Thailand Dive Centres

[Brian of Aquanauts]

Originally Posted by Ferg3333

Hi, I'm off to bangkok a week on tuesday then on to Koh Samui (4 nights) and Phuket (Karon Beach 7 nights) can anyone suggest any good dive centres for a couple of days worth of diving or any particular dive site I should dive? these will be my first warm water dives since I started diving.
Ferg3333

Have worked from Koh Phi Phi (off Phuket) and Koh Tao. In high season you'll get twice the variety and abundance of life on the west coast (phuket) compared to Koh tao, in low season phuket you'll get waves and rain (but nothing compared to plymouth in summer ) Champon pinnacles and sail rock are nice sites, but have nothing on your average offshore dive from phuket.

Shame the guide books get paid so heavily by "the dive factory" otherwise people would know how good the diving is on the west coast.

re good dive centres... they're all good but the instructors change so often sometimes you might get unlucky, but unlikely

In my experience...

[stevenl]

In the Koh Tao area, IMO Chumpon Pinnacle is nice and Sail Rock maybe worth the effort, the other divesites are mediocre at best.

In the Andaman Sea the Similans are really world class, and there are also options with a boat leaving directly from Phuket (so saving on transfertime because most of the daytrips first go by minibus). It is a bit more expensive, but really a lot more comfortable.
Other nice divesites are Anemone Reef, Shark Point, King Cruiser, Koh Doc Mai, Bida Nai, Bida Nok and Racha Noi.

[Blonde Inside]

Fancy a 2 day liveaboard while you're staying in Karon visiting Hin Daeng, Hin Muang & Phi Phi ?.

If your interested pop me a PM with your dates over and i'll give you some more details.

[deepdeepblue]

Hi.

I have just got back form a 10 day break in Patong, Phuket. This was my forth trip to this location and I have been with a few different dive operators in the area in the past. This time I have to say a BIG thank you to Sunrise Diving. This is a relatively new dive resort. It is located directly on the beach in Patong, and was completely destroyed in the December Tsunami, but now they are fully operational. The best thing I found was the level of safety for Thailand was very high. This has a lot to do with the owner, Charlie who is from the UK and all the staff, who were all European and mainly x military divers. The new boat they have this season has to be the best equipped day boat in Phuket, and everything is new, equipment, compressor etc, they even had towels on a day boat…….
They were not the cheapest, but they do more than dive, as attached to the dive centre is a divers bar and restaurant which is great for parting after a days diving. If you are in Patong I would recommend going round on a Wednesday or Sunday as they put on a great FREE yes free BBQ and that is strange in Thailand (something free).
I thought I would do this plug for all the people at Sunrise Diving as I had the time of my life with them, and they lost everything in the Tsunami and they had no insurance or Tsunami relief funding help.
Well done to you all for getting Sunrise Diving back on its feet in such a short time.
If anybody is going to Phuket check out www.sunrisediving.net in my option the best dive centre in Phuket.
Cheers lads.
David: deepdeepblue