Diving at Phuket

[vladi57]

Hi!

We are going to visit Phuket the second half of November - 20-25 time frame. We are looking for either dive package or some daily drivings - two of us are Advanced Padi, and two are open-water Naui. Any advice? What are good places to dive, what is good dive shop to contact? Thanks in advance!

 

[Wingy]

StevenL posts here regularly and should pop in to answer your questions. I have used Steven several times with nothing but good results.

The three dive superday with the King Cruiser wreck, Shark point and Anenome or Koh Doc Mai is always popular as is Racha Noi and Racha Yai.

 

[stevenl]

Difficult question to answer without knowing more of your diving experience. When was the last time everybody was diving and how many dives has everybody made so far?

 

[vladi57]

Difficult question to answer without knowing more of your diving experience. When was the last time everybody was diving and how many dives has everybody made so far?

Me and my wife are the Advanced PADI - diving for now more than 30 years. My boys are age 26 and 27, Open-water NAUI, with about 20 dives each. We are trying to dive every year in different locations - last dive for me and my wife was last year in Roatan, Honduras.

 

[stevenl]

Sorry for the late reply, I was out diving.

With the experience of your group, all divesites should be ok for you. Depending on how many days of diving youre looking at, I would check out the Racha islands (good visibility, relaxed diving), Phi Phi area (nice diving, lots to see but visibility not always good) and depending on the conditions Shark Point/Anemone Reef area, maybe King Cruiser.
You could also consider Similans, but that is quite far on a daytrip, but would be a good option for an overnight trip.

Of course I'd be happy to take care of you with this.

 

[vladi57]

Steven, our plan is to be in Phuket at 11/19 in the afternoon, leaving on 11/26 at around noon. We will be 5 of us - my son's fiancee will join, but she is not a diver (can she be on board with us for the dives?). We are staying at Royal Lighthouse Villas at Boat Lagoon (23 Moo 2 Boat Lagoon, Thepkasattri Rd., Tumbon Kohkaew Maung, Phuket, 83000). At the moment I am envisioning three days of diving, two tanks per dive (but if the circumstances allow buying extra dives? We can discuss this on the site). If you can help us with this schedule we will greatly appreciate. As rental equipment besides weights and tanks we will need two BCDs for the boys (M size) with two regulators - the rest we have. Can you provide rough estimate how much this is going to cost, as well as how do you want us to pay - credit cards? We can do cache if there is facility to withdraw money, or we can bring some US$ if this is convenient? If you prefer, you can use my private e-mail address vladi57@hotmail.com.

Looking forward to hear from you! Regards!

 

[David Martel]

We are going to visit Phuket ...Any advice?

90% of the people saying "Phuket", in fact, mean they are going to Patong, within the province of Phuket. And there is no dive resort in Patong with local reef dives 15 minutes away.

I fully underestimated the distances involved to dive sites on my first (and likely last) time I went to "Phuket". Nothing is convenient. There is absolutely no diving Patong. To dive Phi Phi and other areas its, a 30 minute van ride to a dock and a hour to 90 minute boat ride. Diving the "Similians" involves a long @ss commute in a van for about 2 hours north to where you landed on your flight to "Phuket". Then you'll board a "fast boat" that will take you to the bigger dive boats they stay out that way. About an hour in that. Those "fast boats" are fitted with several 250hp outboards and these things absolutely hammer through the water. They are fast, fun and if you're not used to speedboats in the open ocean, you're in for a rude surprise. I pitied the two parents with the 8 and 10 y.o. that thought this was going to be a great family outing. Just letting people know what "diving Phuket" entails. .