Is there any diving in SONGKLA, Thailand?

[seminomadic]

Gonna be in Thailand's deep south for about 4-5 days, might as well. Looks like the Perhentians will be a hassle to get to even from Hat Yai.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Quero]

Well, there's diving sort of nearby. Koh Losin in neighboring Patani province as well as Koh Kra in Nakhon Si Thammarat province (neither of which I've yet visited) are said to be very special. However there are constraints to going there. It seems you can only dive at these islands for a couple of months in mid summer, but in your favor, that happens to be NOW! The other thing is that there don't seem to be organized trips there outside chartered livaboards. No join-in trips that I know of.... Maybe somebody out Samui way has better information. I'd sure like to know!

 

[mgmonk]

. Looks like the Perhentians will be a hassle to get to even from Hat Yai.

How come? From Hat Yai, bus or train down to su ngai kolok (sungai kolok) and then walk across the border. Get a taxi to Kota Bharu. Should be fairly cheap if you haggle and don't act desperate. From KB, you can can arrange travel to Perinthians through a booking agency, a tout, or a dive shop. The season is open there now, so I can't see why you'd have a hard time.

Now, I've never dove the perinthians, so I can't say you'll enjoy it or not, but don't let transit problems be the reason you don't go.

If, on the other hand, you go the more exotic, Quero mentioned route, let us know. I'd be really curious to hear what the services and reefs were like down there.

In fact, forget Malaysia and go on an expedition for us!

 

[Quero]

I was off diving at Koh Lipe a couple of months ago, and the guy running the dive center there said he was going to try to organize something to Koh Losin by driving tanks from his shop in a pickup truck across the peninsula and hiring a boat. He said he'd let me know if it materialized so I could just drive down from Phuket. I've got my fingers crossed, and if anything comes of it, I'll extend an invitation

 

[seminomadic]

How come? From Hat Yai, bus or train down to su ngai kolok (sungai kolok) and then walk across the border. Get a taxi to Kota Bharu.

I have a small window of time to travel (actually working in Hat Yai a few days) and I'm going with my Thai wife, so I should've chosen to say 'dangerous for wifey' rather than 'hassle' - you may know the border strife there runs a Muslim / Buddhist fault line and of late they've been targeting women. It would be much easier to fly BKK->Kota Baru but now I can't.

So as you all say, time to look into more unconventional trips, and if that doesn't happen, I'll default to Li Pe, a place I've been before.

Gonna look into Quero's Losin suggestion.

Thanks!

 

[jamiemac]

Koh Losin is not really a 'Koh' (island), more of a 'hin' (rock), surrounded by a shallow coral reef, and some deeper pinnacles covering quiet a large area, Marine life is great , Napolean Wrasse, Shovel nose rays, Mantas. Terriific if you like that sort of thing.

Koh Kra is shallow, nasty vis and dynamited to bits, sorry.

We dive these places very occaisonly in between deep wreck dives further out in the Gulf.

Divemaster, the company we bought our boat from, used to run regular liveaboards to Losin from Naritiwat Province, but the political situation has made that impractical now. Looks like Losin will left in peace for a few years yet,

Losin is 200nm from Koh Tao so a round trip will be expensive .

Jamie MV Trident

 

[Bowmouth]

Koh Losin is not really a 'Koh' (island), more of a 'hin' (rock), surrounded by a shallow coral reef, and some deeper pinnacles covering quiet a large area, Marine life is great , Napolean Wrasse, Shovel nose rays, Mantas. Terriific if you like that sort of thing.

Koh Kra is shallow, nasty vis and dynamited to bits, sorry.

I must agree with Jamie.

Koh Kra's diving is absolutely nothing to get excited about and not worth a trip to. The only positive thing I've seen at Koh Kra (and Hin Sung and Hin Rlua) is a fairly healthy community of blacktip reef sharks in very shallow water. You will only be able to see them while snorkeling though; not on scuba (too much regulator noise keeps them away).

Koh Losin is nice for a day or two and offers some very nice hard coral, (lots of) batfish, great and pickhandle barracuda's, shovelnose rays, manta's, a bulky resident blacktip reef shark, brown marbled groupers, some nudi's, and on a lucky day the odd whaleshark as well.

Pattani has some other inshore diving but nothing really to write home about. Mostly poor vis, little coral and few fishies. There's this one rock where the Thai Navy used to exercise and you will find lots of unexploded ammunition sticking out of the reef. Cool!!