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Hello dear forumers.
Recently i've just led a few divers up to Phuket over the holidays here in Singapore. Here's a brief update on Phuket for your reference.
Phuket lies on the West coast of southern Thailand, faces out to the Andamans Seas, as are The Similans on the North, hence diving off Phuket is sometimes described as Andaman diving, or South Siam diving. Phuket is about 7 hours from the Similans, 5 hours from Hin Daeng/Hin Muang, and 3 hours from Phi Phi islands by liveaboard diveboats; hence with its International airport and luxury hotels, Phuket is the perfect staging point for liveaboard and daytrip diving in the region. Phuket faces 6 months of wind and waves from the West (April-September), and 6 months from the East (October-March). Since from the East the wind is pretty much sheltered against the Thai mainland, resulting in somewhat calmer seas and the period also coincides with the European harsh winter (its main clientele) hence Phuket has a high season during this period. During low season (April-September), you'll get frequent 3-5 metre swells and occasional monsoon rains coming in from the Andamans, hence most dive operators will quit their Similans dive operations (7 hours from Phuket by dive boats) and some operators will send their liveaboards around the Peninsular into The Gulf of Thailand (Samui, Koh Tao, Chumpon) where the Europeans spend their summer holidays. Alternatively Phuket's daytrip divesites are pretty much diveable all year round. We did 5 days of daytrip diving, covering most of the accessible divesites of Phuket, and we had dry, sunny weather throughout our whole 14-day stay with only occasional showers in the late night. Here's a brief account compared to my knowledge of Phuket's sites from before the Tsunami.
Racha Yai (divesites: Lucy Reef, Staghorn Reef, Scubacat wreck(D34m), Dolittle Reef, Fantasy Wreck(D24m), Homerun):
This is the best time to dive Racha Yai as we dive off the East Coast with the most diverse diving and divesites. During the high seasons, every operator will crowd into Bungalow Bay in the West; since waves start coming from the East. Since it is the nearest diveable island to Phuket and its East Coast offers all level of diving, it is also considered the best training site off Phuket. But the marine life it offers is nothing our Malaysian training sites can compare. Vis was a good 15m-20m throughout. We started the dive with a warm welcome from some red tooth triggers, indian triggers and powderblue triggers. At both Staghorn and Homerun, we spotted schools of fusiliers, bluelined snappers, schooling goat fishes, moorish idols, squirrelfishes, soldierfishes, angels, banners and butterfly fishes over unbroken rows of staghorn corals from 12m-24m with occasional Coral head and boulders. Hiding under the staghorns we spotted lots of groupers, malabar, blue spot and hexagonal; as well as coral trouts. We also spotted numerous common lionfishes, numerous giant morays, numerous puffers and porcupines fishes, lots of splendid garden eels, 2 huge bearded scorpoinfish, 3 octopuses, a cuttlefish, 1 peacock mantis shrimp, 1 stonefish and a common pipefish. At the fantasy wreck, everything looks intact with its shoals of bluelined snappers, and the hole at the stern where you can look into the propellers lots of glass fishes were crowding its hull. Old scar-face, a resident giant moray had grown to a huge 2 over metres and lost its' scar on the lower jaw. It's 2 banded boxer shrimp consorts are still there, but the numerous durban dancing shrimps had since disappeared under the wreck's hull. Another instructor onboard had told us a huge marble ray had made the wreck it's home but we didnt managed to spot it. Most times last year over homerun we can see a big school of chevron barracudas and yellow fin tunas screaming pass overhead but we didnt see any this trip. In their place we saw some jacks and big eye trevallies. Over the shallows ending the dive, we saw lots of wrasses, spendour, rainbow, birdnose, yellowtail, lots of damsels and at least 3 species of anemone fishes (false clown, clark and tomato). Last year, Dolittle reef is also a great site to look for the occasional bumphead parrot, peacock solefish, striped catfish and the rare Comet longfin. But we didnt get to dive the Dolittle hence no chance to spot them. A gentle drift dive in clear, shallow waters, Racha Yai is the best checkout dive for the occasional divers. Though, divers should keep an eye out for titan triggers in bay 2 as they've been known to chase divers.
