Thailand - Pattaya or Phuket?

[boyfromoz]

I will be passing thru Thailand in July and want to fit in a few dives,hopefully including a wreck dive. I got my advanced on Koh Tao last year. Ive heard that marine life of NE coast of Thailand can be disappointing so I would appreciate any recommendations.
Thanks

 

[whitehead]

This question keeps popping up - I suppose the politest way to answer is that if you are interested in diving then there are better places (much much much better) but if you are specifically interested in Pattaya for other reasons (dive training or tarts seem to be the most common reasons) then why not.

 

[jagfish]

Yeah
I've done about 10 days total of diving in Pattaya, and the best diving experiences for me were two wrecks, the Hardeep and the Khram. All the other spots I have been to have really great coral, but the vis can be pretty bad. I have been there in January and April/May.

JAG

 

[ninjamuzo]

Unless you are interested in and can get out to the Khram wreck then the better diving in the Pattaya area is down at Samesan where the smaller and older HardDeep wreck can be found.

This is not the right time of year for the Phuket side thought you could get lucky is the weather is good. This time of year is typically the Ko Tao area which you have already done.

 

[ssra30]

Pattaya is alright but the poor viz generally prevent it from being a significantly better dive sites. If you are interested in macro, weird unusual stuffs such as sea moth, sea apple, pipefish occasional seahorses etc Pattaya has a lot more to offer than Koh Tao area.

 

[stevenl]

In general Phuket has nice diving, with the Similans and Hin Daeng/Muang being the highlights. But also the other daytrips are worthwhile, with nice macro life (sea horses, ghost pipefish etc, bigger life like jacks, sharks, tuna, turtles and all the normal reeffish. And there even is a wreck, the King Cruiser. As a wreck I don't find it that interesting, but it really is a lovely divesite with lots of lionfish, scorpionfish, hunting jacks, morays, sharks.

Regarding the weather: fortunately the viz is not influenced very much by rains, but the diving is better of course with sunshine. And it can be rainy and it can be sunny, there are no trustworthy weather forecasts. But whole year round diving is good.