Diving in Thailand with family in January?

[alam555]

Hi,
I have been to bangkok before, but never to the beaches, phuket, etc.
This time I am considering diving in Thailand. I will have a week there. Travelling with my wife who doesn't dive, and two sons 5yr and 6 months. Both wife and older son are into snorkelling. I have never done any diving in that part of the world. but been to Tahiti, Greece, Carribean, etc. I am flying thru Bangkok and would therefore like to take a side trip

Question:
what is the best place to dive, Phuket? Phi Phi? elsewhere?
Are there any all inclusive resorts?
What can I expect to see? big fish?
What about surrounding areas? Is Malaysia a better option? Borneo?

thank you.

 

[stevenl]

The diving is best in the Andaman Sea, so Koh Lanta-Phi Phi-Krabi-Phuket-Khao Lak. The best divesites IMO are Hin Daeng, Hin Muang, Bida Nai, Bida Nok, Similans, Richelieu Rock though not always possible on daytrips, the Shark Point, Anemone Reef, King Cruiser and Koh Doc Mai, although some people love Racha Noi as well.

There are all inclusive options, however I would not recommend them, it is much cheaper and nicer to eat somewhere else.

In January, you can expect to see (depending on the divesites) lots of small life like ghost pipefish, frogfish, seahorse, normally also leopard sharks, maybe nurse sharks, white or black tips and also maybe manta rays, normally at Koh Bon (Similans) and Hin Daeng/Muang.

I don't think you can say that Malaysia of Borneo will be better, all divesites have something different to offer. The weather on the Andaman side of Thailand will normally be excellent though.

 

[Quero]

With little kids and a non-diving spouse, I would imagine you will want to be land-based rather than on a liveaboard. This pretty much eliminates Similans trips, unless you stay up at the Khao Lak area and do some daytrips from there (with a long speedboat ride out). You can stay on Phuket and do daytrips from here to those local sites steven mentioned (shark point/anemone reef/king cruiser/koh doc mai/bida nok and nai/racha yai and noi) Alternatively, there are some nice family-oriented resorts on Phi Phi, which would allow for easy access to marine park snorkeling and give you the chance to dive on daytrips--even to the further away southern sites like Hin Daeng and Hin Muang--and still spend the evenings with your family.

 

[stevenl]

This pretty much eliminates Similans trips, unless you stay up at the Khao Lak area and do some daytrips from there

Why? There are very comfortable trips leaving from Phuket with 3 dives at the Similans. True, the transfer time is longer, but staying on Phuket offers a lot more other daytrip options as well.

Also from Phuket Hin Daeng/Muang daytrips are possible BTW.

 

[Ringo]

Also apart from the daytrips, Overnight cruises and Liveaboard trips from Phuket there are the local longtail boat dives off Kata, Kata Noi and Karon beaches to sites within minutes from these beaches. The family could relax and snorkel off the beaches whilst you go for a dive. Although no guarentees for the bigger pelagics (very rare) but lots of the smaller marine life. The beauty of this option is that you go dive for a couple of hours and can spend the rest of the day with the family....so you all remain freinds!

 

[stevenl]

Ringo, how true. Did a dive myself yesterday straight of Kata Beach, and saw cuttlefish, flat heads, barracuda, juveline trevally hunting midst the thousand of glass fish, big giant moray, juvenile sweetlips, etc. Visibility was not good, but with about 10 meters not bad either, calm water, very relaxing end enjoyable.

 

[Ringo]

Yes Steven the divers have been seeing a family of ghost pipe fish, blue blotched stingrays amongst the usual marine life at the southern end of Kata beach and the guys this morning had a great dive at Koh Pu. Viz was also about 10 meters - not bad for the beginning of the season.

 

[Quero]

Why? There are very comfortable trips leaving from Phuket with 3 dives at the Similans. True, the transfer time is longer, but staying on Phuket offers a lot more other daytrip options as well.

Also from Phuket Hin Daeng/Muang daytrips are possible BTW.

All true Steven. But with sensitivity for the family aspect the OP has detailed, in practical terms, Similans dive options are limited. With a non-diving spouse, an infant and a young child waiting at a Phuket resort, three-dive daytrips out to the Similans from Phuket don't leave much family time at the end of the day. Staying at Khao Lak and eliminting the long transfers would get our diver back with the family earlier.

 

[stevenl]

True,

But why focus on Similans? As I wrote, but for some reason you choose not to react to that part, staying on Phuket offers a lot more other daytrip options. So one day Similans and a few other daytrips does not sound too bad to me. And maybe do some shoredives as well, and you have lots of options to go diving and spend time with the family as well.

 

[Quero]

True,

But why focus on Similans? As I wrote, but for some reason you choose not to react to that part, staying on Phuket offers a lot more other daytrip options. So one day Similans and a few other daytrips does not sound too bad to me. And maybe do some shoredives as well, and you have lots of options to go diving and spend time with the family as well.

Oh, Steven...(sigh). I'm just not willing to engage in a debte; I don't disagree with anything you said, for one thing, and for another I'm not a contentious sort.

Perhaps my responses weren't clear, so let me try again. In post #8 I meant to focus on the family aspect and not on the Similans, per se. And in particular I wanted to address your "why" question from post #4 in which you picked out my one Similans sentence to query. The point I had hoped to make was that less transfer time equals more family time. In post #8 I simply didn't see any need to repeat my earlier response (post #3) which suggested a variety of options including Similans daytrips from Khao Lak, daytrips from Phuket to convenient sites, and daytrips from an alternative land-based destination such as Phi Phi. Similarly, I didn't think it was necessary to repeat Ringo's additional suggestion of shore/longtail dives at Kata.

Staying on Phuket may indeed meet the OPs needs; on the other hand, one of the other islands or Khao Lak could easily be a more appealing alternative for a family holiday.