Going to Phuket in April; and tips for US Divers?

[Zsuzsika]

We are going to Thailand in a couple of weeks and made the decision to go diving for three days while in Phuket (my husband is going for business and I am just tagging along). We are staying at a resort on Kata Beach and going with a nearby dive operation - have not made plans yet; any recommendations or warnings?

We have all our own gear, but won't be taking it with us thanks to all the baggage restrictions imposed on us by the local puddle jumper. The less we have, the easier it will be to get around Thailand anyway - Phuket is but one of three destinations in Thailand. We are planning to take our regs, though.

I am going to assume the dive operators are used to divers from the US - anything I should know as to what to expect? What do I need to know about weights - normally dive with 12 lbs. We dive a lot in the Caribbean mostly, and this will be our first to asia.

Any input on tipping, important issues for US divers, etc. would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Suzi

 

[Luko]

Hi,
My personal recos about Phuket (4 times in Phuket in 3 years time)

Dive Operations in Phuket : avoid South Siam the biggest and the cheapest, not really customer oriented. I was most satisfied with Andaman Scuba and Eurodivers (although their boat was small), Calypso and Seafun were ok too. A bit disappointed with West Coast.

If you can stand two three hours of speed boat to the Similans/Koh Bon or south to Hin Daeng then GO! It's the best diving you can do from Phuket. (I had a nice experience with Siam Adventure going to Koh Bon on speedboat)

Close to Phuket, the best three dives trip is the combination of Anemone reef-Shark point and koh Doc Mai, I don't care much for the Kingcruiser wreck that most operations propose instead of Anemone reef.

Avoid Rachai Yai/Racha Noi trip, the dive sites are below average, mostly for beginners.

As for nationalities, dont worry in Phuket they're used to everyone : I remember a liveaboard where we were german, american, lettonian, hongkong, australian, french.. led by thai, irish and israeli guides... hence...

In Asia you do not tip for anything like you would in the US. Dive tips, well if you put 300 baht or more at the end of the day into the tipbox that it is customary to pass before landing, I think the dive and the boat crew will be happy.

Contact stevenl on this board, he's on Kata, I was one of his regular customers and always pleased with his dive arrangements.
(Hi Steven, sorry couldn't make it last Xmas but hotel prices were too high for me)

cheers
Luko

 

[Arizona]

Hi Suzi,

Check out Phuket Scuba Club. I went diving with them last Feb. They are a very good operation IMO. You will be happy with the rental gear. As you most likely know most of the world uses Bar vs. PSI. Other than that it should be "same-same" as the locals like to say. Tipping is almost unheard of so if you do splurge with 100baht for the two of you for the DM or guide on a day trip I am sure it will be highly appreciated. Liveaboards are another story.

Make sure DAN is up to to date.

You may want to bring some Pepto-Bismol in pill form. Easy to carry and may be helpful if the local cuisine should upset your stomach.

Safe diving,

Arizona

 

[Bowmouth]

Contact Kevan and Chantal from Phuket Scuba Club in Kata upon your arrival. Phuket Scuba Club is located opposite the Boathouse and a professional and friendly dive shop. They have been in Phuket for many-many years and will be able to help you with all your questions, daytrip dive tours, rental equipment etc.

Tipping in Thailand is much appreciated (like in most other places in the world) but not mandatory. If you feel that you have had (very) good service and would like to leave a tip than that is much appreciated. Some boats do have a tip-box and others don't. If there's no tip box you're probably best of tipping on a hand to hand base. Dive crew on day trip boats do normally not share in the tips from the boat crew.