King Cruiser Wreck (D32m)
The King Cruiser is a 88m long car ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi which sank in May 1997 under dubious reasons. There were no casualties, all 364 passengers were rescued; hence dont expect to find any skeletons. There're no cars on Phi Phi too hence dont expect to find any cars. There were four suspected reasons, and the details i leave it to your diveguide if you were ever to dive this wreck. The captain is still remanded in Bangkok prison, due for release next year. This wreck lie in the open sea East of Phuket, about 800m from Shark point. Hence over the low season, 2-3 metres surface swell, and a constant moderate current is inevitable. There are currently 2 mooring line from the stern and the bow. Since the wreck lies at a max 32m and the attractions at a average 25m in moderate current, this divesite is recommended for certified Advance open water divers and above only. In eight years since she sank, its already fully covered in barnacles, clams, and hard corals. It's car deck and funnels had since collapsed hence lots of marine life take shelter in its wreckage. Snappers, fusiliers, groupers, and larger predators such as schools of jacks, trevallies and barracudas. Wrecks are also a magnet to lionfishes, scorpionfishes and stonefishes. Before the dive, i promised my divers i'll spot for them at least 5 lionfishes, 5 raggy scorpionfishes and 1 stonefish. After the dive, asides successfully spotting the stonefish, they lost count of the lionfishes and scorpionfishes, definitely more than 10. The highlight of this wreck include its huge propellers at 32m where there are resident bamboo sharks (i didnt bring my guys there as we have a 'huge consumption' chap), the top deck toilets, car deck (penetratable for the experienced and qualified divers, there's a resident banded seasnake and mimic octopus, which again we didnt go in), the funnel and the wheel house where there was a resident honeycomb moray last year, but we didnt see her on this trip. Vis was a limited 8m with sediments as is the norm with most wrecks. On good days you can get 12m-15m vis. Overall the King Cruiser is a satisfying deep wreck dive for recreational divers and the perfect site for wreck specialty training.
Shark Point
Shark point, or Hin Musang in Thai, is so named after the marine sanctary of numerous leopard sharks lying in the sand all around the reef, from a depth of 22m to breaking the surface of a 2 metre barren outcrop. From Sharkpoint 1, south of the barren outcrop, is a series of coral reef about 30 metres apart, so named sharkpoint 1 to 6 with the first 3 beautifully encrusted with soft tree corals and sharkpoint 5 and 6 being small coral heads. There used to be a mooring line West of Shark point 1, now the mooring line is on Shark point 2. When i first dived this site in the mid-nineties, you can easily count 3 to 4 leopard sharks on a single dive. But i guess its fame had taken its tolls since, with the number of divers easily reaching 100 on any given days in the high season. Nowadays if you're lucky you'll get to see a leopard shark laying in the sand at shark point 1 or between the sand of Shark point 1-3. We had been lucky, Vis was a decent 12 metres and on our dive, our group did spotted a grown 2-metre leopard shark basking in the sand. Otherwise Sharkpoint is also famous for its soft tree corals in a multitude of colours, orange, pink, red, white, blue, violet. Huge, vibrant gregonian seafans, sea whips and barrel sponges decorated the pinnacles. Hence attracting schools of tropical reef fishes, wrasses, bulleyes, moorish idols, squirrelfishes, soldierfishes, angels, banners, butterfly fishes, fusiliers, snappers, groupers, jacks and trevallies. We also spotted banded boxer shrimps, cuttlefish, squids, 2 common hawkbill turtles, bearded scorpionfishes, up to 4 species lionfishes (dwarf, russel, spotfin and common), 3 species of barracudas (chevron, picked-handle and great) and 3 species morays (yellow edge, undulated and white eye), this trip we didnt managed to spot the rarer zebra moray which i used to see here last year. South west of Sharkpoint 1 there used to be a resident yellow tigertail seahorse and a harlequin ghost pipefish but now they're nowhere to be found.
