There are shore dives off Le Meridien Resort; and Nui, Naiharn, and Yanui beaches. There is also muck diving at Rawai Pier in Phuket. Other than Kata, due to logistics and tides/currents, these other sites can be tricky to dive without prior experience and few dive shops dive them. There is also some shore diving off the beaches of Koh Lanta. Unfortunately, Thailand is not really the place for shore diving, unlike Bali, where the northern coast is basically one long shore dive. That being said, Kata is a great dive...highlights on my two dives yesterday 2 frogfish, 3 seahorses, large Jenkin's Whip Ray and Khul's Stingray, schooling juvenile and adult Longfin Batfish, nuddies, Fingered Dragonet, juvenile and adult Pharoah cuttlefish, reef and decorator crabs, and Honeycomb and White Eye moray eels.