vondo
Contributor
I thought, especially after the tsunami of a year+ ago that I would give my impressions of Koh Phi Phi and the diving there. I was there the week of Feb. 13.
First, the good news. The diving there is very good. The dive sites show no signs, to my eyes, of damage. I really enjoyed diving in this part of Thailand and I thought the diving was as good or better than my experience in Belize (Caye Caulker). My only experience outside the U.S. was in Tonga, but I can't really compare to that since that was right after being certified. Everything was too new and amazing...
Visibility around Koh Phi Phi is not what I expected; there is a lot of plankton in the water so viz was "only" 30-60 feet or so. In general there is a lot of underwater life. I especially enjoy seeing anemone fishes and giant clams (brownish lipped ones in Thailand) that one doesn't see in the Caribbean. We saw hawksbill turtles almost every day. Other highlights of the trip included leopard sharks, seahorses, ghost pipefish, various shrimp, and types of moray's I hadn't seen before. No sightings of manta rays or whale sharks.
I don't have a lot of experience diving wrecks, but the King Cruiser there is fantastic in my book. It's large and after only about 10 years it is filled with life. It is already starting to collapse on itself, but it covered with soft corals, fish, etc. Dropping to the screws and swimming through a corner of the car deck was a great experience. The cleaning wrasses up by the wheel house sure liked my ears, though.
The other dives which are away from Phi Phi a ways that I did were Hin Maeng and Hin Daeng. Both of these are also fantastic dives.
Surface intervals were long, about 1.5 -2 hrs, spent tied up where you could snorkel, sunbathe, and have your lunch. First dives start a bit before 9:00, second dives around 11:30. Very relaxing.
The last bit of unqualified good news is that I completed my AOW and can now move into that illustrious category of a diver with 51-100 dives.
Ok, now the not so good news. Sticking with diving, many of the shops that are there are really struggling. As a guess, I would say that Phi Phi has about a dozen dive shops and two have opened since the tsunami, I am told. I went with Viking Divers. They are a class act and I would would recommend them to anyone. Very friendly, but not too busy. There were days I was their only client. We (me and the DM) hooked up with another boat, but considering that they have an owner, two instructors, and three DMs, this can't be good for them. It was also difficult to arrange trips further afield. It took days of Phil (the owner) calling around to all the dive shops to finally put together a boat with about 6 clients from 4 shops to get in a dive at Hin Maeng and Hin Daeng.
Also not so great is that we didn't do a big selection of local diving. We went to Bida Nok and Phi Phi Ley several times each. Bida Nok is small enough that you can go halfway around in one leisurely dive.
So from all this, you would think Koh Phi Phi was a ghost town, right? Not even close. Apparently they have built back about half of the lodging, about 1700 rooms (in a 2km x 0.5km area). There are large sections of the island that were scoured clean by the tsunami and those are still deserted, but the 2/3 or so that is there is crowded. As I said, the number of dive shops assumes pre-tsunami occupancy levels to be profitable. There are also tons of e-mail places, massage parlors, restaurants, shops, etc. None are very busy because there are so many of them. The streets were always crowded. Combined with the limited number of local diving sites, the sites themselves were pretty crowded, even if the boats were not so full. When you surfaced there were usually about 5-6 boats in the area looking for their divers.
The beach (on the side away from the dock) was not so crowded and is one long expanse of open beach with a few refreshment stands. I get the impression it wasn't like this before, but more built up.
So, Koh Phi Phi was not the island paradise I was hoping to find. I was hoping for a smaller, laid back place like Caye Caulker. On the other hand, the diving is great there, the beach is nice enough, and it is only going to become more built-up and crowded in the future. If you are thinking of going, you should go ASAP.
For background, Phi Phi lost many, many people in the tsunami. Around a thousand (plus or minus a few hundred) were never found. I imagine everyone on the island lost friends and family and all have stories they could tell. I heard a couple of those stories, but I basically didn't ask "What happened to you?" or questions like that. These people are living with a lot of pain and I wasn't inclined to bring it up to satisfy my own curiousity.