Recently i've just led a few divers up to Phuket over the holidays here in Singapore. Here's a brief update on Phuket for your reference.
Phuket lies on the West coast of southern Thailand, faces out to the Andamans Seas, as are The Similans on the North, hence diving off Phuket is sometimes described as Andaman diving, or South Siam diving. Phuket is about 7 hours from the Similans, 5 hours from Hin Daeng/Hin Muang, and 3 hours from Phi Phi islands by liveaboard diveboats; hence with its International airport and luxury hotels, Phuket is the perfect staging point for liveaboard and daytrip diving in the region. Phuket faces 6 months of wind and waves from the West (April-September), and 6 months from the East (October-March). Since from the East the wind is pretty much sheltered against the Thai mainland, resulting in somewhat calmer seas and the period also coincides with the European harsh winter (its main clientele) hence Phuket has a high season during this period. During low season (April-September), you'll get frequent 3-5 metre swells and occasional monsoon rains coming in from the Andamans, hence most dive operators will quit their Similans dive operations (7 hours from Phuket by dive boats) and some operators will send their liveaboards around the Peninsular into The Gulf of Thailand (Samui, Koh Tao, Chumpon) where the Europeans spend their summer holidays. Alternatively Phuket's daytrip divesites are pretty much diveable all year round. We did 5 days of daytrip diving, covering most of the accessible divesites of Phuket, and we had dry, sunny weather throughout our whole 14-day stay with only occasional showers in the late night. Here's a brief account compared to my knowledge of Phuket's sites from before the Tsunami.
Racha Yai (divesites: Lucy Reef, Staghorn Reef, Scubacat wreck(D34m), Dolittle Reef, Fantasy Wreck(D24m), Homerun):
This is the best time to dive Racha Yai as we dive off the East Coast with the most diverse diving and divesites. During the high seasons, every operator will crowd into Bungalow Bay in the West; since waves start coming from the East. Since it is the nearest diveable island to Phuket and its East Coast offers all level of diving, it is also considered the best training site off Phuket. But the marine life it offers is nothing our Malaysian training sites can compare. Vis was a good 15m-20m throughout. We started the dive with a warm welcome from some red tooth triggers, indian triggers and powderblue triggers. At both Staghorn and Homerun, we spotted schools of fusiliers, bluelined snappers, schooling goat fishes, moorish idols, squirrelfishes, soldierfishes, angels, banners and butterfly fishes over unbroken rows of staghorn corals from 12m-24m with occasional Coral head and boulders. Hiding under the staghorns we spotted lots of groupers, malabar, blue spot and hexagonal; as well as coral trouts. We also spotted numerous common lionfishes, numerous giant morays, numerous puffers and porcupines fishes, lots of splendid garden eels, 2 huge bearded scorpoinfish, 3 octopuses, a cuttlefish, 1 peacock mantis shrimp, 1 stonefish and a common pipefish. At the fantasy wreck, everything looks intact with its shoals of bluelined snappers, and the hole at the stern where you can look into the propellers lots of glass fishes were crowding its hull. Old scar-face, a resident giant moray had grown to a huge 2 over metres and lost its' scar on the lower jaw. It's 2 banded boxer shrimp consorts are still there, but the numerous durban dancing shrimps had since disappeared under the wreck's hull. Another instructor onboard had told us a huge marble ray had made the wreck it's home but we didnt managed to spot it. Most times last year over homerun we can see a big school of chevron barracudas and yellow fin tunas screaming pass overhead but we didnt see any this trip. In their place we saw some jacks and big eye trevallies. Over the shallows ending the dive, we saw lots of wrasses, spendour, rainbow, birdnose, yellowtail, lots of damsels and at least 3 species of anemone fishes (false clown, clark and tomato). Last year, Dolittle reef is also a great site to look for the occasional bumphead parrot, peacock solefish, striped catfish and the rare Comet longfin. But we didnt get to dive the Dolittle hence no chance to spot them. A gentle drift dive in clear, shallow waters, Racha Yai is the best checkout dive for the occasional divers. Though, divers should keep an eye out for titan triggers in bay 2 as they've been known to chase divers.
