Wetsuits in Thailand in March

[jennie]

I'm going to Thailand in March/April this year to do a bit of diving around the Similan islands. I have all of my own gear including a 3mm wetsuit.

Will this be okay to wear in Thailand at this time of year, or will I need to invest in a 5mm?

Thanks for your help.

Jennie

 

[Rick Murchison]

Ye're testing the old memory cells here, Jennie... in my Thai diving days I wasn't logging 'em, so I can't say for sure it was ever in March/April - but a 3 mil was always more than enough. (more than I had!) I doubt much has changed in two decades.
Rick

 

[mattiedread]

Dove there from December 7-12 with a 3mil shorty. More than enough, we did 4 dives/day (one night), nobody on the boat was ever cold. The locals, wore full 3mil, it being winter and all... Water temp was mid to high seventies the entire time.

Enjoy, the Similans are beautiful. If you get the chance, dive Hin Maueng/Hin Daueng (Red and Purple Rocks). They are supposed to be two of the best dive sites in Thai waters. Trips leave from Phi Phi, Krabi and the large island south of Krabi whose name eludes me. Also, for a great day trip from either Phi Phi or Phuket, try the 3 dives (bookable from any shop for 3200 baht) to anenome reef, the King Cruiser Wreck and Shark point (the point that King Cruiser hit, before sinking).. the general opinion amongst more experienced divers than I was that these are all great dives. (We went with a dive master currently living in Indonesia who has over 4,000 dives, he thought they were great).

There is a book by Paul Lees called The Dive Sites of Thailand, you can get it on amazon.com, or, you can borrow mine.

I'd go back to the Similans tomorrow if I could... Richeleau Rock... Elephant Head.... and that shallow reef just south... that place is phenomenal. Have fun
Matt

 

[mattiedread]

We had two dive masters from PP on our boat, and they felt the water was as cold as it gets (second week of December)... in my experience (east Coast US), water temps are colder in late Feb-April, but currents are different in the Indian Ocean. Lonely Planet and the Rough Guide both list average surface water temp month by month.

I'm very jealous.. I want to go back to Thailand... or, spend a year going from South Africa, up the coast, out to the Sechelles.. over to the Maldives... a little Sri Lanka.. Andaman Islands... end up sooner or later in New Guinea... take another year and end up in the Phillipines...

"Then Jesus came to me in a dream and told me about the non-profit organization..."

 

[jennie]

3mil shorties it is then! Just been out in the Red Sea and felt cold even in a 6.5mil suit, it'll be nice to get back into warm water.

I'll be diving off a liveaboard (MV Mermaid, which I hope is okay) so will go down to southern islands and around Surin and Similan. Can't wait, only 3 months to go! Hopefully I'll have the chance to see a whale shark as I hear they are around that time of year.

If you have any tips or stories on diving in that area I'd love to hear them.

Jennie

 

[mattiedread]

If your itinerary is Similans/Surins, you will go and dive Elephant Head and Richelue rock. (Try and do multiple dives at each) I'm not familiar with that liveaboard as we only checked out those from Phi Phi (which leave from the same pier in Phuket). We had a great itinerary, this was the boat's third trip and they are trying to promote it (www.white-bluedive.com) 15 passengers (three were divemasters, two locally) and 4 divemasters/instructors.
There are some great dives, I would highly recomend multiple dives at both Elephant Head and Richelue rock (Richelue can get crowded with large liveaboards, so try and get an early dive in, we did a 7am 10am and a 2 there, the 7am was the best because we were the first in).

I would highly recommend trying to get out to Hin Daueng/Hin Maueng for a day, possibly two (there are some two day/two night trips where you get two dives at Hin Daueng, two at Hing Meung and 4 at this 5 island group on the way back to Phi Phi). Everyone rates them as two of the best sites in Thai waters. Check out the Paul Lee book (he saw three Manta's at Richelue Rock on X-mas day, 1996).

If you have time before or after your liveaboard, Phi Phi Island Village is a slice of heaven. A remote little village far from the crowds of Phi Phi or Phuket. They have a gold palm dive shop on site, a little expensive, but worth it, in my opinion. If you do the standard 3 dive trip to Anenome Reef, Shark Point and King Cruiser, book that out of town (Ton Sai Bay) or Phuket, it is considerably cheaper (3200 baht). The two most respected dive shops on that island are Mosquito (they have a web site, and a liveaboard), and White and Blue (we went on their liveaboard, very nice).

Visit http://www.travelorg.com/thailand. The moderator of that site has travelled Thailand extensively. He highly recommends PP Island Village, and after a week in the Chiang Mei area, we realized that his advice was right on the money (you never know if people have a fiscal interest and promote second rate things). This guy, Mark, is true to his word; and PP Island Village was the nicest place we stayed (I have digital photos if you would like).. I have to run, I'll try and check this board this weekend when I have my dive log with me. There are a couple of off the beaten path dives in the Similans that I would highly recomend.

Matt

 

[tomcat]

Hey Jennie

I live in South-East Asia and dive in 3mm shorties. Mar/Apr is actually pretty hot already around here. Most people I know wear 2 mm fulls. If you are not the kind who gets cold easily, you can even consider going in your swimsuit (once dove with a guy in the South China Sea off the coast of Malaysia who wore nothing but his trunks).

Never been diving in thailand but i'm guessing that the water temperatures around 20-30 m shouldn't be much lower than 23 C. Lowest that I have recorded around Malaysia is 25 C.

tomcat