The waters of the Andaman Sea especially its upper
part have a good circulation and their underwater surroundings
are in a very pure and unspoilt condition. That's why
the area is the best and most valuable for diving in
Thailand. Numerous dive companies offering diving tour
programmes, basic courses, and modern equipment are
located at seaside tourist attractions and on islands
with great diving opportunities like Phuket, Phang-nga,
Krabi, Ranong and Trang. Some of the dive sites in the
Andaman Sea are described below :
Similan
Islands
ranking among the most beautiful dive sites of the world,
are composed of nine islands containing a great variety
of dive spots with different characteristics, such as
:
Fantasy Reef is composed
of three submerged rock formations where you can find
yellow corallines and soft corals, colourful angels,
bat fish, whale sharks and manta rays.
Christmas
Point provides challenging swim-through among
the rocks and is home of Christmas tree worms.
Orchid Nursery Rocks with a lot of
corallines and artistic rock formations have a coral
reef sloping down into the deeper sea. Skull Rocks offer
plenty of colourful soft corals in different shapes
like cups, brains, and tables. The Lone Rock is a dive
spot where only one big rock is located with a dive
scene ideal for taking photographs.
Tachai
Island provides a large group of rocks to the
south of the island where whale sharks and manta rays,
barracudas, yellow backs, fusiliers, and green damsels
can be seen.
Surin Islands is a marine national park. It has diverse coral which
attracts exotic species of marine life. Ideal for divers
and snorkellers to catch sight of the ghost pipe fish
and frog fish.
Richelieu Rocks is considered a world-class dive site with the widest
diversity of marine life including whale sharks which
are so tame as to let visitors take photographs of them
easily.
Mu Sang Rocks can
be reached from Phuket. The rocks are covered by soft
pink corals. They are known as Phuket Shark Point because
there are tame leopard sharks living there.
Koh Racha Yai & Koh Racha Noi are
twin islands. The larger Ko Racha Yai offers colonies
of hard corals and tropical marine life, especially
octopi, cuttlefish and false barracudas. Dive sites
of the smaller Ko Racha Noi feature larger fish and
mammals.
Phi Phi Islands consisting
of Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le islands have attracted
divers from all over the world due to their spectacular
dive scenery featuring a wide assortment of marine life,
numerous walls caverns, caves, coral gardens, and sloping
reefs.
Hin Daeng is one of
the best dive spots of the lower part of the Andaman
Sea. It rises three metres out of water with barracudas
and needle fish around there. Divers may also encounter
whale sharks and manta rays. This is perhaps the only
dive site in Thailand where grey reef sharks are often
sighted.
Hin Muang features
a series of six or more submerged pinnacles. It provides
the deepest drop-off in Thailand. Large pelagics including
barracuda, tuna, whale sharks, and large stingrays are
sighted.
Ranong Islands in
the sea off Ranong Province offer favourite spots for
snorkellers. Divers can enjoy viewing the coral reefs
around a boulder called Hin Khan Na, only 15 minutes
from the coast. Great snorkeling opportunities also
lie in the sea of Laem Son, Phayam and Kam Islands.