The main reason Iain and Oui both got hooked on Phuket was because of the large diversity of dive sites in and around the Phuket area. Within Phuket itself there are a great range of underwater landscapes: fascinating hard coral reefs, limestone formations covered in beautiful soft corals and anemones, large rock formations and even some wrecks!
What makes these dive areas more interesting is that each type of dive site contains different marine species. At the hard coral sites, schooling barracuda and stingrays can be seen, at the soft coral sites discover interesting macro such as seahorses and nudibranches. The wrecks are home to batfish and often large schools of fish such as yellow snappers.
Phuket dive sites are suitable for all level of divers except for the King Cruiser wreck. For this site we recommend a minimum of 15 dives or Advanced Open Water. Read on to find out more about what you can discover in Phuket.
Anemone Reef is a stunning underwater limestone formation covered in sea anemones and colourful soft corals. Marine life includes sharks, turtles, seahorses, large schools of snapper, barracuda and more including the occasional whale shark! Suitable for all levels of certified divers but sometimes subject to strong currents.
The King Cruiser wreck is an old car ferry that sank in May 1997. More than just a wreck, this dive site is renowned for massive schools of yellow snapper, schooling trevally, huge lionfish and even the occasional turtle or shark. Suitable for advanced level divers and above due to its depth and vulnerability to strong currents.
Koh Doc Mai is a small limestone island in the middle of the sea with a wall dive one side and a sloping coral reef on the other. Great for macro lovers with possibility of seahorses, frog fish, pipefish and many types of shrimp. Also, many snappers, stingrays and sometimes sharks. Suitable for all levels of certified divers although sometimes subject to strong currents.
Racha Noi is a small island to the south of Phuket containing many dive sites of different varieties. The eastern side contains sloping hard coral reefs whereas the west side contains more dramatic boulder landscapes. Marine life includes anything and everything with manta rays sometimes spotted especially between December and April. Suitability depends on the dive sites ranging from complete beginners to very experienced.
Racha Yai island is a small island to the south of Phuket containing a large number of dive sites. The eastern side consists of many sloping hard-coral reefs with an abundance of marine life. The northern end contains sheltered bays with beautiful banks of hard corals. Look out for lionfish, giant moray eels, stingrays and sometimes turtles too. Suitable for all divers from complete beginners to very experienced.
Shark Point in Phuket is a series of underwater limestone formations covered in soft corals and sea anemones. This visually stunning dive site offers colours galore plus a large variety of marine life. Highlights include possibility of turtles, sharks, rays and also good for macro lovers with pipefish, seahorses and many species of shrimps. Suitable for all levels of certified divers.
