Koh Tao, Thailand Trip Report - May 2006

[slipslop]

i was there in february and thought the diving was awesome. I stayed at sai thong resort. i cant wait to get back!

 

[jamiemac]

Having been living and diving in the Gulf of Thailand for 18 years, it' with sadness i'm forced to agree with Gilligan.
there is some good diving still to be had around Koh Tao, the little-visited east side is good and late afternoons when the bigger dive boat have returned to port.
live-aboard tec diving is the only way to avoid the crowds

 

[Gilligan]

Did you make it out to Chumphon Pinnacle or Sails Rock? Heard some nice stuff there..

Yes I did and saw nothing that was not at the other sites.

 

[Desultory]

I'm from the UK south coast and we lack decent diving as you know. The best we get is cuttlefish/ on a very rare occasion we might see a seal.
Thailand in comparison is amazing. I'm going again for this summer to Phi Phi Island 'just for the diving'.
It will be monsoon season and so there will be approx half of the month raining but according to the experts vis doesn't change that much and i'd prefer some rain(occasional cancelled dives) to mass amount of divers during earlier months.
The fact is that you lot are way to spoilt!
Dive in a dry suit in England for afew years; you might chage your mind about Thailand then.

 

[Batfish]

Desultory - good attitude! We get quite a lot of experienced divers in this area in the summer, looking to take advantage of uncrowded boats, cheap hotels etc..A British diver is unlikely to be put off by a bit of rain.

A few years back I did a couple of dives with a British guy who had only dived in the UK before. We were supposed to dive at Racha Yai island, but the weather was bad, and we were forced to dive at "Coral Island" (a rather misnamed spot). Visibility 3-4m, yes some corals and fish, but I thought the dives were awful (compared to what I am used to here). The British guy loved it. When we surfaced, he had a big grin on his face. And seeing it through his eyes, the dive seemed better. We had seen lionfish, scorpionfish, I don't recall exactly, it was a few years ago.

Seeing a dive through anothers eyes is a good way to approach a dive as an instructor. I mean, every student I had in Honduras would get excited by parrotfish, something you see on every dive, so I would make a point of showing them parrotfish - not exciting to me, but you get a buzz when you see a first time diver getting excited.

 

[orangelemon]

Was diving at Phi-Phi this weekend, we got really lucky with the weather and the diving was perfect (vis 20-25 m ) saw leopard sharks, banded sea snakes, giant puffers and at least 1000 barracuda. All my students were thrilled as they were from other 'colder' countries with not much recognised diving, so even though there was nothing I hadnt seen before they all agreed it was the dive of their lives.

 

[john costas]

Koh Tao has a lot to offer, on land and underwater, and is ideal for an all round vacation, including diving.

There is a lot of assembly diving as you put it, but that is your own fault. Stay away from the big diveschools like Bans, Buddha View, Crystal, Asia Divers and so on where you are just a number.

Stick to a smaller diveshop, I was really impressed with the level of service I got (for the SAME money) @ Scuba Junction, small groups, highly capable staff, dive computers etc...

Diving is easy and cheap on Koh Tao, not everybody can afford 100-150 USD to do 2 dives like in the Similans or other places in Asia. And there are very nice sites with lots of different marine live.

John

 

[EdSweetman]

Anyone know any diving as good as the Similan islands, that's diveable in July, and easily reachable from Bangkok via plane for a single diver? I'm itching to get some Similan quality diving before i go home in 5 weeks. I've been looking at Indoneasia. But amn't sure.
Ed

 

[rickydazla]

I thought the diving on Koh Tao was interesting. South West Pinnacle sticks out as my personal favourite due to the sheer volume of anemones although the sheer volume of divers in the water was astounding. I wouldn't go back though and I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Batfish]

Ed - July is high season in Bali, so you might consider that. If you do head for Bali, then stay away from the main tourist beaches, and try one of these spots:

Lembongan Island

Tulamben including the Liberty Wreck

Menjangan Island

July is also very good for Sipadan, indeed is peak season and places are limited.

Sipadan

Both easy enough to reach from Bangkok.

Cheers

Jamie