Where in Thailand in November?

[howin23]

My fiance and I are planning to honeymoon in Thailand in November and would like to spend one week in Bangkok and one week diving/enjoying the beaches. Where is the best place in Thailand to dive in November? I've seen very mixed reviews of Phuket, and can't get a good handle on the myriad other locations.

We'd like somewhere that has nice beaches as well as good diving, and will need a decent shop to rent regs and bcs from. We're up for a couple overnights as well, but don't want to do a full week live aboard. I also get seasick so don't want too many 4-5 hour rides, though I will have the patch.

Last point of concern is that I'd prefer nothing below recreational dive limits--Blue Hole (130') was deep enough for me.

Appreciate your thoughts and insights!

[limbo]

Maybe try Kao Lak, near the Similans, just an hour and a half away, nice beaches and quiet and relxed environment.

[Bowmouth]

Where is the best place in Thailand to dive in November?

The best diving in November is on the West Coast (Andaman Sea). On the West Coast Khao Lak, Phuket, Krabi, Phi-Phi Islands and Koh Lanta are the main tourist / dive destinations.

Daytrip dive destinations from most of these resort areas are between 30 minutes and 2 hours away and offer good to very good day trip diving.
If you would like to do a short liveaboard trip then your best destination is either Phuket or Khao Lak. Both Phuket and Khao Lak offer a variety of boats leaving for the Similan Islands and Richelieu Rock.
Khao Lak is more of an "away from it all" destination than Phuket. Phuket is extremely diverse and offers something for everyone.

Most day trip diving is done between 10-80 feet and most live-aboard diving between 10-110 feet.

[katdiver]

Khao Lak is very nice for the beaches. Krabi also has its choices for nice beaches with hotels with direct access to the beach. I feature one on my Face Book group. Day trips and liveaboard can all be arranged for your stay too.

[surinboy]

Khao Lak has a whole load of places made for honeymooners and a great range of liveaboard trips into the Similans that would be ideal.

If you are looking for somewhere slightly off the beaten track though try Golden Buddha Beach Resort - Home (http://www.goldenbuddharesort.com) on Koh Phra Thong. It is sensational and close to Richelieu and the Surin Islands.

Good luck in your search for the ideal location.

[ScubaSteve]

I will be in Koh Lanta in November (before this I will be in Kao Sok) and have heard that it is very nice....perhaps not the best diving ever but then the only real way to get that is live aboard (or so I hear ;)).

[Makhno]

In November, I suggest avoiding Thailand's east (gulf) coast -- Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, etc. -- as the weather can be stormy and the seas can get quite rough, and the U/W visibility can drop to a couple meters. (Pattaya and some other northern parts of the gulf might not be so affected, but I wouldn't recommend Pattaya as a honeymoon destination ...). The weather in the gulf can be perfect in November, but often it isn't. It also can be a bit spotty on the west coast in early November, but by later in the month as the monsoon ends, it's usually OK.

So -- on the west coast, if you want a low-key romantic environment with good beaches, few neon lights, and great diving, I can vouch for both Koh Lanta and Khao Lak. Koh Lanta is better if you want to spend all your nights on land, and Khao Lak is better if you want to spend a few days on a liveaboard dive boat in order to get to some more remote divesites.

I haven't dived Koh Kanta in a few years, but assuming that its soft corals and other marine life have recovered from the 2006 red tide, I'd say that Lanta is probably better-suited to your interests than is Khao Lak.

On Lanta, you'd be spending a bit of time on the dive boat to get to and from the dive sites, but would be back on the island in the afternoon to enjoy the beaches and restaurants and then to sleep in your own hotel room bed when it's bedtime. In contrast, Khao Lak is really best as a place to spend a day or two relaxing before or after doing a liveaboard to the Similan and Surin and other islands in Thailand's northern part of the Andaman Sea (although from Khao Lak there are some dives you can do as day-trips, or do land-based activities). As it sounds like you don't want to be on a boat for a few days in a row, I'd recommend Koh Lanta over Khao Lak.

I think the diving you can do from Koh Lanta is as good as what you get in the Similans, etc. (or, at least it was as of a couple years ago when I was last there). Apart from manta rays, I never saw anything in the northern divesites (Similans and Surins and Richelieu Rock) which I hadn't seen in the southern ones (Koh Lanta, Koh Phi Phi, etc.). If mantas are very high on your list, take note that they are sometimes seen on some southern sites, but you are more likely to see them around Koh Bon, which is a northern dive site best accessed from Khao Lak or Phuket on a liveaboard (west coast divers will correct me, I'm sure, if I'm wrong -- but I think Koh Bon is either part of the Surin Islands or is between the Surins and the Similans). Of course the far-north Richelieu Rock is a world-famous divesite for good reason -- it's truly phenomenal -- but you can only dive it from a liveaboard, and I've seen all of the same marine life at Lanta-dived sites like Hin Daeng, Koh Haa, etc.

