PHUKET

Diving Trip

One of the major assets of Phuket as a flourishing vacation resort is its abundance of diving destinations both in its vicinity and off islands several hours boat-ride away, all offering a fantastic underwater world of tropical fishes and coral formations, so exotic and colorful.

From Phuket, all sorts of diving tours are organized lasting from half a day to 2 weeks. The nearest are sites off the west coast where you can explore soft and hard coral reefs, with a large variety of tropical marine life. There are good close-up photo opportunities with dives up to 35 meters.

Much more popular are trips to islands lying to the south and east of Phuket about 2 hours away by motor boat, including Ko Racha, Shark Point and Ko Dok Mai , Ko Phi Phi where you can see white-tip sharks, stingrays and moray eels besides colorful reef fishes,

Near Phuket, on Thailand's west coast from Ranong down to Krabi are a large number of excellent dive sites (ex. Similans Island, Surin Island, Tarutao Island). However, the area is sometimes tricky and can be difficult during the southwest monsoon from June to November.

Good sheltered water is found around the island at all times of the year. Spear-fishing though not encouraged, is fair to good down to a depth of some 15m (49ft). Thereafter, coral mostly run out and give way to a plain, fairly flat, sandy ocean bottom between 18-36m (60-120ft). The reefs are very colorful and picturesque and are particularly suited for snorkeling and photography. As Phuket's popularity among divers of all nationalities has increased, so has the number of dive sites. Nowadays, regular trips lasting up to two weeks are made to distant island groups in the Andaman Sea. Many of them are uninhabited and absolutely pristine, with dive sites to rival the best in the world .

In Phuket, half day tours are available to the west coast where a short trip by motor boat takes the diver to the coral reefs. By far the most popular tours, however, are the full day trips to the islands off Phuket's south and eastern coasts. These islands include Ko Racha, Shark Point, Ko Dok Mai and Phi Phi islands.

There are so many dive schools and diving operator in Phuket, all staffed with qualified instructors who are members of PADI or NAUI and provided with all sorts of modern equipment.