If you're looking at 3 day trips I would recommend the following tours:
Start with Racha Yai Island. It's your first time in Asian waters and Racha Yai offers easy (drift) dives over gently sloping reefs with lots of hard coral and colorful fish life. Racha Yai also has sheltered reefs (it's a big island) and visibility is in general good.
I'm not sure why one other poster tells you not do dive Racha Yai; I really think it's a great place to start especially for those divers who have never dived in Asia before or haven't been diving for a while.
Do your second day trip at Phi-Phi Island: Phi-Phi has very good wall diving with plenty of soft corals, fans and marine life. It's not unusual to have encounters with hawks bill turtles, banded sea kraits and zebra (leopard) sharks there.
Your third trip should be Shark Point. Shark Point is Phuket's signature dive site and a series of 3 small pinnacles completely studded with anemones, soft corals, fans and sponges. There's lots of fish life and a chance on zebra (leopard) sharks.
Shark Point is often dived in combination with Koh Doc Mai (a wall dive) and the King Cruiser Wreck. The King Cruiser Wreck is a fairly Advanced dive; the dive starts at 60 feet and the bottom is at approx. 100 feet, currents can be wicked and visibility below average. If wreck diving is not your thing choose a Shark Point day trip with the Anemone Reef instead. The Anemone Reef is a small pinnacle starting just below the surface and covered in anemones and soft corals. There's plenty of fish here, chances on zebra (leopard) sharks and quite a few moray eels as well.

Water temperature is normally well above the 80 Fahrenheit mark. Still, I do recommend you wear a shorty 3 mm wetsuit (can rent from dive shop) or full skin suit (bring your own).

Enjoy your trip and dive safely.

 

[Quero]

I work with lots of Americans here. Those who bring their own regs and consoles with SPGs and depth gauges need to be able to have some rule of thumb for interpreting the briefings for dive site depths and return pressures, etc. If you use rental gear, your gauges will match what is going on in the briefings.

Roughly:
15 psi/1bar
3000 psi/200 bar = full tank
1500 psi/100 bar = half tank
750 psi/50 bar = safety stop pressure
60 ft/18 meters = recommended OW diver depth limit
80 ft/25 meters = maximum depth for most of our local dive sites

You don't say what kind of wetsuit you normally wear with your 12 lbs of lead, but our rentals are 3mm shorties. If you were to take the same 12 lbs of lead, you would use 6 of our normal lead blocks. We call them 1 kg, but they are actually 800 g, or about 2 lbs, so just divide your normal weight by two and you should be all set, unless you normally wear a 5mm full suit, in which case you should drop a couple of kg and take just 4 pieces.

Tipping is discretionary. If you are happy with the service, leave something in the tip box for the boat crew. If your dive guide did a good job, tip him/her separately if you wish.

Give me a shout if you've got other questions!

 

[Luko]

I'm not sure why one other poster tells you not do dive Racha Yai; I really think it's a great place to start especially for those divers who have never dived in Asia before or haven't been diving for a while.

Because in 3 days you don't have time to waste on a below average site. the OP says they dive a lot, hence they don't really need a first day like they were novices. You know as I know that Racha Yai are the grounds for certifications, shallow waters and well, not so interesting spots marine life to the rest.

Again tastes vary but your pick wouldn't be mine... at all.
I would say first day try the triple dive Shark Point/anemone/Koh Doc Mai. Skip the kingcruiser because there are lots of chances there would be currents (on 4 dives on the KC I've always had currents, sometimes we just couldn't leave the deck) and random visibility.
Second day arrange for a speedboat ride to the Similans (early wake up 5AM) with why not Phuket Scuba Club, as they know well Patrick from Siam Adventures.
Third day, Phiphi why not, although except for the ghostpipefishes, I dont where see it is superior to another Phuket dive. probably you'd even like to go back to Shark reef, which is a really fine dive.

That would be my program if I came back for the 5th time to Phuket.
Otherwise yes, Kevan and Chantal from PSC are also a good pick, like Stevenl... but again, these guys are distributors they will send you to other dive operations (that's the way it works in Phuket), it might be more important to prefer or avoid certain dive operation (see my own picks in first post above).

cheers
Luko

 

[BigJeff]

I'm going to have to second the advice from Bowmouth, he's lived in and dived the area for many, many years.

I also wouldn't let current put you off the King Cruiser (if you like wrecks covered in life) - the operators do try and time the dives so the current is not too wild, and usually you can "hide" behind one side of the wreck.