King Cruiser Wreck (D32m)
The King Cruiser is a 88m long car ferry from Phuket to Phi Phi which sank in May 1997 under dubious reasons. There were no casualties, all 364 passengers were rescued; hence dont expect to find any skeletons. There're no cars on Phi Phi too hence dont expect to find any cars. There were four suspected reasons, and the details i leave it to your diveguide if you were ever to dive this wreck. The captain is still remanded in Bangkok prison, due for release next year. This wreck lie in the open sea East of Phuket, about 800m from Shark point. Hence over the low season, 2-3 metres surface swell, and a constant moderate current is inevitable. There are currently 2 mooring line from the stern and the bow. Since the wreck lies at a max 32m and the attractions at a average 25m in moderate current, this divesite is recommended for certified Advance open water divers and above only. In eight years since she sank, its already fully covered in barnacles, clams, and hard corals. It's car deck and funnels had since collapsed hence lots of marine life take shelter in its wreckage. Snappers, fusiliers, groupers, and larger predators such as schools of jacks, trevallies and barracudas. Wrecks are also a magnet to lionfishes, scorpionfishes and stonefishes. Before the dive, i promised my divers i'll spot for them at least 5 lionfishes, 5 raggy scorpionfishes and 1 stonefish. After the dive, asides successfully spotting the stonefish, they lost count of the lionfishes and scorpionfishes, definitely more than 10. The highlight of this wreck include its huge propellers at 32m where there are resident bamboo sharks (i didnt bring my guys there as we have a 'huge consumption' chap), the top deck toilets, car deck (penetratable for the experienced and qualified divers, there's a resident banded seasnake and mimic octopus, which again we didnt go in), the funnel and the wheel house where there was a resident honeycomb moray last year, but we didnt see her on this trip. Vis was a limited 8m with sediments as is the norm with most wrecks. On good days you can get 12m-15m vis. Overall the King Cruiser is a satisfying deep wreck dive for recreational divers and the perfect site for wreck specialty training.
Shark Point
Shark point, or Hin Musang in Thai, is so named after the marine sanctary of numerous leopard sharks lying in the sand all around the reef, from a depth of 22m to breaking the surface of a 2 metre barren outcrop. From Sharkpoint 1, south of the barren outcrop, is a series of coral reef about 30 metres apart, so named sharkpoint 1 to 6 with the first 3 beautifully encrusted with soft tree corals and sharkpoint 5 and 6 being small coral heads. There used to be a mooring line West of Shark point 1, now the mooring line is on Shark point 2. When i first dived this site in the mid-nineties, you can easily count 3 to 4 leopard sharks on a single dive. But i guess its fame had taken its tolls since, with the number of divers easily reaching 100 on any given days in the high season. Nowadays if you're lucky you'll get to see a leopard shark laying in the sand at shark point 1 or between the sand of Shark point 1-3. We had been lucky, Vis was a decent 12 metres and on our dive, our group did spotted a grown 2-metre leopard shark basking in the sand. Otherwise Sharkpoint is also famous for its soft tree corals in a multitude of colours, orange, pink, red, white, blue, violet. Huge, vibrant gregonian seafans, sea whips and barrel sponges decorated the pinnacles. Hence attracting schools of tropical reef fishes, wrasses, bulleyes, moorish idols, squirrelfishes, soldierfishes, angels, banners, butterfly fishes, fusiliers, snappers, groupers, jacks and trevallies. We also spotted banded boxer shrimps, cuttlefish, squids, 2 common hawkbill turtles, bearded scorpionfishes, up to 4 species lionfishes (dwarf, russel, spotfin and common), 3 species of barracudas (chevron, picked-handle and great) and 3 species morays (yellow edge, undulated and white eye), this trip we didnt managed to spot the rarer zebra moray which i used to see here last year. South west of Sharkpoint 1 there used to be a resident yellow tigertail seahorse and a harlequin ghost pipefish but now they're nowhere to be found.
