Pattaya in May 2007

[jonxplorer]

Folks,
I am planning a diving trip in May and one of my options is Pattaya Thailand. Is pattaya good to dive in May and what kind of viz can I expect.
What would you recommend as the best dive destination in Thailand (it would also be helpful if you could add a few details on the type of diving thats good there i.e. wreck, fish life etc)? Thanks.

Cheers!
Jonathan

 

[LOOPS]

If you go diving in Pattaya... look into going out with Mermaids. They are a great group to go out and dive with. Good food, Great diving, So much fun!

 

[jonxplorer]

Thanks mate. Those are actually the folks I have enquired with so if I go to Pattaya that is where I will dive. What I am trying to find out is if Pattaya is the best place to go to in Thailand.

 

[h90]

If you go diving in Pattaya... look into going out with Mermaids. They are a great group to go out and dive with. Good food, Great diving, So much fun!

Well Mermaids or the other does not matter much I think. In Pattaya they all offer the same for the same price. Mermaids is sure the biggest one but the other aren't bad as well.
Anyway for good diving I wouldn't recommend Pattaya, nearly every other place in Thailand is better.

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

Hello Jon,

Diving in May can be hit and miss as it is one of our two short rainy seasons. Mid April to Mid-May is the wettest, but this year we are experiencing a La Nina condition and that may mean rain into June.

Rain actually IMPROVES visability some days, as it pushes all the crap in the water down. But, of course, storms churn up the sea, so, as I said. Hit and Miss.

As far as dive centers, I'd of course encourage you to choose Aquanauts. We are Pattaya's top 5-Star IDC yet operate a much smaller and more personal service than Mermaids. While we, like Mermaids, have an active instructor and DM training business, we still place a large amount of importance on fun dive trips by our holiday customers and strive to make it a completely enjoyable day out.

Before choosing whom to dive with, I encourage you to do some searches right here on Scubaboard. There are a number of threads here describe the experience of diving on the Mermaids intern boats as well as with us.

Our website, by the way, is www.AquanautsDive.com. Hope to hear from you!

 

[sailmaryann]

jonathan, forget pattaya as far as diving is concerned. that side of the gulf is just not very nice, period.
in may, unfortunately, the western side is on the wrong side (north-west monsoon), which is apitty as it is definitely the best diving location in thailand.
a good alternative is the western side of the gulf, i.e. koh samui, and more so koh tao. weather will be nice, sea viz excellent, and it';s a good second choice any time to the similans. one advantage is you can do either liveaboard (which is recommended if you want to go as far as tao), or land based excursions (even samui has good dive sites). pattaya however is definitely not on my list of favourites even for the night life as it tends to be a bot over the top.... but then we only talking diving...right?

 

[neuvo]

Slight correction to sailmaryann:

You can go to Koh Tao without a liveaboard. There are many hotels and diveshops on the island. Koh Tao is less developed than Koh Samui, which may be better or worse depending on your travel preferences. Personally, I prefer Koh Tao.

 

[Crowley]

Okay lets knock this on the head. I live and work and therefore dive in Pattaya and no, it's not the best dive site in the world however it's not completely worthless.

In May we are entering the rainy season in the Gulf so it can be a bit hit-and-miss. A couple of days ago on the wreck of the Suddhadip (Hardeep) Steamship we had over 20 metres viz. A week previously I was there and we had about 5! Worst viz is during the Monsoon which in Pattaya hits hardest in October/November.

If you're looking for perfect blue oceans and 40m viz then the Andaman sea is the place to go, out of Phuket and the similans. It is, however end-of-season so the "best" dive sites may be unreachable. I've dived similans in early May and it was stormy and choppy but still brilliant.

Best diving this time of year (as has been said) is Koh Tao, or Koh Samui.

There is some great diving in Pattaya - it's not the best viz but we have three excellent wrecks - HTMS Khram, HTMS Kut and the Hardeep - all between 26 and 30m. Koh Rinn, Koh Man Wichai, North Rock are all excellent dive sites.

Any other info you need just post back

Cheers.

C.

 

[pakman]

Well if the diving disappoints, umm, there's always the topside entertainment...






of course I was referring to the golf courses...

 

[Ex-Aquanaut]

Okay lets knock this on the head. I live and work and therefore dive in Pattaya and no, it's not the best dive site in the world however it's not completely worthless.

In May we are entering the rainy season in the Gulf so it can be a bit hit-and-miss. A couple of days ago on the wreck of the Suddhadip (Hardeep) Steamship we had over 20 metres viz. A week previously I was there and we had about 5! Worst viz is during the Monsoon which in Pattaya hits hardest in October/November.

If you're looking for perfect blue oceans and 40m viz then the Andaman sea is the place to go, out of Phuket and the similans. It is, however end-of-season so the "best" dive sites may be unreachable. I've dived similans in early May and it was stormy and choppy but still brilliant.

Best diving this time of year (as has been said) is Koh Tao, or Koh Samui.

There is some great diving in Pattaya - it's not the best viz but we have three excellent wrecks - HTMS Khram, HTMS Kut and the Hardeep - all between 26 and 30m. Koh Rinn, Koh Man Wichai, North Rock are all excellent dive sites.

Any other info you need just post back

Cheers.

C.

Well said my Mermaidian friend. (I think "hit and miss" was exacly what I said.)

If you're into wrecks, then Pattaya is your best choice.