 

[Bowmouth]

Because in 3 days you don't have time to waste on a below average site. the OP says they dive a lot, hence they don't really need a first day like they were novices. You know as I know that Racha Yai are the grounds for certifications, shallow waters and well, not so interesting spots marine life to the rest.

Again tastes vary but your pick wouldn't be mine... at all.
I would say first day try the triple dive Shark Point/anemone/Koh Doc Mai. Skip the kingcruiser because there are lots of chances there would be currents (on 4 dives on the KC I've always had currents, sometimes we just couldn't leave the deck) and random visibility.
Second day arrange for a speedboat ride to the Similans (early wake up 5AM) with why not Phuket Scuba Club, as they know well Patrick from Siam Adventures.
Third day, Phiphi why not, although except for the ghostpipefishes, I dont where see it is superior to another Phuket dive. probably you'd even like to go back to Shark reef, which is a really fine dive.

That would be my program if I came back for the 5th time to Phuket.
Otherwise yes, Kevan and Chantal from PSC are also a good pick, like Stevenl... but again, these guys are distributors they will send you to other dive operations (that's the way it works in Phuket), it might be more important to prefer or avoid certain dive operation (see my own picks in first post above).

cheers
Luko

Racha Yai is imo an excellent place to start for certified divers who have never dived here (in Thailand/Asia) before (like the OP).
Racha Yai offer fairly easy drift dives over sloping mainly healthy hard coral reefs with a good variety of marine life and on average good visibility too. Also Racha Yai's reefs are mostly sheltered from wind and waves making entries and exits quite easy as well. It's an excellent place for divers to get to know the "how" and "what" of Phuket's day trip diving.
And yes, Racha Yai is an area where many Open Water student divers do their training dives as well. It would be a bad idea imo to take Open Water student divers, divers who haven't been diving for a while or divers who have never dived here (in Thailand/Asia) before on their first day of diving to Shark Point. Shark Point is quite exposed to both current and wind and surface conditions can be quite rough. Because of this entries and exits can be more challenging here too. Losing one's buddy, getting separated from the group and getting disoriented underwater (complex reef structures) are more likely to occur here for first-timers than at Racha Yai.

I find your suggestion to the OP for a speedboat day trip to the Similan Islands quite interesting. How do you think they'll enjoy waking up at 05:00 AM to start a 65 Nautical Mile trip (2 hours++) on a screaming, bumping speedboat? Difficult to gear up, complicated entries & exits, poor bathroom "facilities", not much shaded area, no place to have a relaxed surface interval and lunch etc. etc.
Yes, the Similan Islands offer some of the very best diving but doing it as a speedboat day trip is just not the way (especially for people who have never dived here before). To truly enjoy and appreciate the Similan Islands one should join a multiple day Live-aboard Trip on a nice large and comfy vessel. At least, that's the way I see it.

Diving Racha Yai (sloping hard coral reefs), Phi-Phi (wall diving) and Shark Point (underwater pinnacles) with or without the King Cruiser Wreck will show them some of Phuket's best day trip diving in a safe, enjoyable and comfortable way.

At least, that's the way I see it....

 

[TimA]

Contact Kevan and Chantal from Phuket Scuba Club in Kata upon your arrival. Phuket Scuba Club is located opposite the Boathouse and a professional and friendly dive shop. They have been in Phuket for many-many years and will be able to help you with all your questions, daytrip dive tours, rental equipment etc..

Phuket Scuba Club for sure!

 

[h90]

Mrs. h90 will go to Phuket for some politic things in April as well, that means I am also there and will go diving. (estimate coming before Sonkran, leaving 17th or 18th (I didn't look in the calender yet, if that makes sense)).
Maybe also Kata beach but that's not sure yet.
I am looking for a DC which is not nursing me. I don't mind their equipment (have it myself), food, small or big boat, shower or not shower. But I want to avoid swimming at spots which are crowded with diver. I am looking for some relaxed dives without "you must not dive deeper than 30 meter, you must not dive deeper than the DM, you must not dive longer than 45 min., must not must not.....".
A DC with freedom in their minds and without a female Adolf Hitler as DM....Any recommendations??