host to a multitude of reef fish including snappers, wrasse, bannerfish and moorish idols.
You'll probably see leopard sharks here and small rock groupers are numerous, as are oriental sweetlips. This is also the best dive site in Phi Phi for seeing hawksbill turtles. At the very northern edge of the wall schools of black tips circle constantly. They are normally around the ten metre mark, which means that snorkellers can spot them too.Garang Heng - This submerged reef lies two kilometres east of Phi Phi Leh and is not visited by Phuket diving boats. It has large schools of yellowtail barracuda, twin-spotted sea perch, gold-striped fusiliers and blue-lined snapper. The reef itself is predominantly soft coral, sea fans, large barrel sponges and magnificent anemones, plus there's a great chance you'll see leopard sharks too.
Koh Raya
The Coco Explorer is a small to medium sized robust cruising ship based out ...
The Coco Explorer is a small to medium sized robust cruising ship based out of Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro. Easily reached in 4 hours from Manila, Puerto Galera is the jumping off point for your cruise. The cruise differs from traditional holidays on board ship in that the emphasis here is daily expeditions to the islands that the Coco Explorer has weighed anchor off. The ship acts a bit like a floating hotel, you have your breakfast there and sleep there, while during the day you're out and about exploring and enjoying yourself. The difference being that the Coco Explorer has the advantage of changing your location and scenery every day.Departures on the Coco Explorer leave every Thursday and this runs till season quote s end on July 25th 2002. The 8 days / 7 nights itinerary is a classic, sailing out of Puerto Galera at 1900 hrs on Thursday night you reach Boracay the next morning. A developed resort island, Boracay has a fine 4km long white sand beach (known as lquote White Beach quote because it is so blindingly white) that it is always in the running for the most stunning beach of the year award. A full day on Boracay then you sail overnight towards the Busuanga Archipelago, north Palawan.
Philippines experts rate this archipelago as the most stunning location in the country and anyone who has been there will simply have to agree. 4 days will be spent exploring this exotic area before setting off across the straits back to Mindoro via the fantastic mid-sea Apo Reef.Scuba divers take note: The Coco Explorer is fully equipped with a PADI diving school on board and the itinerary just happens to take in the best diving spots in the country. The excellent dive sites at Puerto Galera which many divers probably already know of, while at Coron in the Busuanga Archipelago, a sunken fleet of W.W.II Japanese warships and merchant vessels is reason enough to visit. There are 24 ships sunk in the Coron Bay area, making a suitable comparison of Coron to Truk Lagoon. More than coincidence in fact, since some of the ships lying on the bottom here escaped the Americans at Truk only to be caught by them again at Coron. Finally there is the island of Pandan, back across the straits to Mindoro, with its coral gardens and Apo Reef, one of the top three underwater attractions that The Philippines can offer.
Krabi
Krabi, Ao Nang diving area consists of a group of seven main ...
Krabi, Ao Nang diving area consists of a group of seven main islands dotted around Koh Poda - Koh Ha, Koh Si, Koh Yawabon, Koh Dor, Koh Talu, G.K. Island and Koh Yawasam. Local marinelife that you'll see when you're diving in Krabi is both diverse and prolific with over 200 species of fish and 80 species of coral catalogued.
Koh Ha
Koh Ha contains at least 60 species of corals and many of the gorgonian seafans host a fascinating range of shrimps and crabs. This Ao Nang dive site often has large schools of barracuda, small groups of squid, and early in the morning leopard sharks are often found lazing in the sand. With two large shallow coral covered plateaus on either side Koh Si competes with Yawasam for the best snorkelling site in Ao Nang. The southern end of the island is particularly picturesque and frequently has good visibility. Huge schools of snappers and the occasional large grouper make a breathtaking sight when the visibility is up, and otherwise you can always look for seahorses, nudibranches and scorpionfishes which make their home on the rocks here.
The northern end of the island is a relatively steep wall covered in Tubeastrea barrel corals, sponges, and sea whips. Koh Si is also a good place to briefly spot the shy black-tip reef shark. Dive sightings are common but brief as the shark commonly flees contact with humans.
Koh Yawabon
Koh Yawabon is famed for the longest swim-through in the area, but has a large unlit zone and can be subject to strong currents. Because of this, divers are reminded that penetrating overhead environments requires specialised training and equipment. With the majority of Krabi diving boats going to other islands, this site is often swarming with large schools of unconcerned fish. Lobsters and large groupers are commonly observed here as well the occasional stingrays.
