where to dive in thailand? (early april)

[scottfiji]

i need some recommendations where to do great diving in thailand....it will be for 2 experienced divers...

I'll be flying from singapore, and will be in thailand april 1st to april 4th...maybe one more day.. so probably only 2-3 days of diving...

here are some ideal requirements, first two are the most important

- good value for the money
- travel times to dive sites not too long
- easy to do at least 3 dives in a day, maybe 4 including night dive
- potential for shore diving
- easy & cheap to get to from singapore
- within recreational limits
- lots of fish and interesting creatures!

I'd love to hear some suggestions! also, let me know where not to go

thanks, Scott

 

[djkpsu]

For your time schedule from Singapore, I think Phuket is your best bet. The flight is about an hour, and can be quite cheap with some of the new budget airlines.

There are tons of dive shops there. All of which offer a multitude of day trips. 3 dive trips are not hard to find, and night dives are available.

There is not much in the way of shore diving, but can be found. However you will get much better dives at the outlying islands.

At Hin Daeng and Hin Maung you should have a good chance of spotting Mantas and maybe even the occisional whale shark.

 

[scottfiji]

thanks djk, although my friend who was in phuket said phi-phi island was 3 hours each way from phuket, shark point/anemone reef was 2 hours, and Hin Daeng / Hin Maung were an hour 45min each way, those distances seem really far to me, surely there must be better bases to dive out of then phuket? Are you saying Hin Daeng and Hin Maung are the best dive sites in Thailand in April? (note we've both seen lots of mantas before so they aren't a big deal to us, whale sharks would be cool though, is early april whale shark season there?)

thanks alot!
Scott

 

[stevenl]

At both hin Daeng/Muang and at the divesites north of Similans the chances of manta rays are excellent, and there is also a reasonable chance of whalesharks at those sites.
But you're right, the travel time can be quite long. From Phi Phi the travel time to Shark Point is a bit less, and also Hin Daeng/Muang are closer by. From Phi Phi however you won't be able to go to the Similans (but I guess they are too far for you anyway), but there is of course the extra traveltime to Phi Phi and back.

Here at Kata Beach the shoredives are quite nice, and you can also take a longtail out.

Have you considered doing a (short) liveaboard trip?

 

[Ringo]

Apart from the usual daytrips and Liveaboards, Kata, Karon and Kata Noi beaches offer pleasant shore dives. Also a few operators in these areas offer longtail boat dives to sites within minutes from the shore. Prices around 1300 baht for 1 longtail boat dive inc equipment. Shore dives inc equipment around 900 baht a dive. Easy relaxing dives with lots of the smaller creatures. Having said that a manta was spotted on the surface at Karon rock and a huge turtle seen at Koh Pu recently.

 

[jigo]

am also going to phuket this weekend but free time is only saturday afternoon to sunday morning. what are my options? which operators offer good rates if i have my own gear? i hope to see leopard sharks and mantas

 

[Christian]

1 hr and 45 minutes to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang is with speedboat from Phi Phi. HD & HM are very far out to sea from Phi Phi and very, v e r y far from Phuket. Don't know if it is at all possible to go there on daytrips even with speadboat from Phuket. The closest point to go to Hin Daeng/Hin Mouang, is Kho Lanta, which can be reached from Phuket or Krabi with ferry. From there you can go with a regular dive boat, which is alot more comfortable than an almost two hour, roaring, bumpy speedboat ride. But it is a 3 hour leg, each way, with regular boat. So only two dives are possible in a day.

Unfortunatelly all good diving in the Thai Andaman Sea involves long boat rides. You have to chose what is more important to you, short boatrides or good diving?

/christian

thanks djk, although my friend who was in phuket said phi-phi island was 3 hours each way from phuket, shark point/anemone reef was 2 hours, and Hin Daeng / Hin Maung were an hour 45min each way, those distances seem really far to me, surely there must be better bases to dive out of then phuket? Are you saying Hin Daeng and Hin Maung are the best dive sites in Thailand in April? (note we've both seen lots of mantas before so they aren't a big deal to us, whale sharks would be cool though, is early april whale shark season there?)

thanks alot!
Scott

 

[scottfiji]

thanks everyone.. my friend mentioned koh tao, near koh samui... he really liked the diving there, it was cheap, and short boat rides...so I might try there....

one downside is that the airfares from singapore to koh samui are alot more than to phuket....... has anyone dove from koh tao?

I'm not in the mood for a liveaboard or long boats rides this trip...

thanks again for the replies so far, Scott

 

[stevenl]

am also going to phuket this weekend but free time is only saturday afternoon to sunday morning. what are my options?

Shoredives, with IMO the best options in Kata.

Koh Tao is a nice island with a very relaxed atmosphere, it is all about diving there. However, most of the diving done there are Open Water Courses, so quite often big groups and not that much to see either.
If you decide to go there, I think the best divesites in that area is Chumpon Pinnacle. Just make sure you're on the first boat to reach the site. The other sites, with maybe the exception of Sail Rock, are mediocre at best.

 

[Bowmouth]

thanks everyone.. my friend mentioned koh tao, near koh samui... he really liked the diving there, it was cheap, and short boat rides...so I might try there....

one downside is that the airfares from singapore to koh samui are alot more than to phuket....... has anyone dove from koh tao?

I'm not in the mood for a liveaboard or long boats rides this trip...

thanks again for the replies so far, Scott

Yes, Ko Tao IS cheap and the diving at all the local dive sites pretty lousy (except for Sail Rock and Chumporn Pinnacle). You WILL have short boatrides though and that seems to be one of the most important things to you. You'll be guaranteed lots of rubble, some groupers, some black corals and a nudi or two, three.

April is a GREAT month for diving in and around Phuket and the marinelife about a zillion times better than Ko Tao.
So choose wisely; cheap-short boat rides-lousy diving
OR..... reasonably priced-good shore diving-professional daytrips-excellent offshore diving.