1-2 Days of Diving, where to go?

[beninfl]

Hi,

I'm going to be in the Phuket area around April 1, and want to do 1-2 days of diving and was wondering how my time would be best spent.

Some of the options I'm considering are:

- Similan Day Trip
- Koh Ban Day Trip
- Phi Phi/Other Phuket day trips

TIA!

[stevenl]

For 1 day I would do a daytrip Shark Point-Anemone Reef-Koh Doc Mai, for 2 days I would do 1 day Shark Point or Anemone Reef and Bida Islands (Phi Phi area), one day King Cruiser-Shark Point or Anemone Reef-Koh Doc Mai.

3 dives per day, plenty of time during the day, and nice diving.

For me personally Similans and Koh Bon are too far on a daytrip, I think 3 dives on a local site for far less money is a much better option, with diving just as nice.

[Quero]

If you don't have hotel reservations yet and would like to dive the Similans/Koh Bon/Richelieu, go straight up to Khao Lak and get lodging there. If you already have hotel bookings on Phuket, Similan/Koh Bon/Richelieu daytrips entail a very early start to get up to Khao Lak about 90 km away, a speedboat ride to the dive sites and back, and then another drive back from Khao Lak to Phuket island. It's a lot of travel time for not many dives. Diving the local sites directly out of Phuket makes for a more relaxed day, even doing three dives. My own favorite dive sites for local dives are Anemone Reef, Shark Point, Koh Bida Nok, Koh Bida Nai and Koh Doc Mai.

[beninfl]

Thanks. I haven't booked any lodging yet, so I guess I'm really wondering how the diving quality compares between the Similans and the Phi phi's.

[Quero]

Overall the diving in the Similans is quite a lot better than what is available on daytrips out of Phuket, but it depends a little bit what you like. The Similans are known for their dramatic underwater landscapes of huge granite boulders whereas the Phi Phi sites are karst islands with walls covered with marine life. The top dive site in Thailand is Richelieu Rock, which is reachable by daytrip only from Khao Lak or further north. If it were me and I were planning my trip around diving, I'd stay at Khao Lak and get a trip to Richelieu and possibly to a boulder site such as Elephant Head Rock. If I were planning my trip around food or shopping or nightlife, I would stay on Phuket and do daytrips to the Shark Point area and to the Bidas.