Thailand Diving?

[hapadiver]

I would highly recomment Koh Lanta. It is in Krabi Province, just south of Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands. You can dive the famed Hin Daeng and Hin Muang (Red Rock and Purple Rock) the easiest from there, and it is a very pleasant place to stay with a wide variety of accommodations for most any budget. You can also dive the Phi Phi sites from here.
Long Beach has a particularly nice stretch of sand. Lanta Diver, www.lantadiver.com, is an excellent establishment. They have several boats going to different dive destinations each day, tasty food and a very professional staff. The owners, who are Swedish, are lovely people.
I have been diving all over Thailand, on both coasts for several years, including a liveaboard to the Similan and Surin Islands. If I only had a few days, I would definitely go hear. Loads of leopard sharks, manta sightings, whale shark sightings, great nudibranchs. These two sites are a photographer's dream.
You can get to Koh Lanta by flying from Bangkok to Krabi. The people at Lanta Diver are very helpful. They can organize transport and help you find accommodation.
Have a great time!
Hapadiver

 

[Helipilot]

Thanks for all the great suggestions everyone, now I just have to make up my mind. I'm sure no matter where I go I will have a great time.

 

[SingaporeSara]

Hello Helipilot

The owner of the dive center that I am training at is a Canadian from Vancouver Island. He is from Victoria and he and his Japanese wife Megumi from the PADI Rescue Diver vidio own Phuket Pro Dive here in Phuket. Phuket is like Victoria as it is the most Western Island in the country and so nice that it is the retierment capital of Thailand for Westerners from around the world.

My family started diving with this husband and wife team 6 years ago when my dad wanted all of us to become certified divers as a family thing we could do together. Now that I have been working in Phuket as a teacher I spend a lot of my free time with them and I have dived at most of the places that Hapadiver recomended to you in his mail. You can get more detailed info about the diving here on the West Coast by looking at their web site http://www.phuket-scuba-diving.com or you can send Richard the Canadian owner an e-mail at richard@phuket-scuba-diving.com.

feel free to send me a PM if their is anything personal I can help you with about Thailand.

 

[SingaporeSara]

I'm going to Bangkok for about 5 days and wanted to get some diving in as a side trip. Any suggestions for a limited amount of time and easy transport in/out of Bangkok? Where is the best diving in Thailand? Is Phuket still good after the tsunami? What about departing out of Ranong? Is there some place with a fast train in/out of Bangkok? I was thinking about a 2 day liveaboard trip. What is the diving like compared to some place like Cozumel (which I've been to)? Thanks for the suggestions!

Hello Bober99

The owners of the shop that I am doing my PADI diving training with spent 10 years living and workingin the Caribean Islands. They could give you a very accurate comparison regarding geografhical diving locations. I am not sure about the transportation info as I have only been living and working in Phuket for a year and a half. If you contact Richard or Megumi they can give you some realy good info if you contact them direct at info@phuket-scuba-diving.com or you could check out their website first at http://www.phuket-scuba-diving.com I know that they do daily 2 tank dives at the Similans and can also do the shorter trips you are looking for.

I hope this will help with your Thailand dive travel planing.

 

[Batfish]

Phuket is like Victoria.....

Now there's something you don't hear every day!

 

[Helipilot]

Just returned from my trip to Koh Lanta Thailand. What an amazing time!! Did a total of 3days/6dives with Lanta Divers www.lantadiver.com I highly recommend them, they are very professional, have good equipment and a great staff. Never more than 4 divers to a DM. I dove all 3 of their regular sites, Hin Daeng/Mouang, Koh Bida and Koh Ha. At Koh Bida I saw my first whale shark, a beauty at 10-15 meters long. What an experience to have this huge animal just cruise right by me and circle around and around. Also a leopard shark, black tip shark, sea turtle and more angel fish, scorpion fish, morays etc. than I can count. Koh Lanta itself was very quiet, still feeling the effects of the Tsunami as a lot of resorts had very few guests. Some were offering cut rates. The dive sites were still quite busy I thought, every site had at least 5 boats or more everyday. Also this was my first dive with my new Zeagle Brigade BCD from Larry at www.scubatoys.com I found at first that it did tend to want to push you forward but that was because I started with way too much weight. Once I got the weight figured out and didn’t inflate so much it was fine. But as Larry said, do you want a BCD that is good on the surface or one that is good underwater. And this one is great underwater.

P.S. when at Lanta Divers ask for Khun Bow, she can make a reservation with the whale shark for you