Phuket in July, How is diving?

[Marylene]

Dear divers,

I will go for a family vacation to Phuket, for 3 weeks in July 2005(But I am the only diver in the family). We will be staying at the Laguna Beach Resort.

As an ex-instructor (non active) I am looking forward for this vacation. I know it will not be perfect (probably low visibility) but originally from Montreal Canada, anything would be better than back home!!!

I read a few post, but it would be kind of you if you can answer my question?????!!!!!

What would be the water temperature?
What type of wet-suit do I need? (I must say that even if I am a Canadian girl...I hate cold water & wheater; I actually live in UAE with +45C and I totally enjoy it!)

Any recommendation for daily trip sites? and operator? Any must do sites?

Again, thank you for your time to answer me....

 

[buksida]

I'm sure a lot of the guys here can answer this far better than me as they're based in Phuket but I'll give you my thoughts. I did a few local dives in May last year and the viz wasnt bad (about 12-16 meters), temperature is around 27-29 degrees so if you're from Canada a 3mm shorty will suffice. All depends on local weather conditions at the time really.

Local sites I'd reccommend are the King Cruiser, Koh Dok Mai and Shark Point (can't fail to see leopard sharks here). I have never dived Racha Yai/Noi but theres a reoprt on here: http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=98183 that may help.

More info on Phuket dive sites can be found here: http://www.asiadivesite.com/thailand-dive-sites/phuket/

 

[JonnieB]

Expect it to be wet both below and above the water. You and your family will be vacationing in Phuket during the middle of the monsoon season. At least you should be getting a good deal on you hotel package!!! Expect it to rain most every day at least for part of the day...and then it should be okay. However, as it's monsoon season, expect the unexpected.

As to the diving, I assume you will be doing day-dives only. There are many excellent sites within the day-trip range of Phuket. Most boats leave from Chalong Bay habour, which is on the far south-east tip of the island. Surin beach/Laguna resort area is at almost the opposite end of the island...the far north-west. Be that as it may, many dive operators offer return transfers to your hotel anywhere in the island as part of their diving packages. However, the ride to and from will take you about 45 minutes each way.

Some of the day-sites offer as much colour, fish and inverterbrate life as you will find in the world famous Similians Islands (which are mostly dived as liveaboard trips). One of my favorites is Shark Point. I was just in Phuket for a week last week and saw 2 leapord sharks (1.5 to 2 meters). They are quite tame here and allowed me to approach very close as they were both resting on a sandy bottom. There are also many scorpion fish, some stonefish here (saw a beautiful 1' purple one last week), lionfish, map puffers, porcupine fish, beautiful soft corals, and large schools of snappers. Macro is also good at this site.

Another favorite site is Ko Doc Mai (flower island) near Shark Point. A beautiful wall dive covered with hard and soft corals, invertabrates, eels, and typical reef fish. This is also a great nite dive.

There is also the King Crusier Wreck in the area. I dived it once and was not that impressed but wrecks are not my favorite thing anyway. If you like wrecks, you may enjoy it more. The Racha Island sites are average, certainly not in the class of Shark Point/Doc Mai IMHO. The local sites around Ko Phi Phi (also done on Phuket day-trips) are nice too. Walls and sandy/rocky bottoms. Sometimes sharks, usually barracuda (large schools and also large individuals), trevelly, turtles.

All these sites are pretty good considering how accessible they are. Again, be sure to dive Shark Point and Doc Mai, however.

As to operators, there are dozens on Phuket. For daytrips, I have used Seebees diving and have been very satisfied. Their day-boat, the Excalibur II is the largest and most comfortable I have seen in Phuket. They also have good prices during the low-season. They serve full breakfast, lunch and dinner (for Super-Sunday 4-dive day) on board, as well as snacks and it is all very good. The DM's here are very safety concious and conduct excellent pre-dive briefings. The management is German and the operation is run with typical German efficiency and safety standards. The clientile is probably 80% German and among the passengers, German is mostly spoken but all dive briefings are done in English.

I will be posting a report on my recent trip soon so keep a watch out for it.

Happy Diving.

 

[RSdiver]

Weather can be factor, but diving "inside" from Phuket to Koh Lanta is a great recommendation (above).
The SImilan and Surin Islands are more exposed and a bit far, but sound like they won't fit into your vacation desires anyhow.