THAILAND DIVING - Phuket Diving

[DeepDish]

I am considering a 3 week holiday to dive in Khao Lak in November. Does anyone have experince of Diving in Thailand, Khao Lak, the similan Islands.

Help will be appreciated..

[Dida]

The diving is great, diversity of fish life is amazing and being located in open, the islands offer spectacular excitement.
The town of Khao Lak was affected by the tsunami, but the amazing Thai people have recovered, and the only nuisances are the reconstruction of the resorts.
The season generally runs from late October until mid-May, depending on seasonal winds. This year the monsoons came early, and most trips after May 5th were called off.
As to the various shops and operations available in town - you get what you pay for. Phuket Divers is a VERY budget operation, so set your expectations accordingly. Sea Dragon focuses on Backpackers. An over-looked boat is the West Coast Explorer - they are headquartered in Phuket, but the boat departs Khao Lak's local pier. Superior quality on this boat for a great price

[Jeanna]

We've been diving every year for the last 6 years or so. Most of the time out of Ko Lanta, but last year we also did a trip to the Similans. The Similans are certainly good, but not that much better, if at all than the Ko Lanta sites - which stretch from Ko Phi Phi down to Hin Deng/Hin Muang (the Manta sites). 2 weeks ago, our friends spent 10 minutes on a safety stop watching a good 10m whale shark swim around. Ko Ha and Ko Bida have a lot of macro subjects. Night dives on Ko Ha are great. On the Similans, many guides like to drop down to close to 30m and stay deep saying there is some special things to see. In reality, it means short dives for them, and lots of rest.
Ko Lanta is not very touristy, low key, great for families, and very cheap. The season is end November to now. Whale sharks are mostly Feb-April. Have a look at Thailand diving . They are very experianced, and good.



Similan has a lot more to offer than Ko Lanta has. We dived with Sea Dragon Divecenter in Khao Lak. Great people working there. And we talked with the divemaster and he was fine with shallow dives. He dide´t understand the reason for diving deep on The Similans.
But Lanta has some really amazing dives for sure. Such as Hin Daeng/Muang, and Ko Haa

[Zeus]

I spent 6 months diving in Phuket, Ko Lanta and the Similans in .
I agree with the last post, the similans are the best diving in Thailand by far, except for Hin Deng/Hin Muang which are world class as well.
Sea dragon have very shoddy looking boats. I did abot 50 dive in the similans on various boats, West Coast Explorer, Queen Scuba, La Mahe etc.
Shop around and get a better deal. It is probably better to get be based in Phuket as there is more to do, the liveaboard operators will shuttle you to the Boats, about 2 hours by minivan. Khao Lak is pretty much just resorts.
Hope that helps