Diving in Phuket in August- any advice greatly appreciated!

[AmandaLinnea]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum and hoping to get some help regarding diving in Phuket

I will be in Phuket end of this month (18th-29th). I will be alone for the first days of my stay before my non-diving friend join's me, and I would ultimately like to do as much diving as possible during these first days, tuesday - saturday.

Am I right in assuming there are no live-aboard options this time of the year? It seems day-trips to phi phi island or racha yai is what is run by most dive operators. The problem I'm having is that there are just so many dive operators, and I'm not quite sure where to begin..

I'm an OW diver (have also completed the AOW but not recieved my certification yet, another story) with about 40 dives. I've only been diving for a few months, but I'm very relaxed and happy whenever I'm in water.

Does anyone have any recommendations for operators? Things to consider? Do I need to book the trips in advance before arriving? How likely are the trips to go out this time of the year, considering the weather conditions? It's my first time in Thailand and so far I've only been diving in the Maldives and in Sweden.

Hoping to get some useful advice,
Thanks,
Amanda

 

[Aquavelvet]

During this time, the Similan and Surin Islands marine park is closed. There's still plenty of fun diving around the Phi Phi Islands. Most of the boats that leave from the marina on Phuket tend to be somewhat crowded, many are shared by two or more dive shops. Conditions are less predictable, trips can be cancelled or re-routed if the sea is too rough. Best to be flexible for the dive days.
I've had good trips with All4diving, who share trips with Superdivers. Their instructors and guides seem pretty decent. You could also go with a shop on Phi Phi such as Barakuda Dive Center. They may take you to some of the less common dive sites.


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[stevenl]

During this time, the Similan and Surin Islands marine park is closed. There's still plenty of fun diving around the Phi Phi Islands. Most of the boats that leave from the marina on Phuket tend to be somewhat crowded, many are shared by two or more dive shops. Conditions are less predictable, trips can be cancelled or re-routed if the sea is too rough. Best to be flexible for the dive days.
I've had good trips with All4diving, who share trips with Superdivers. Their instructors and guides seem pretty decent. You could also go with a shop on Phi Phi such as Barakuda Dive Center. They may take you to some of the less common dive sites.


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All4Diving is a prime example of a shared boat with 2 or more diveshops. It is the all4Divers boat, Super Divers buys spaces on the boat, just as I do on several boats (possibly including all4Diving).

@ the OP: if I were you I'd look at 3 divestrips: 1x Racha Noi and Racha Yai, 1x Phi Phi and 1x King Cruiser/Shark Point area, all with 3 dives. IMO at the moment King Cruiser is really, really nice diving and the best on offer.

 

[gr8jab]

A few years ago, went diving with Sea Bee. They owned their own boats! It was an excellently organized operation. They had large boats for the long rides out to Phi Phi area. One day I did a 4 tank trip, morning dive, two mid-day dives, and one night dive. The food was yummy, and the service was excellent.

All diving was drift, but they dropped one DM and four divers at a spot, then moved on a little ways away. As a result, the large boat actually felt much more personal and small. When the dive was over, the boat came to each group for pickup. I did occasionally see another group when I was down, but never felt like a herd from a cattle boat.

Welcome to Sea Bees Diving - Adventure In Good Hands

 

[stevenl]

I did occasionally see another group when I was down, but never felt like a herd from a cattle boat.

Sea Bees takes about the same number of divers on their boat as the other companies do, really not much of a difference there. This means one of the main tasks of the guide/instructor is to avoid other groups and make sure the divers get a good experience. And you were obviously well taken care of. 4 divers per guide is in general the maximum in the area though, quite often groups will be smaller.

 

[gr8jab]

Sea Bees takes about the same number of divers on their boat as the other companies do, really not much of a difference there. This means one of the main tasks of the guide/instructor is to avoid other groups and make sure the divers get a good experience. And you were obviously well taken care of. 4 divers per guide is in general the maximum in the area though, quite often groups will be smaller.

I have only used See Bees in Phuket, so I cannot compare them to other dive operations. They did far surpass many of my other experiences around the world.

I would dive with them again. I'm sure there are many other excellent operations in Phuket.

 

[decompression]

See bees were awesome, would definitely dive with them again.


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[Patchy]

Hi, just got back from 4d/4n live-aboard trip to Phi Phi. So cannot comment on day trips from Phi Phi. The weather was glorious three out of four days. There not many divers around at all so there were chances to see something special such as octopus, turtles, leopard sharks (4 of them) If you'd like more info you can inbox me, happy to help

 

[Bubble Junky]

Hi, just got back from 4d/4n live-aboard trip to Phi Phi, Koh Haa. So cannot comment on day trips from Phi Phi. The weather was glorious three out of four days. There not many divers around at all...

There shouldn't be many divers around, especially at Koh Ha, as the Lanta Marine Park is closed. Nice to see the dive operators ignoring the Thai giovernment rules...

(see 'Remark' at the bottom of this link - Mu Koh Lanta National Park)

 

[Patchy]

There shouldn't be many divers around, especially at Koh Ha, as the Lanta Marine Park is closed. Nice to see the dive operators ignoring the Thai giovernment rules...

(see 'Remark' at the bottom of this link - Mu Koh Lanta National Park)

Thanks for letting me know, really appreciated. I have to do more reserach before I go next time. Thank you.