Diving Hin deang/hin muang end August any good?

[Diver_City Boys]

Hi,

I'm planing to visit krabi for first time next month and stay in area for 30 days, since krabi is too far from these sites, was thinking to spend a week or two in Koh lanta and doing few exciting dives before doing my "AOW course" with may be www.lantadiver.com or other DC, then head back to krabi and do my rescue and nitrox course in nearby sites like king cruiser, shark point, phiphi,..

I was thinking it's not good time to visit hin deang/muang considering some factors like?

-Strong current and very deep dives scenes for beginners?
-Surface Conditions very bad
-much poor visibilty compare to Dec-jan?
-much less reef life and larger fish species?

I know lanta is cheaper and much closer to dive sites but isn't vibrant place for
me. Should i skip hin deang/muang and stay in krabi this time (don't want stay in phi phi island and phuket)?

 

[kappanu]

I would skip it since this is monsoon season. By the way, you may find activities in Krabi instead.

Cheers,

 

[gabyne]

Are Lanta Divers open in low season? I was in Ko Lanta twice in November/December 2001 and 2002 and the dive center I was with, was always closed during the summer months/monsoon season...

I guess, conditions must be quite rough, very choppy - I wouldn't recommend going there unless you're pretty experienced and comfortable with this kind of conditions... But you must go there some day, Hin Daeng/Hin Muang is the most awesome site of Thailand - liked them much better than Ko Similan; had mantas and sharks there all the time...

 

[jiveturkey]

I've never dived either of those sites but I seem to recall that shops require an AOW cert. Someone I know was turned down because of she was inexperienced and only OW certifited.

 

[smartecosse]

Hi,

I'm planing to visit krabi for first time next month and stay in area for 30 days, since krabi is too far from these sites, was thinking to spend a week or two in Koh lanta and doing few exciting dives before doing my "AOW course" with may be www.lantadiver.com or other DC, then head back to krabi and do my rescue and nitrox course in nearby sites like king cruiser, shark point, phiphi,..

I was thinking it's not good time to visit hin deang/muang considering some factors like?

-Strong current and very deep dives scenes for beginners?
-Surface Conditions very bad
-much poor visibilty compare to Dec-jan?
-much less reef life and larger fish species?

I know lanta is cheaper and much closer to dive sites but isn't vibrant place for
me. Should i skip hin deang/muang and stay in krabi this time (don't want stay in phi phi island and phuket)?

i seem to remeber you saying in an earlier post that you were not a strong swimmer so perhaps current "laden" sites wouldn't be the best choice for you

lanta divers will look after you very well. there shop is still open at the moment.

if its padi u r doing ( think you mentioned b4) then nitrox no longer invloves u getting wet so u may as well do that at lanta and all.

how many dives are you up to now btw ? you seem to be enjoying after a bad start even if you do seem to have the "card collecting" bug

 

[Bowmouth]

Hi,
I was thinking it's not good time to visit hin deang/muang considering some factors like?
-Strong current and very deep dives scenes for beginners?
-Surface Conditions very bad
-much poor visibilty compare to Dec-jan?
-much less reef life and larger fish species?

Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are ALWAYS good dives regardless of the environmental conditions.

Hin Daeng is a fairly large surface breaking pinnacle pinnacle and offers great multilevel diving. There's a bit of a wall on one side, a sloping reef on the other and a couple of fairly shallow ridges that come up all the way or nearly to the surface. Hin Daeng has fantastic soft corals and good fishlife. Generally it's not difficult to dive (even when the current runs) because there's plenty of shelter on the reef. You don't have to go deep at Hin Daeng to have a good dive; there's nice coral and plenty of animals (especially giant moray eels, brown marbled groupers and juv.blue ring angelfish) in the shallow (3-20 meter) area.