For more nightlife, a wider variety of restaurants, and other tourist attractions, you could of course opt for Phuket. There are some nice day-trip dives done from Phuket which aren't dived from Khao Lak (the King Cruiser wreck, Shark Point, and others). However, unless you're staying at Le Meridien or another many-star resort with its own private beach, then you'll have to deal with crowds and neon and all else that comes with overdeveloped tourist destinations. Some folks love it, and some don't.

I can't really speak from experience about Koh Phi Phi, other than to note that the dive operators there go to the some of the same divesites you'd dive from Phuket, and some of the same sites you'd dive from Lanta. I don't know the island, but from what I gather, Phi Phi's a beautiful small island with no motor vehicle traffic, an entirely tourism-based economy, and big crowds and high prices. Like Phuket, some love it and some don't.

Ask again if you have follow-up questions, and if not then please post a trip report after your honeymoon.

Cheers,
M

[howin23]

Wow! I really appreciate everyone's detailed advice on where to go. We'll definitely plan to do avoid the Gulf and Phuket. Thank you all for your help!

[stevenl]

However, unless you're staying at Le Meridien or another many-star resort with its own private beach, then you'll have to deal with crowds and neon and all else that comes with overdeveloped tourist destinations. Some folks love it, and some don't.There are many, many places on Phuket where there are no crowds, and that are not overdeveloped.

[Makhno]

There are many, many places on Phuket where there are no crowds, and that are not overdeveloped.

My mistake; I should have added the qualifier "in the parts of Phuket which offer the great variety of restaurants, nightlife, etc." There are indeed a number of relatively secluded, low-key places on Phuket, but in my experience (admittedly somewhat limited), most of them are not centrally located and don't have such convenient access to Kata, Karon, etc.

Among the things they do offer -- which may be quite important to someone on a tight schedule -- is quick and easy access to the Phuket airport, which can really cut down one's travel time. Last time I had a buddy visit me in Thailand from abroad, due to his inconvenient flight schedule and his limited amount of time in Thailand, we couldn't go to Khao Lak or Koh Lanta without sacrificing a day of diving. So, we opted for Phuket, and were able to dive some good local sites like the wreck and Koh Dok Mai before catching our liveaboard to the northern sites. Had a great time.

[Luko]

Hi,
from an outsider perspective, though having done quite a few dives in Thailand (went on 6 different trips) Similans/Richelieu on a live aboard from Phuket/Khao Lak would provide the best diving, closely followed by the southern Hins you also reach on a live aboard or from Lanta/Krabi day dives. But that's out of your requirements, too far away, too long trips.

Probably not the best diving of all, though interesting, more than Ko Tao for instance (carpeted with soft corals, guaranteed ghostpipefish) and definitely the best beaches in Thailand would be Koh Lipe .. it's funny no one mentioned Lipe, that's a lovely island, although getting too touristy nowadays and since they have upmarketed some accoms I think it can match for a honeymoon (clearly no posh 5* hotels but as charming as bungalows can get + best grilled grouper in thailand... and beaches you hardly get anywhere else, honest...).

Go and have a look at oceanpro divers website, thai/canadian dive centre in Lipe.

Cheers
Luko

[Makhno]

Hey howin23, I noticed that you're in DC.

I lived there for a number of years, and just in case you haven't already done so -- I strongly encourage you to get outside of the Beltway and dive the wrecks of North Carolina this summer!

In about 7 hours by car from DC you can get to Beaufort or Morehead City, NC, and dive some excellent World War II wrecks with lots of Caribbean/Bahamas tropical marine life on them, swept up north in the Gulf Stream. There are also some wrecks from WW I and some ships wrecked in storms. Fantastic diving -- many wrecks at recreational diving depths, and some at deco/tech diving depths.

The diving can be challenging if all you've done before is shallow tropical coral reef stuff, but it also can be very rewarding ... your boss or your client calls but you don't hear your phone ring because you're 35 meters below the surface on a WWII German U-boat, in warm water with perfect viz, surrounded by hordes of sand tiger sharks and barracudas and countless colorful tropical reef fishes ... life could be worse than this!

There's also a lot of great (but colder and darker) wreck diving a bit closer to home (i.e., further north in NC, and in VA and MD as well).

