The Andaman Sea
With its warm clear waters crammed with colourful, tropical fish-life and corals, set around stunningly beautiful tropical islands, the Andaman Sea boasts some of the best diving around and offers the best diving in Thailand by far.
A firm favourite with divers over the past decade or so, Thailand is blessed with gorgeous weather, fantastic beaches, and handy diving a few kilometres from a fun-packed shoreline. Phuket, Phi Phi Islands and Ao Nang Beach - Krabi are the best resort areas for a Thailand diving holiday. Phuket is best placed to serve the whole region, and is popular with party-goers, whilst Ao Nang is set on the more peaceful and spectacularly beautiful Krabi coastline across Phang Nga Bay. Phi Phi's magic draws sunseekers and travellers for the beaches and a slice of island-life.
The biggest draw-card here though, is the professionally run dive outfits that have a fantastic range of value-for-money liveaboards cruising around world class dive sites in the Similans, Burma and Hin Daeng.
The picturesque Similan Islands are the most popular destination, with superb underwater scenery and excellent visibility in its aquamarine waters. Huge deep water boulder formations create daring swim-throughs as well as providing dramatic back-drops to its vibrant coral gardens and reef slopes. You can dive here by liveaboard or diving day tours.
The world famous Richelieu Rock is perhaps the Thailand's most famous site, and it rates as one of the best places in the world for diving with whale sharks. Koh Bon and Koh Tachai are great for manta rays and white tip reef shark encounters.
Hin Daeng - Hin Muang is your best chance to see grey reef sharks, patrolling the walls. Besides that, it's also the second home in the Andaman Sea for whale sharks and mantas. Dive Hin Daeng and you'll experience the excitement of diving Thailand's highest vertical wall. Nearby caves and caverns add to the thrill of adventure.
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The Diving Season
You can dive Thailand all year round. The best conditions exist from November to April, with whale sharks visiting from February to May, and manta rays all year round.
Late May to October brings monsoon winds and surface swells to the Andaman Sea, making some remote sites, such as Richelieu Rock and Hin Daeng, inaccessible and reducing visibility in general by about 30% at the open dive sites. October can also see heavy rains in the Andaman Sea.
The Phuket liveaboard season runs from early October to mid May, but there are a limited number of liveaboards to Similan Islands and Phi Phi Islands all year round.
Reef Basics
Great for: Small animals, underwater photography, diving value-for-money, advanced divers, beginner divers, snorkelling, non-diving activities
Not so great for:
Depth: 5 - >40m
Visibility: 5 - 40m
Currents: Can be strong
Surface Conditions: Can be rough
Water Temperature: 26 - 31°C
Experience Level: Beginner - advanced
Number of dive sites: >250
Access: Liveaboards, resorts and diving day tours
Recommended length of stay: 1 - 3 weeks
Dive Sites
For more detailed information on Thailand dive sites, click on the links below:
Dive The World Recommendations: Similan Islands - Christmas Point and Elephant Head Rock, Koh Tachai, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang.
Other sites that can be visited as part of a liveaboard safari tour from Phuket:
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