Ok, this is long enough as it is. If anyone wants more info or to hear about the two weeks of non-diving I did in Thailand or Malaysia, just ask.
First, the good news. The diving there is very good. The dive sites show no signs, to my eyes, of damage. I really enjoyed diving in this part of Thailand and I thought the diving was as good or better than my experience in Belize (Caye Caulker). My only experience outside the U.S. was in Tonga, but I can't really compare to that since that was right after being certified. Everything was too new and amazing...
Visibility around Koh Phi Phi is not what I expected; there is a lot of plankton in the water so viz was "only" 30-60 feet or so. In general there is a lot of underwater life. I especially enjoy seeing anemone fishes and giant clams (brownish lipped ones in Thailand) that one doesn't see in the Caribbean. We saw hawksbill turtles almost every day. Other highlights of the trip included leopard sharks, seahorses, ghost pipefish, various shrimp, and types of moray's I hadn't seen before. No sightings of manta rays or whale sharks.
I don't have a lot of experience diving wrecks, but the King Cruiser there is fantastic in my book. It's large and after only about 10 years it is filled with life. It is already starting to collapse on itself, but it covered with soft corals, fish, etc. Dropping to the screws and swimming through a corner of the car deck was a great experience. The cleaning wrasses up by the wheel house sure liked my ears, though.
The other dives which are away from Phi Phi a ways that I did were Hin Maeng and Hin Daeng. Both of these are also fantastic dives.
Surface intervals were long, about 1.5 -2 hrs, spent tied up where you could snorkel, sunbathe, and have your lunch. First dives start a bit before 9:00, second dives around 11:30. Very relaxing.
The last bit of unqualified good news is that I completed my AOW and can now move into that illustrious category of a diver with 51-100 dives.
Ok, now the not so good news. Sticking with diving, many of the shops that are there are really struggling. As a guess, I would say that Phi Phi has about a dozen dive shops and two have opened since the tsunami, I am told. I went with Viking Divers. They are a class act and I would would recommend them to anyone. Very friendly, but not too busy. There were days I was their only client. We (me and the DM) hooked up with another boat, but considering that they have an owner, two instructors, and three DMs, this can't be good for them. It was also difficult to arrange trips further afield. It took days of Phil (the owner) calling around to all the dive shops to finally put together a boat with about 6 clients from 4 shops to get in a dive at Hin Maeng and Hin Daeng.
Also not so great is that we didn't do a big selection of local diving. We went to Bida Nok and Phi Phi Ley several times each. Bida Nok is small enough that you can go halfway around in one leisurely dive.
So from all this, you would think Koh Phi Phi was a ghost town, right? Not even close. Apparently they have built back about half of the lodging, about 1700 rooms (in a 2km x 0.5km area). There are large sections of the island that were scoured clean by the tsunami and those are still deserted, but the 2/3 or so that is there is crowded. As I said, the number of dive shops assumes pre-tsunami occupancy levels to be profitable. There are also tons of e-mail places, massage parlors, restaurants, shops, etc. None are very busy because there are so many of them. The streets were always crowded. Combined with the limited number of local diving sites, the sites themselves were pretty crowded, even if the boats were not so full. When you surfaced there were usually about 5-6 boats in the area looking for their divers.
The beach (on the side away from the dock) was not so crowded and is one long expanse of open beach with a few refreshment stands. I get the impression it wasn't like this before, but more built up.
So, Koh Phi Phi was not the island paradise I was hoping to find. I was hoping for a smaller, laid back place like Caye Caulker. On the other hand, the diving is great there, the beach is nice enough, and it is only going to become more built-up and crowded in the future. If you are thinking of going, you should go ASAP.
For background, Phi Phi lost many, many people in the tsunami. Around a thousand (plus or minus a few hundred) were never found. I imagine everyone on the island lost friends and family and all have stories they could tell. I heard a couple of those stories, but I basically didn't ask "What happened to you?" or questions like that. These people are living with a lot of pain and I wasn't inclined to bring it up to satisfy my own curiousity.
Ok, this is long enough as it is. If anyone wants more info or to hear about the two weeks of non-diving I did in Thailand or Malaysia, just ask.
