Patong Diving

Always dive according to your level of training. Check with your dive center for safety, additional information and level required for each dive site before entering the water.

Most dive operators in Patong offer 4 day liveboards trips to Hin Daeng and Similan/Surin, Burma Banks and daily diving trips to the islands close by. The Phi Phi Islands can be done on a day trip from Patong.

Some dive sites done on day trips from Patong are:

Situated east of Phuket Shark point is a marine sanctuary with abundant and varied marine life. This site is characterised by it's colourful soft corals and huge sea fans. There is a large quantity of tropical fish and the sandy bottom harbors leopard sharks that give this site it's name.

Anemone Reef is a submerged reef close to Shark Point. There are a lot of sea anemones and a large variety of marine life.
You're likely to spot scorpion fishes and lion fishes. Also common are leopard sharks, tuna, barracuda, jack and lots of other small fishes.

Racha Yai Island is the larger and closer of the Racha islands. It's composed of a beautiful island with lots of nice hard coral reefs and colourful coral gardens. Drift diving is possible around the island and the visibility is generally quite good. Counting several good dive sites and places that particularly suit beginners and snorkelers, this island is a destination for all. The sheltered bay offers excellent conditions for swimming and snorkeling. The marine life here includes large schools of juvenile barracudas, tunas and jack fish on Racha Yai's east coast

Smaller than the sister island Racha Yai, Racha Noi provides excellent conditions for divers and non divers alike through out the year. On Racha Noi the waters are clearer with colorful soft and hard corals. Commonly seen are schools of pelagics such as giant barracuda while the possibility to encounter the manta ray is very high. The underwater scenery here is spectacular with massive underwater boulders like those found on the Similans.

Koh Doc Mai provides some of the best wall diving in the Phuket area with sea fans, soft corals and colourful sea life. Koh Doc Mais is a small jungle topped island on the way to Shark Point from Phuket. Leopard sharks have often been seen on the sandy bottom. There are 2 caverns at approximately 15 metres (49 feet) depth one of which can be penetrated. Ghostpipe fishes and seahorses are not a rare sight, look out for them.

Phi Phi Islands, the beach where the film "The Beach" was filmed is popular with both divers and non divers and is about 3 hours away from the coast making it possible to visit on day trips. The magnificent limestone cliffs outside the water become drop offs underwater encrusted with coral. There is diverse marine life which includes glassfish, turtles, leopard sharks, octopus and sea horses. Occasioanally whale sharks are seen here.

King Cruiser Wreck which sank is May 1997 is a popular wreck dive and is completely covered in shells and soft corals. King Cruiser is now an enormous artificial reef and home to a number of marine species including nudibranches, moray eels and lion fish. Nurse sharks and turtles can occasionally be spotted here.

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