Koh Dor
During the afternoon the western side of Koh Dor often plays host to a group of the normally shy black-tip reef sharks. Whilst brief sightings of these sharks are possible on scuba they are best observed by snorkelling in the lunch break. Koh Dor has a good mix of large porites species and Diploastrea Heliopora hard corals and soft corals, sea fans, sea whips and leather corals. Several large barrel sponges are also found around this site.
The large island of Koh Talu boasts two shallow swim-throughs that are suitable for most levels of divers and large barracuda often frequent the entrances. Mantis shrimps are sometimes found scuttling across the bottom as you move to deeper waters. The coral extends a long way south and it is even possible to swim from the western side of this island right across to the next site, G.K. Island.
G.K. Island
If you like soft corals and their attendant hosts of shrimps, crabs, and brittlestars Krabi scuba diving at G.K. Island will be paradise for you. Deceptively small on the surface, the underwater coral plateau to the south seems to go on forever. Sea whips and gorgonians abound and every rock is covered with a plethora of corals. Large school of fusiliers move along the edges of the larger rock formations, whilst the occasional sea snake probes the cracks and crevices for its next meal.
Koh Yawasam
Koh Yawasam is blessed with large areas of shallow coral and flat areas of sand, but boasting deeper water with coral and sandy patches a short swim away, Yawasam could have been built with dive instruction in mind! The marinelife here is as varied and numerous as any Krabi dive site. Koh Yawasam also is the easiest place to observe the red saddleback anemonefish, which is rare compared to the other anemonefishes found in our area.
Similan Islands
Dive Sites of the Similans Koh Similan is the most beautiful and diverse ...
Dive Sites of the Similans - Koh Similan is the most beautiful and diverse group of dive sites in Thailand and liveaboards at these islands are some of the most popular diving cruises in the world. They comprise nine granite islands covered in tropical jungle, washed by a clear blue tropical ocean and blessed with fine beaches. They lie in a 25 km long north-south chain, 65 km offshore from Phang Nga Province in the Andaman Sea.
The Similan Islands achieved national park status in 1982 and are fully protected. The eastern side features hard coral gardens which slope dramatically from the surface down to 30m. At several sites large coral bommies rise from the bottom and are covered with soft corals, sea fans, and an enormous amount of unusual fish. East coast Similan Islands diving is relatively easy and navigation simple, allowing one to explore at leisure.Batfish Bend - Similan Islands No.9 - Koh Bangru - On the north east corner of this island, Batfish Bend has fantastic diversity but is somehow overlooked by most Similan liveaboard trips and therefore is one of the more pleasurable experiences here. Batfish Bend gets its name from the schools of 50 or so longfin batfish that seem to hang out here. These fish are inquisitive so, as long as you approach them slowly, you are likely to be able to get a close up encounter. There are expansive reef flats and gently sloping beds of healthy hard corals.
There are some of the largest table corals you are ever likely to see, staghorn corals, hibiscus corals, branching and encrusting fire corals, and massive lobed leather corals, as well as white wire corals. Donald Duck Bay - Similan Islands No.8 - Koh Similan - Easily the most recognisable and photographed landmark in the Similans, Donald Duck Bay is named after a rock on the north side of the bay that resembles the cartoon character - not the most prominent large boulder that balances precariously at a seemingly impossible angle, but another rock in front and slightly further out of the bay. Similan Island No. 8 has a national park camping area and Donald Duck Bay on the north west corner is the most popular mooring spot for day trippers and Similan liveaboards alike. Consequently, a lot of food makes its way into the bay and so the molluscs, gastropods, crustaceans, and cephalopods are particularly well fed and large-sized here. This makes for fascinating night diving.
Snapper Alley - Similan Islands No.9 - Koh Bangru - A great place for a night dive on your Similan liveaboard cruise, Snapper Alley is the south bay of this most northerly Similan island. Snapper Alley's shallows hold some great examples of large, healthy and hard table corals and sheet corals. The cracks are home to painted spiny lobsters, whilst the underledges provide sleeping accommodation for ember parrotfish. Nocturnal creatures you can come across are the secretive and quite rare osculated dwarf lionfish, with spectacular markings on its pectoral fins and "eyes" on its dorsal fin, and cuttlefish.
Stonehenge - Similan Islands No.4 - Koh Miang
This site on the northern side of the island features large towering rocks at depths greater than 25 m. The large alleys the rocks form, host gorgonian sea fans, barrel sponges, common lionfish and bearded scorpionfish. The area is frequented by barracuda, tuna, trevally as well as home to long-nose butterflyfish, yellowtail wrasse, angelfish and yellow or black and red ornate ghost pipefish, swaying motionless in the branches of the orange sea fans. Clownfish and anemonefish busy themselves restlessly in the tentacles of their host anemones.