Dive Thailand - Scuba Diving Sites
Koh Tarutao National Park - 8 Mile Rock
8 Mile Rock - A true deep sea pinnacle located 75 minutes
away by boat. The Rock can be a radical place to scuba dive due to the strong
tidal forces during the full and new moon periods, but the marine and
bird life that come here to feed are fantastic. We can only manage to
scuba dive here about 20 days of the lunar month, when the tidal currents
are not too strong. Also for safety we recommend that all our customers
diving the Rock are rated "Advanced Diver" or above with at
least 20 dives in their logbooks. We reccommend you don't dive Thailand without covering this site.
If we arrive at this location in the early morning, there can be a great
flock of seabirds feeding on the many schools of small fish being forced
to the surface by the predators below. The top of the rock rises to
within 14 meters of the surface and as we follow the descent line downwards
we can begin to see the Rock come into view under us like a sunken castle
covered in purple and red soft corals with schools of pelagic fish all
around us. As we descend towards the wall we often see Potato Cod weighing
hundreds of kilograms, Manta Rays in group formation and many types
of shark including Whale shark and Leopard Shark! Koh Tarutao National Park can lay claim to having Thailand's most untouched dive sites.
Scuba Dive Koh Tarutao, Thailand - Koh Adang
Koh Adang has excellent scuba diving locations along the
west coast where the mountains come down to the sea. Underwater are
huge boulders and many types of rare fish and coral species that inhabit
the reef in this region. A great spot for drift diving. Sometime in
1996 a Thai fish-factory ship anchored near the Western coast of Koh
Lipe caught fire and sank to the bottom of the sea in about 40 meters
of water.
The shipwreak is now completely covered in marine growth and inhabited
by schools of fish. The shipwreck has become a very interesting place
to scuba dive. However you may come up against strong underwater currents
on certain days and this makes diving more difficult.
We only reccommend scuba diving "Yong Hua " during periods of low currents and high visibility. Which days? Check your calendar, the best time to scuba dive is about 5 days
after a full or new moon period, until around 3 days before and including
the full and new moon period, providing the general weather and sea
conditions are good.
Dive Thailand - Jabang and Hin Takorn Dukong, Koh Tarutao
These two scuba dive sites are magical because just about
every type of fish species found in the park can be spotted here, sooner
or later.
Jabang is an open water pinnacle, looking
something like an underwater pyramid and is made up of granite stone shapes similar to building blocks rising up from the seabed into a structure
with series of monolithic stones at its peak. We descend in single file
down the anchor line and regroup at the bottom, 18 meters deep; we then
slowly swim around the base of the pinnacle in buddy teams. Observing
what sealife is here in abundance, such as hard and soft corals, at
least 6 types of eel including snake eels, different types of Lionfish
and Stone fish. Squid and Cuttlefish try to hide here and succeed in
attracting the larger predators such as Sailfish. As we swim our way
up the structure we can see other things, such as the obvious symbiotic
relationships between the cleaner shrimp and the moray eel or the barrel
sponge and its parasitic worms as they each live out their daily lives
together. We do a safety stop here at the top of the stones, where the
walls are completely covered in a thick carpet of purple and pink soft
corals, as unusual and delicate as a flower garden from an alien world.
Hin Takorn Dukong is a huge stone
between Koh Lipe and Koh Adang. Scuba divers often do their last two open water
training scuba dives here and it is special due to the topography of the
scuba diving sites site which has a shallow side and a deep side. Dive into 6 meters of crystal clear warm water. The
divemaster follows the reef around the stone to the deep side and then divers swim down a giant stone reef and level off at 18 or 20 meters depth.
This is where the big fish hang out. Often scuba divers will spot King Mackerel
or schools of Rainbow runners coming around or a Leopard shark hunting
along the bottom for a snack.
Koh Dong has become one of the favorite
islands to scuba dive in Thailand's Koh Tarutao Marine Park. One of the largest islands of the group, Koh Dong supports
many bird and animal species. Troops of crab eating monkeys called "macaques"
live on the island and a colorful type of Bee eater bird can often be
spotted from the beaches here. Giant corals and shellfish grow everywhere
around this island paradise. Scuba divers ususally prefer to scuba dive the North and South
channels although for deep scuba diving the "Giant's Staircase"
on the islands West side has huge natural stone steps going down underwater
to 50 meters or more.
Koh Sawang means "Bright Island"
in the language of Thailand. This last tiny island is located on the outer edge
of the archipelago. There is not a tree or scrap of vegetation that
can grow on this tall smooth stone, but underwater this place is full
of life. Divers usually only scuba dive here during slack tide when they can explore
the fantastic coral gardens growing on the rocky outcrops below and
spend time with the millions of fish to be found here.
Dive Thailand - Drift Diving
Thedra are several
outstanding locations to scuba dive where the tidal currents are channeled
through the narrow gap between two islands. Drift dive
up to 1,200 meters along the contours of the reef on a single scuba
tank with only the current for transport. A great spot for drift diving
is the channels at Honey island where scuba divers sweep past the coral garden
and giant rock formations at ever increasing speed until they pass between
the islands and the current pushes the divers around the corner into a sheltered
area. At about 20 meters depth scuba divers pause as a group behind a stone outcrop,
protected from the tidal forces around them, and watch the fish struggling
to stay in the channel. At this point the divers usually do a slow vertical
ascent and the boatman is there at the
surface, waiting for the scuba divers to return. Often thay will finish the air in their
scuba tanks scuba diving on the nearby shallow coral gardens of Koh Dong.
Other good drift diving areas include; Adang corner, Koh Bitsy and Sting
Ray City, where the blue spotted stingrays are plentiful.
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