A few links to get you started: North Carolina Wreckdiving & BFDC home page (http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/)
Discovery Diving Co., Inc. - North Carolina Wreck Diving in the Graveyard of the Atlantic (http://www.discoverydiving.com/) Olympus Dive Center (http://www.olympusdiving.com/) Diver Down Scuba Diving Charters - Captain Bobby Cox (http://www.diverdownscubadiving.com/) Outer Banks Diving (http://www.outerbanksdiving.com/)

(When diving war graves, please respect the sailors' remains.)

Cheers,
M

[Quero]

Probably not the best diving of all, though interesting, more than Ko Tao for instance (carpeted with soft corals, guaranteed ghostpipefish) and definitely the best beaches in Thailand would be Koh Lipe .. it's funny no one mentioned Lipe, that's a lovely island, although getting too touristy nowadays and since they have upmarketed some accoms I think it can match for a honeymoon (clearly no posh 5* hotels but as charming as bungalows can get + best grilled grouper in thailand... and beaches you hardly get anywhere else, honest...).
Luko


It's been a while since you've checked out Lipe, eh Luko? There are indeed a couple of very upscale honeymoon-worthy resorts there now. And while Lipe is still very much on the backpacker highway (with tons of bars on Pattaya Beach along with bungalow villages with scores of cookie-cutter bungalows in long rows at each one), Lipe is not yet entirely overrun (à-la-Koh-Tao backpacker mecca) and there is still peace to be had there. I stay on the quieter southern end of Sunrise Beach at a place that has just 18 huts and accepts bookings only from divers ;)

[Quero]

I've seen very mixed reviews of Phuket, and can't get a good handle on the myriad other locations.


With all due respect, howin23, you've seen mixed reviews of Phuket because there is a huge variety of experiences available here. This is Thailand's largest island with an area about the same size as Singapore. There are indeed some very touristy areas on the island, but there are also tucked away areas that are perfect for honeymooners. You could also consider a honeymoon paradise like Koh Racha Yai, an island a little south of Phuket with one boutique hotel mentioned in Conde Nast Traveller and another about to open. There is diving right off the beach, and the island has lots of dive sites all the way around it with easy diving, all within recreational depths.

[Luko]

It's been a while since you've checked out Lipe, eh Luko?
About three months ago : I was diving with Dave & Yan for the end of the year :D ...

What a difference from the first time I went in Lipe 3 years ago, Pooh's highway was just a dirt trail then... for me, Lipe's sinking... probably living its last days.

[Quero]

About three months ago : I was diving with Dave & Yan for the end of the year :D ...

What a difference from the first time I went in Lipe 3 years ago, Pooh's highway was just a dirt trail then... for me, Lipe's sinking... probably living its last days.

I know what you mean. On the other hand I imagine that those investors who have put up the new luxury resorts (Idyllic and Sita, for example) are betting that Lipe is just beginning to take off! What a difference expectations make, eh?

[jkaterenchuk]

You might also want to look into Koh Chang. It is located in the Gulf and further east of Pattaya. It's is a upcoming scuba destination and has been a well know Thai Vacation destination for sometime as it's relatively unknown by the foriegn tourists that frequent the all the other areas that have been mentioned.

It is easy to get to from Bangkok without a air flight.

John

[Quero]

You might also want to look into Koh Chang. It is located in the Gulf and further east of Pattaya. It's is a upcoming scuba destination and has been a well know Thai Vacation destination for sometime as it's relatively unknown by the foriegn tourists that frequent the all the other areas that have been mentioned.

It is easy to get to from Bangkok without a air flight.

John

Beginning with Koh Chang and ending with Koh Kood, there are a number of islands, forty of them part of the Mu Koh Chang Marine National Park, which are popular among residents of Bangkok. They really are quite lovely and relatively unspoiled (except for Chang, which is the easiest to get to and the most highly developed).

The diving, however, is supremely forgettable--pleasant, but nothing more--with rather disappointing visibility and very shallow, silt-covered dive sites. I wouldn't recommend that people go there primarily for diving, but if divers find themselves there mainly for other reasons (like a quick getaway from Bangkok or Pattaya, or even a honeymoon), and they like looking for smaller critters (like nudis and shrimps) a few dives there can provide an enjoyable change of pace.

[katdiver]

Do check out Krabi. It's one of the most beautiful parts of Thailand. Many couples come here to get married. I've had at least 5 couples this season on honeymoon too. We do have some great hotels with their own secluded beaches. Bonus is the diving is great too, and we share some of our sites with Phuket so you will have seen some of the reviews.:D