Where are the whalesharks in Thailand?

[sjonnie]

Hello everbody,

I will be spending my holiday in Thailand this year from mid May till mid June. I wonder what the best diveplace is that time of the year. Especially i would like to see and maybe dive with a whaleshark.
My question is: What is the best place in May and June: the Andaman Sea (Similan, I heard that it is closed maybe) or the Gulf of Thailand (i.e. Koh Tao).

Thank you in advance for your response

Ruud
a Dutch dive fanatic!

 

[ssra30]

May to June is a little late for the Similan and it may be closed as you already know.
Beside the Similan/Richeliue, there are some possibility of seeing whale sharks in south andaman sea (Phi Phi, Hin Maung, Hin Daeng) or Koh Tao.
However, I think whaleshark sighting in Thailand is a bit more sporadic nowaday.
For Koh Tao, the best time to see whaleshark is April and August and occasional sighting in between. Last year, there were 3 whalesharks around Koh Tao in April and there were daily sighting for almost 2 weeks straight during the 2nd half of April.

Some friends also saw whale sharks around Phi Phi at about the same time.

I am not sure what is your chance of seeing whale shark in May/June. I think either Koh Tao or south Andaman sea is worth a shot. I would recommend South Andaman as you will get better diving there even if you don't see a whale shark.

 

[Zippsy]

In direct answer to your question: you are far more likely to see whalesharks (or at least parts of them) in soup bowls in Bangkok - or more likely, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing, etc. Sad, isn't it?

ssra30 is right. Don't come to Asia if you only want to see whalesharks. Come for the great diving and count yourself very fortunate if you see one.

 

[DORSETBOY]

For Koh Tao, the best time to see whaleshark is April and August and occasional sighting in between. Last year, there were 3 whalesharks around Koh Tao in April and there were daily sighting for almost 2 weeks straight during the 2nd half of April.

Sitings on Koh Tao can be very sporadic, on the upside when they do turn up they are known to stay around for several days at a time. Seems to correlate with high densities of plankton in the water which tends to occur at times of full moon as that's when most coral will release their juvenile stages.

2 best places to see them on Koh Tao are either chumpon pinnacle or southwest pinnacle. Both of these are deep water sites several miles from the island itself and all dive shops will go to one or the other nearly every day.

If seen on chumpon pinnacle the prob can be that there is often a layer of turbid water at approx 27m below which any whale shark can dive and get to depths of max 40+m.

Given the time of year that you are going I would recommend giving Koh Tao a try anyway on the off chance that there might be sightings.

pm me if you need any further details or info on accom / dive schools.

 

[SinoScuba]

sjonnie,

I recommend BuddhaView Divers on Koh Tao. I will be taking a group to Koh Tao in early April in hope of catching the whale sharks then. If not, there's still enough good diving for a week's dive trip.

SinoScuba

 

[DORSETBOY]

sjonnie,

I recommend BuddhaView Divers on Koh Tao. I will be taking a group to Koh Tao in early April in hope of catching the whale sharks then. If not, there's still enough good diving for a week's dive trip.

SinoScuba

Buddha View have good boats but they're also large boats which are normally full... lots of divers freq means whale sharks being scared off. Smaller operators can be a better option if they tend to leave earlier / later than the bigger boats, thus getting to the dive sites when the bigger operations aren't there. A good example would be nangyuan divers who are also based 20 mins closer to chumpon pinnalce than the operators leaving the pier at Mae Haad and whom tend to leave chumpon pinnacle dive site as the other operators turn up.

 

[scubashooter]

If you want whalesharks for sure in South East Asia, Donsol Bay in the Philippines and Christmas Island(the australian one!) is much better, esp around March - June.
As for the whalesharks in Thailand. There's been a sudden resurgence of activity in the last 2 years after having dismal sightings over the previous 3 years. Probably the Indian government intervention of hunting whalesharks has helped.
May-June is a bit late for the dive season in the Andaman. There may be a liveaboard that will still run out to Richelieu during late may but the weather can be tough and the seas rough. Be warned that the dive operators have been known to switch boats on you at the last moment due to whatever circumstances(usually they can't fill their own boat with enough people to make it worthwhile to run so they book you onto another one that's running a similar itinerary), and they won't tell you til you arrive. Reserve your right to get your money back (good luck with that though).
Diving in the Gulf of Siam is definitely not as good as the Andaman. The pinnacles of Chumporn and Southwest are good but is it worthwhile to go to a place with only 2-3 good divesites and the rest very mediocre? Also the dive boats in Koh Tao, Phangan and Samui are generally not up to the standards of Phuket, in equipment or service.

 

[DORSETBOY]

Just remembered a story I heard about whalesharks on koh tao... apparently a certain instructor working in a certain diveshop thought it would be funny to say over the radio that they'd seen a whaleshark on the morning dive at chumpon. Another dive boat operation heard this, rushed up an advert guaranteeing to see w.s and took out a packed boat the next day at v.high prices... funnily enough there was no w.s to be found.

Will spare the embaressment of naming the parties involved!

 

[iani]

Kingfisher based in Patong try to run boats to Similan year round, they have a couple of high speed catamarans, I believe a lot get cancelled due to the weather conditions in the low season but you might be lucky.

There haven't been many Whale Shark sitings this year from what I've heard. FWIW I prefer low season diving off Phuket, the lower diver numbers make for a more pleasant boat trip and a better chance of seeing some good stuff.

Ian

OWSI 477955

 

[AndyMoreno]

I spent two weeks on Koh Tao last April, 20-odd dives and a total of 5 ws sightings. At one point we saw two different whalesharks almost collide... Me and my buddy were diving on our own most of the time and we spent about 6 minutes completely alone with one of them.

On one of our sunrise dives we were a group of 7 divers spending a whole dive with one of them, 45 whooping minutes.

Hope you catch them.
/A