Thailand Diving in January-February 2015 ?

[drdaddy]

Dear Friends, Thailand Diving in January-February 2015 ?

Last year we visited family (USA University- Academic research) in Bangkok. We took a trip to Jomtien Beach and had a wonderful time !!! The little children loved the beach and we ate in small/off the main stretch family restaurants.

My son-in-law and I went diving with Mermaids Dive Center and they were excellent. I would recommend them highly. I wrote about them earlier. If you have any questions - please feel free to contact me.

So we plan to go back in January-February 2015 for a couple-three weeks. Our daughter/and her little children want to go to the beach again, so we will likely go to Jomtien Beach again. And I will go diving again with Mermaids at Pattaya.
What will the weather be like then?
What will scuba diving be like then?

If we somehow (unlikely this time - but I'm wishing) get to go to Phuket:
What will the weather be like then?
What will scuba diving be like then?

Thank you very much.
p.s. diving here in the Pacific NW is fun - but with 6ft (2meter) vis and 49F (9.4C) - it is nothing like Thailand. But we dive where we live and whenever we visit somewhere - we dive there.

 

[stevenl]

Both places: that time of year are the best conditions and weather you'll get.

 

[JonnieB]

Pattaya is more or less a year round diving destination, but a little choppy from July-October rainy season, when he monsoon can kick up. The Phuket season starts when the monsoon season ends, sometime in early November and goes thru till around may/June.

my advice, get to Phuket, the diving is much better than anything in and around pattaya/Jomtien. Heck, I live in pattaya and would never dive here unless my dive buddy had a gun to my head. In fact, why not just spend all your time in Phuket?

 

[stevenl]

Also Phuket offers diving year round. In fact, with less people around and less boat traffic I prefer diving in low season.

 

[JonnieB]

Also Phuket offers diving year round. In fact, with less people around and less boat traffic I prefer diving in low season.

Thats true, and there are many fine diving days during low season but the chance of having really rough seas or outright cancellations also exists. Locals can put up with these unknowns as it doesn't cost us much in the way of lost time and money but someone coming from afar may not want to risk it.

Also, don't almost all operators stop going to the exposed similan islands during the monsoon season? In fact, isn't the marine park closed during that time? The more sheltered phang Nga Bay sites are dived year round, however, I once went out in early November and we had 2-3 meter waves and half the divers were heaving by the time we got to the phi-phi islands

 

[drdaddy]

Both places: that time of year are the best conditions and weather you'll get.

Thank you all very much.

What I heard was that I could dive both places and that the conditions will be good.

And I heard you all, loud and clear, that if I was given a choice I should chose Phuket. I would very much like to do that.

I am not going to Thailand to dive, but to see 4 beautiful Grandchildren and our Daughter & Husband who live in Bangkok (for at least the next year). If they had the time/money to go to Phuket then I would love to go. We have a 2 week stay, and as it turns out, we are going to Chiang Mai (we just received an email today from our daughter) and therefore we will only have a few days left to go to a beach and dive. So we will hire a driver, leave early in the morning and all play on the beach until evening. The next morning, my son-in-law & I will be picked up by Mermaids and we'll go out to sea and dive and eat and enjoy the great fellowship with fellow divers while my Wife, Daughter, and Grandchildren play on the beach.

For you that would never think of diving Pattaya (and I would never really want to hang out in Pattaya - I've got a wife and beautiful daughter and Grandchildren) - well, re-read what I dive in year around. Cold, murky, and much of the time stormy Oregon Pacific NW, USA.

Thank you all again for the advice (you too Lord Khram)

p.s. It was SB's advice last year that led me to Mermaids! Mermaids is a great outfit who kept all their promises - and more !!!

 

[Bubble Junky]

If you head south, check out Koh Lanta too. Beautiful island with great diving - nice small stuff and excellent chances of big pelagics too...

 

[JonnieB]

Thank you all very much.

What I heard was that I could dive both places and that the conditions will be good.

And I heard you all, loud and clear, that if I was given a choice I should chose Phuket. I would very much like to do that.

I am not going to Thailand to dive, but to see 4 beautiful Grandchildren and our Daughter & Husband who live in Bangkok (for at least the next year). If they had the time/money to go to Phuket then I would love to go. We have a 2 week stay, and as it turns out, we are going to Chiang Mai (we just received an email today from our daughter) and therefore we will only have a few days left to go to a beach and dive. So we will hire a driver, leave early in the morning and all play on the beach until evening. The next morning, my son-in-law & I will be picked up by Mermaids and we'll go out to sea and dive and eat and enjoy the great fellowship with fellow divers while my Wife, Daughter, and Grandchildren play on the beach.

For you that would never think of diving Pattaya (and I would never really want to hang out in Pattaya - I've got a wife and beautiful daughter and Grandchildren) - well, re-read what I dive in year around. Cold, murky, and much of the time stormy Oregon Pacific NW, USA.

Thank you all again for the advice (you too Lord Khram)

p.s. It was SB's advice last year that led me to Mermaids! Mermaids is a great outfit who kept all their promises - and more !!!

Well, as you're determined to spend most of your time in Bangkok, there's always the Chao Praya River for the ultimate in muck diving. Also, no need to slam Pattaya, lots of married western men and women and their kids and grand kids live and work or are retired and living in Pattaya! I said the diving in Pattaya was nothing special, the general lifestyle, is not so bad.

 

[lord khram]

Well, as you're determined to spend most of your time in Bangkok, there's always the Chao Praya River for the ultimate in muck diving. Also, no need to slam Pattaya, lots of married western men and women and their kids and grand kids live and work or are retired and living in Pattaya! I said the diving in Pattaya was nothing special, the general lifestyle, is not so bad.

Quite right. Keep away from the Pattaya entertainment area's and Jomtien. There are lots of nice places and lots to do around the area, unfortunately most tourists never venture away from those locations, hence all the ill informed opinions I have heard over the years. I have a great life, living only a short distance from Pattaya.
My diving now generally consists of UK diving during my 3 months annual summer trip back there, and the rest of the year do very little. Personally I find the diving around Pattaya to be unchallenging and uninspiring, and it holds little attraction for me even being so close for 9 months of the year. I do still go on a few dives per year though around Samae San, mainly just as part of a pleasant day out with a friend on his boat.

 

[nkped]

If your schedule permits, avoid diving on the weekends as the boats can be crowded.