Many people travel to Thailand for their diving holiday, it has a variety of places to choose from, whether you’re looking to do your Open Water in Koh Tao or some Tech Diving in Phuket, it has a wide range of diving to suit everyone.
The Similans and Surin Islands are some of the best diving in Thailand. There is one dive site located in the Surin Marine Park that is considered to be within the top 10 dive spots in the world, but we’ll get onto that a bit later on.
The Similan islands
The Similan islands is an archipelago in the North Andaman Sea, off the West coast of Thailand. The islands are made up of granite boulders and the scenery above and below the sea is picturesque. There are 9 islands that are very close together and 2 additional islands further North.
The general public are not allowed on islands 1,2 and 3. One of the islands is a green turtle nesting ground, once the eggs have hatched the baby turtles will be brought onto mainland to a ‘Head Start’ program run by the Navy near Khao Lak. The turtle sanctuary is open to the public so you can go and see some baby turtles and learn about them and the other resident turtles in Thailand.
The rest of the islands are home to pristine beaches, snorkeling sites and of course some amazing dive sites. There are a number of islands that you can go onto for lunch or just a walk on the soft white sand beaches. Island number 8, AKA Donald Duck Bay, AKA Koh Similan, is probably the most famous island out of them all. You can take a 10-15 minute walk to the top of the island where you can take in some breathtaking views, with most people hiking up there for their Instagram shots.
When the Similans became a national park, it wasn’t just to protect marine life, but to also protect the land animals as well. If you go onto the islands you’re most likely to encounter the monitor lizards, nicobar pigeons, fruit bats, skinks and much more.
The dive sites vary around the different islands, some dive sites you will go to for marine life and reefs, the others are all about the topography. There are some sites that have boulders bigger than the boats you arrive on and there are some sites that are just a diver’s playground, consisting of many swim throughs, currents and channels. There is a site for every diver, which makes it such a brilliant place to dive.
Recommended Dive Sites In The Similans:
- North Point
- Christmas Point
- West of Eden
- Three Trees
- Elephant Head Rock
- Deep Six
In 2014 Thailand added 2 islands to the Similans National Marine Park, these were Koh Bon and Koh Ta Chai.
What will you see?
- Hard coral
- Soft coral
- Trevally
- Barracuda
- Clownfish
- Nudibranch
- Angelfish
- Butterflyfish
- Tuna
- Crown of thorns
- Sharks
- Octopus
- Sea snakes
- Cuttlefish
- Turtles
- Stingrays
- And much, much more
Surin Islands
The Surin Islands are further North than the Similans, they are right next to the Myanmar border. The Surin Islands are another archipelago within the Mu Ko Surin National Park, it consists of 5 separate islands. The public can go onto these islands and there is still a Moken village, a small resort and a few camping spots.
Surin is a great place for snorkelling and due to some conservation rules, there are certain areas of the islands where you are not allowed to dive and snorkeling is only permitted. As there are only 5 islands there are fewer dive sites here, but there is one dive site that tops them all, Richelieu Rock.
Richelieu is within the top 10 dive spots in the world. Richelieu is an underwater pinnacle, but it is further out in the open sea, it is around 14km/8.5miles from the Surin Islands. At low tide you can see the pinnacle sticking out of the water, but at high tide it disappears. It’s so beautiful that it even has its own page, click here to read more on Richelieu Rock.
The rest of the dive sites on Surin are mainly sloping reefs that come off from the islands Ao Pakard and Koh Torlina are ones not to be missed. But with the crystal clear blue waters, the visibility around there is usually pretty good around 15-25m.
What Can You See?
- Hard coral
- Soft coral
- Trevally
- Barracuda
- Clownfish
- Nudibranch
- Angelfish
- Butterflyfish
- Tuna
- Crown of thorns
- Sharks
- Octopus
- Sea snakes
- Cuttlefish
- Turtles
- Stingrays
- And much, much more
The National Parks
Even though both parks are relatively close to each other, they offer different sorts of diving. Diving within the national parks comes with rules and fees. Due to the national park rules, the parks are closed during the low season, so you can only dive here during the high season which is from October to May. If you’re looking to book a liveaboard or a day trip, both of these parks are ones to tick off your list.