Hin Muang is completely submerged and comes up as shallow as about 10 meter (give or take a meter or two depending on tides etc.). Hin Muang is a large submerged ridge completely covered in soft corals and anemones. Fish life is in general very good (lots of schooling fish) but the diving is not always that easy. The sides of the ridge are very steep and in some areas basically a wall. The whole ridge is current exposed and you must descent at least 16-18 meter to be able to "hide" from the current. Ascent and descent can be done on a mooring line but if you miss the mooring during your ascent you must do you safety stop in blue water and may drift quite a bit away. It's not unusual for dive guides to take their divers to approx. 30 meters depth at Hin Muang and slowly work their way up to the top of the ridge before ending their dive at the mooring.

At both sites there's always the chance on seeing giant/blue fin and big eye trevallies, schooling pickhandle barracudas, tall fin spade fish and even larger animals like gray reef sharks (Hin Muang but DEEP) and zebra (leopard) sharks. It's a fairy tale that manta's and whalesharks are there all the time but they DO sometimes show up and that's ofcourse a big bonus.

August and September often have a lull in the rainy season and weather can be very nice with calm seas. Visibility at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang changes ALL the time and even in high season isn't often all that great. The healthy flow of current with nutrients though makes these sites so beautiful and the soft corals are literally covering large parts of the reef.

If you have the chance to go there don't hesitate and do it. If surface conditions are rough it's NOT a fun ride though and entry and exit procedures may be difficult and uncomforatble.

 

[Diver_City Boys]

I would skip it since this is monsoon season. By the way, you may find activities in Krabi instead.

Cheers,

I know, Krabi lot more to do beside diving than even phiphi, but nice dive like hin...are objectives for me, and try not to miss them

 

[Diver_City Boys]

Are Lanta Divers open in low season? I was in Ko Lanta twice in November/December 2001 and 2002 and the dive center I was with, was always closed during the summer months/monsoon season...

I guess, conditions must be quite rough, very choppy - I wouldn't recommend going there unless you're pretty experienced and comfortable with this kind of conditions... But you must go there some day, Hin Daeng/Hin Muang is the most awesome site of Thailand - liked them much better than Ko Similan; had mantas and sharks there all the time...

I'll send email, to DCs in lanta, and find out if they operating around that time (per their site, they take off in july only, but remaining staff there) and whethere suitable for OW diver to take part. Good to hear that they are as good as similans

 

[Diver_City Boys]

i seem to remeber you saying in an earlier post that you were not a strong swimmer so perhaps current "laden" sites wouldn't be the best choice for you

Yes, i'm not bad today and planing to swim like torpedo

lanta divers will look after you very well. there shop is still open at the moment.
Good to hear this, did you have any experiance with them?

if its padi u r doing ( think you mentioned b4) then nitrox no longer invloves u getting wet so u may as well do that at lanta and all.
Good for padi, but not me, you expect to have 2 dives when you pay close 7000 Bhat

how many dives are you up to now btw ? you seem to be enjoying after a bad start even if you do seem to have the "card collecting" bug

Total 7 dives as of today, but going to do 6-8 dives before doing another 4 dives for AOW. That's 17-19. My pocket not deep enough

 

[Diver_City Boys]

Generally it's not difficult to dive (even when the current runs) because there's plenty of shelter on the reef. You don't have to go deep at Hin Daeng to have a good dive; there's nice coral and plenty of animals (especially giant moray eels, brown marbled groupers and juv.blue ring angelfish) in the shallow (3-20 meter) area.
Good to hear it, but another member mentioned still they might not take OW divers?


The whole ridge is current exposed and you must descent at least 16-18 meter to be able to "hide" from the current. Ascent and descent can be done on a mooring line but if you miss the mooring during your ascent you must do you safety stop in blue water and may drift quite a bit away.
What you mean by blue water? and why safty stop needed if not doing any deep dive?


August and September often have a lull in the rainy season and weather can be very nice with calm seas. Visibility at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang changes ALL the time and even in high season isn't often all that great. The healthy flow of current with nutrients though makes these sites so beautiful and the soft corals are literally covering large parts of the reef.
If you have the chance to go there don't hesitate and do it. If surface conditions are rough it's NOT a fun ride though and entry and exit procedures may be difficult and uncomforatble
Any information if Dcs from krabi can take you there by speed boat? and how many hourse far? if yes, what will be range thai bhat they charge?