Cambodia - The new untouched dive destination!

[SimonW]

i want to hear about fellow divers opinions about Cambodia's diving...
Feel free to ask questions as...I am here!

 

[stevenl]

Nice muck diving.

Most of the divesites are to a certain extend comparable to those in the Thai Gulf of Thailand.

 

[SimonW]

Nice muck diving.

Most of the divesites are to a certain extend comparable to those in the Thai Gulf of Thailand.

Thanks for your response...thought this might a US only site!
I enjoy the muck diving...makes ya look a little closer!!
Am starting up a dive centre here in Sihanoukville so am interested to see what the general opinion of the place is.

 

[Luko]

Most of the divesites are to a certain extend comparable to those in the Thai Gulf of Thailand.

You mean with less fish, Steven
I can' say I know a lot about Cambodia diving but I went diving in Sihanoukville in 2003. Unfortunately it was quite poor dives in the islands, 2 hours fishing boat ride off the coast, low viz, very few corals and scarce fish life, nothing more than 20 cm long, like someone had pulled a gigantic net from the sea and put everything from slugs to fish into a soup (probably not far from reality though).

The dive operation didn't seem very interested into discovering new sites, but rather into piping the money from the wallet of young Victoria Hill backpackers. I hope you will do much better than G. (I guess you know who I am talking about), Simon.
I've read reports from french spearfishers that further off the Kampong Som fishermen area there should be clean blue water and really really big fish. Probably far for day trips but maybe some dive spots to chart.

Cheers
Luko

 

[stevenl]

You mean with less fish, Steven

To a certain extend Luko . But with even less fish, maybe a comparison to Nha Trang diving would be even better?

 

[xariatay]

Thanks for your response...thought this might a US only site!
I enjoy the muck diving...makes ya look a little closer!!
Am starting up a dive centre here in Sihanoukville so am interested to see what the general opinion of the place is.

Cambodia is a nice place, I don't mind revisiting & would be interested to try the divesites there, it is near to S'pore & there s budget airline to the capital, if there are reports (& photos) of consistent good diving there! We do have a lot of dive destinations in South East Asia...
Good luck on your new dive centre! Hope u can find the Untouched Dive Destination in Sihanoukville.

 

[red_barbarian]

I had a friend that worked there for 6-9 months. I asked him about it afterwards. His response was something along the lines of that if you do a 2-3 day trip a ways away there were some very nice sites. I find that easy to believe as I've heard the diving around Phu Quoc is good. If you find some good sites and get an op going post something here. You might get some visa run folks to come out as a steady stream of business.

 

[SimonW]

Thanks guys for your response
All of what you say is true. Close to the coast our reefs have suffered from overfishing and very bad management.
Our operation is setting up on an Island 2hours from the coast complete with bungalows and restaurant, so a complete package will be available. This will also allow us to concentrate on the outer dive sites and better diving. we are very interested in new sites and have logged many new ones that remain unknown to everyone else and will stay that way as we are not confident other operators are interested in preserving these wonders through good practice.
our operation is linked with the new conservation movement and we are sure we will soon have the best operation here on the coast.
Check out this site and the article about our area in Asia
marineconservationcambodia.org/location.html
marineconservationcambodia.org/media/asiandivers.pdf

 

[xariatay]

Wow, looks are your team is doing lots of good - the barrier to trawling is a concrete step to stop destructive fishing methods. Keep up the good work!

 

[SimonW]

Thanks Xaria