Dive sites of the Similan National Park
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                                       Mu Koh Similan Marine National Park
                       Diving is best between October and May.

Coral Gardens

This is a popular dusk / night dive. You will find extensive coral gardens with large tables of branching corals. Also found on the dive are numerous Gorgonian Seafans and Whips. Oriental Sweetlips, Snappers and Fusiliers.

 

Diving Depth

5 - 20 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Slight to Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

South East Point

On the dive you will encounter boulders with archways, caves and ledges. Corals to be found include Fire Coral, Table Stag horns and Gorgonian Seafans. There is an array of marine life including Leopard Sharks, Stingrays, Lionfish, Tunas, Barracudas, Grouper and Surgeonfish.

 

Diving Depth

10 - 30 metres

Visibility

15 - 20 metres

Currents

Slight to Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Shark Fin Reef - Hin Phae

This is a submerged shelf of Shark Fin shaped boulders. Corals found on the reef include Acropora, Dendrophyllia and Gorgonian Seafans in the deeper waters.

Leopard Shark can sometimes be seen and in the deeper southern area where Black tip Reef Shark have also been seen. Look in the holes and cracks for Giant Moray Eels, and in the sandy patches for Kuhl's Stingrays and Red Fire Gobies. In the north-western section large adult Cube Boxfish and schools of Fusiliers travel in and over the top of the reef to be cleaned by the Striped Cleaner Wrasse. Reef Sharks, Humphead Parrotfish, Whale Sharks, Stingrays and Napoleon Wrasse can all be seen on this dive.

 

Diving Depth

10 - 40 metres

Visibility

20 - 30 metres

Currents

Slight to Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Bird Rock

This dive has a steep ridge with many large sea fans. Marine life includes turtles, triggerfish and leopard sharks in greater depths.

 

Diving Depth

15 - 40 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

East of Eden

East Of Eden is one of the most colourful and vibrant fringing reefs in Thailand.

Heading along towards the shallower parts of the reef you will swim over enormous orange and red Gorgonians, beautiful Barrel Sponges as well as Staghorns, Table Corals and Pore Corals, which are home to many colourful Christmas Tree Worms. Hawksbill and Green Turtles are very often seen at the reef plateau.

At the southern end of the reef you will find an enormous coral pinnacle starting at 24m and rising to 10m, which is definitely worth swimming around slowly at least once. This pinnacle is home to many different large and small Sea fans, Table Corals, varying colours of Feather Star Worms and beautiful Soft Corals and Anemones.

 

Diving Depth

15 - 35 metres

Visibility

20 - 35 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

 

Batfish Bend

This is a predominantly Hard Coral reef with a variety of Crinoids. These are mostly Feather Stars. This dive offers many Sea Anemones with Anemone fish, Oriental and Andaman Sweet lips, Hump head and Giant Snappers and Batfish.

 

Diving Depth

10 - 20 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Stonehenge

Feather Stars, Sponges, Butterfly fish, Lionfish, Snappers, Tunas and Surgeonfish can be found on this dive.

 

Diving Depth

20 - 35 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Morning Edge

Morning Edge has ridges of boulders with lots of Hard and Soft Corals, Sponges, Seafans and small Reef Sharks.

 

Diving Depth

10 - 40 metres

Visibility

20 - 30 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Deep Six

Coral covered boulders are the main feature of  the Deep Six dive location. You can see Seafans, Wire Corals, Barrel Sponges, Feather Stars and Reef Sharks.

 

Diving Depth

10 - 40 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Elephant Head

Elephant Head Rock is an enormous pinnacle consisting of some of the largest boulders to be found in the area. Three of the boulders can be seen above the surface, one of them giving the dive site it's name.

This dive site is quite exposed, and due to the different size and shape of the rocks, the water movement here can be quite challenging. The highlight of Elephant Head Rock is without doubt the many swim throughs. Tunnels and caverns lead off in all directions and are home to many large Sweetlips and Groupers.

Looking out into the blue at the southern end of the site Giant Trevally are almost always seen coming in quite close and also around here large groups of Oriental Sweetlips hover over the smaller boulders.

 

Diving Depth

15 - 40 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Beacon Point

This is a deep dive, punctuated by Gorgonian Sea fans and Wire Corals. There are many trigger fish and small reef sharks, with the occasional cruising Manta.

