Phuket in August

[dbatts2002]

I'm heading to Phuket in mid August and am hoping to squeeze in a dive. Staying at the JW Marriott on the west side of the island. How's the diving then? Also considering a day or to in Phi Phi and may get the dive in then. Any thoughts would be helpful! Thanks!

 

[stevenl]

In August in general the weather is fine, and diving is very good year round.

The Marriott is quite far from the departure point of the diveboats though. If possible go diving while staying closer, or use the Phi Phi option. If that is not possible you can do a diving daytrip from Phuket, just take into account you'll have an transfer of about one hour plus the transfer costs.

 

[Quero]

I agree that if you do go to Phi Phi it will be much, much more convenient to dive from there rather than from your hotel in northwestern Phuket. In addition to the transfer time and cost from JWM to the departure pier for Phuket daytrips in the southeastern part of the island, you can add in the longer (on average) boat ride from Phuket to the dive sites as compared to the travel times from Phi Phi. A large proportion of our daytrips from Phuket visit Phi Phi anyway, and obviously the boat ride from Phi Phi to a Phi Phi dive site will be comparatively short.

June, July and August tend to be okay in terms of dry weather, though there may be stormy days or stormy periods in a particular day.

 

[Batfish]

Low season weather in Phuket ... sometimes great, sometimes OK, sometimes not very nice at all! Very unpredictable, I don't like to even say what it will be doing tomorrow.

If you (dbatts2002) plan to stay in Phi Phi, then that's the best way to dive at Phi Phi.

This question brings up a point which needs to be mentioned about Phuket... Most people don't seem to realise that Phuket is so big. It's an island, but it's a big island, with an area of around 540 square kilometers. From the northern tip at the Sarasin bridge, to the southern end is over 50km. Low season often sees people staying at nice hotels in the Northwest of the island at Mai Khao Beach or Bang Tao Beach, hotels like Marriott or Sala Phuket, Outrigger Laguna or Anantara - they have great low season deals, but .. all local day trips in low season depart from Chalong, right in the south of the island. If you stay at one of the northern beach areas, you can have a 1 hour transfer each way, and substantial extra transfer costs for diving day trips. If you plan to visit Phuket for diving in the low season, or even in high season if you plan for just some day trips, best to stay closer to Chalong. Kata or Karon beaches are closest of the main beaches. There are also hotels in Chalong and Rawai area. Patong is not too far, but even from Patong the transfer can take half an hour.

 

[dbatts2002]

Thanks to all of you! Very helpful! We'll work it into the Phi Phi trip!