 

Diving Depth

10 - 40 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Beacon Beach

This shallow dive is ideal for training and night diving. There are plenty of Hard Corals where Reef life, which includes groupers, snappers, damselfish and sea kraits congregate.

 

Diving Depth

5 - 35 metres

Visibility

15 - 25 metres

Currents

Weak to Moderate

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Koh Bon

The main attraction of the Koh Bon dive location is the West Ridge where the cliff descends at a shallow angle into the sea and continues to 40m. Around this ridge divers have the best chance of seeing giant Manta Rays, particularly in the months of January to April.

The ridge and reef have plenty to offer where the limestone is an obvious change to the granite of the Similan Islands. In the small cracks and holes you will find the homes of many Shrimp, Nudibranchs, Moray Eels and Octopus.

Out in the deep blue, Giant Trevallies, Rainbow Runners and Dogtooth Tuna can be seen heading in to feed on the millions of Glassfish. The ridge is also covered in very small colourful soft corals all the way along the very jagged edges to the deeper area where it is very common to see large Leopard Sharks and sometimes magnificent Spotted Eagle Rays. Once you head back to the shallow hard coral reef, there is a good chance you will spot White tip and Black tip Reef Sharks and Pharaoh Cuttlefish with their constantly changing colour among the many fallen rocks.

 

Diving Depth

8 - 40 metres

Visibility

15 - 30 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Medium divers and up

 

Koh Tachai

Currents at these pinnacles can be extremely strong and it can be quite a challenging dive. Through the many Fusiliers coming in from the west you might spot Moray Eels swimming between the boulders or coral pinnacles, with every type of Angelfish, Butterflyfish, Grouper, Lionfish, Anemonefish, Rabbitfish, Teira Batfish, Barracuda, Trevally, Tuna, often Manta Rays coming in from the blue. There are also Shrimps, Lobsters, Nudibranchs and Pipefish. Several Leopard Sharks and Kuhl's Stingrays can be seen along the deeper boulders and sand patches and large Marble Rays and Jenkins Whip rays have been seen here. The coral garden on the top of the dome is one of the most colourful in the entire area.

 

Diving Depth

20 - 40 metres

Visibility

12 - 30 metres

Currents

Can be very Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Medium divers and up

 

Koh Surin Tai - S.E Point

This is a great early morning and late afternoon dive. Hard corals can be found on the dive site, along with Angelfish, Puffer fish, Groupers and Crustaceans.

 

Diving Depth

5 - 25 metres

Visibility

10 - 20 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Turtle Ledges

This is a Great night dive. There are Turtles, Sea Kraits, Anemonefish, Parrot and Wrasse. You should also see many different species of Shrimp.

 

Diving Depth

5 - 25 metres

Visibility

10 - 20 metres

Currents

Slight

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Hin Gong

On your dive you will encounter granite boulders with arches and caves, Gorgonian Seafans and Wire Corals. There is a varied range of marine life and reef inhabitants.

 

Diving Depth

5 - 25 metres

Visibility

10 - 20 metres

Currents

Can be Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Beyond entry level

 

Richelieu Rock

Arguably the best and most famous dive site in Thailand!

Situated roughly 30km from the mainland and approximately 20km from the Surin Islands near Myanmar, Richelieu Rock has a series of limestone pinnacles with one pinnacle just breaking the surface at low tide.

There is a large number of differently coloured Anemones on the top the pinnacles and, as you descend deeper the soft corals are bigger and more colourful. You should see Moray Eel, Cleaner Shrimps, Anemone, Tiger tail Seahorses, Ornate Ghost pipefish, Giant Frogfish, Juvenile Emperor Angelfish, a Tiger-Egg Cowries,  and Clownfish.

Larger fish include Yellow and Five-line Snapper, Bigeye Trevally, Goatfish, Chevron Barracuda, Cuttlefish, Octopus, Turtle, Stingray, many Angelfish, Groupers, Butterfly fish, Gobies and Blennies .

Richelieu Rock is also renowned for being able to see the biggest fish in the world, the magnificent Whale Shark.

 

Diving Depth

5 - 30 metres

Visibility

20 - 30 metres

Currents

Can be very Strong

Surface Conditions

-

Diver Level

Medium divers and up

 

 

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