Where to dive in the Andaman Sea in Early September?

[hanssahni]

Hi all,

I'll be visiting Thailand with 3 other friends (all Open Water certified), and we're flying into Phuket on Sept 1st. We'll be there through Sept 4th, which leaves us2 full days for diving. I have a few questions for you experts out there:

1) Where do you recommend we set up base for the most flexibility in diving? I'm currently deciding between Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta. I like that Lanta sounds a bit more secluded, but we have one friend who might skip the dives so I'd like to be somewhere where he has access to other ways to keep occupied.

2) We're really excited to do the Hin Daeng. Is the weather likely to cooperate? Any reputable dive shops that will be able to take us out there a this time? I've read about Lanta Divers in another thread, but any others?

3) If the weather doesn't permit us to do the Hin Daeng dive, are there any others that are highly recommended?

4) Is there any sort of additional certification that would be fun to do in the area? Maybe an Advanced Open Water Diver class? Can we do that in 2 days?

Any help would be appreciated!

-Hans

 

[Quero]

Hi all,

I'll be visiting Thailand with 3 other friends (all Open Water certified), and we're flying into Phuket on Sept 1st. We'll be there through Sept 4th, which leaves us2 full days for diving. I have a few questions for you experts out there:

1) Where do you recommend we set up base for the most flexibility in diving? I'm currently deciding between Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta. I like that Lanta sounds a bit more secluded, but we have one friend who might skip the dives so I'd like to be somewhere where he has access to other ways to keep occupied.

2) We're really excited to do the Hin Daeng. Is the weather likely to cooperate? Any reputable dive shops that will be able to take us out there a this time? I've read about Lanta Divers in another thread, but any others?

3) If the weather doesn't permit us to do the Hin Daeng dive, are there any others that are highly recommended?

4) Is there any sort of additional certification that would be fun to do in the area? Maybe an Advanced Open Water Diver class? Can we do that in 2 days?

Any help would be appreciated!

-Hans

Hi Hans.

1) If your objective is to dive Hin Daeng, your only really viable option at this time of year is Koh Lanta. If you have your heart set on Lanta, I'd suggest that you go directly overland (by taxi/van) from Phuket airport on your day of arrival so that you can get the earliest possible ferry from Krabi to Lanta. You will also have to calculate time for the return. You can expect the transfer to Lanta to take about 5 hours, including ferry crossings.

2) Hin Daeng is quite a long way away even from Lanta, so the boats from Lanta to Hin Daeng are often speedboats, which are more prone to weather cancellations than the bigger boats tend to be. There will be minimum passenger loads for any trip to Hin Daeng, so there's that in addition to the weather to factor in--it could be that four of you is enough, though. If the weather is good and four divers are enough passengers for a trip out there, you might make it.

In addition to Lanta Divers, I've been out to Hin Daeng with ScubaFish in the past and found them good.

3) I really like the Koh Haa island group.

4) Since you don't have AOW, it's possible you won't be permitted to dive at Hin Daeng anyway as it can be quite a challenging dive. This will depend on shop policy. And yes, you can do AOW in two days, and you may even be able to use a Hin Daeng dive as part of your course.

Having said all of that, however, I'm also going to suggest that you also consider diving from Phuket rather than Phi Phi or Lanta. The reason I'm suggesting this is that you have very little time to play with. Getting to and from Phi Phi takes time if your flights are arriving at and departing from Phuket airport because you have to take a ferry to go to Phi Phi and there are only limited daily sailings. Most people end up having to overnight on Phuket to get the first morning ferry out. It's even worse by ferry to Koh Lanta given that it's low season. You could easily use up an entire day just for the logistics of traveling from Phuket to Lanta by ferry, getting checked in to your lodgings, etc., (and half a day for the same tasks in relation to Phi Phi). While you can't really dive Hin Daeng from Phuket with just two diving days available to you, you could easily visit some really lovely dive sites nearby and also do your AOW in those two days and still have some time to chill rather than spending all the rest of that time in transfers.

 

[hanssahni]

Thanks for the info, Quero! That's very helpful. Here's the plan I've come up with:

09/01 - Arrive in Phuket, van to Krabi, night in Krabi (unless we're lucky and catch an island ferry to Koh Lanta that day)
09/02 - Ferry to Koh Lanta, begin Advanced Open Water Diver certification
09/03 - Finish advanced open water diver certification (possibly with Hin Daeng dive - alternatively with Koh Haa island group), chill
09/04 - Ferry to Krabi, fly out from Krabi in the evening

How does that look? Any suggestions for alterations or additional stuff to do or ways to get around?

Also, how long is that ferry from Krabi to Koh Lanta gonna take?

Do I need to try making some international calls to contact one of these dive companies beforehand, or will we be alright showing up on the day and trying to dive same day?

Thanks again! It's shaping up to be a really exciting trip.

-Hans

 

[Quero]

I wouldn't make any calls, personally--email is just as good, maybe better.

During low season the passenger ferry to Lanta doesn't run from Krabi town; instead you have to use a car ferry service from a jetty further south. You can get mini-bus tickets in Krabi town from Kanokwan tour (and possibly other tour companies). The trip should take a couple of hours. If you pre-book your lodging, they will send transportation to meet the ferry, but you will have to tell them what time to expect you, so take a phone number along!

The only other thing I'd suggest is to fly into Krabi rather than into Phuket, if you can change your arrangements.

 

[hanssahni]

Yeah it seems like it would've been way more convenient to fly into Krabi, but since we're coming directly from Chiang Mai, we didn't have that option without stopping in Bangkok.

I double checked our flight times and realized we actually land in Phuket at 12:50am on Sept. 2nd, so we effectively have one less day than I thought, but we should be able to catch an early ferry I guess. Though it's sounding like a lot of transit with no rest, especially considering we'll have just completed a 5-day motorcycle loop in Chiang Mai.

If we were to nix Koh Lanta and just set up shop in Phuket like you recommend, which dives would you recommend? I checked out the website in your sig, would you guys be able to help us arrange for the AOW cert in the area with the time we have? Or maybe there's still some time to visit the closer islands?

 

[Quero]

Hmm. That does complicate things a bit with that very late arrival at Phuket.
For the AOW, from Phuket, I'd probably do one two-dive day at easy sites for the Navigation dive and one other dive, possibly the Racha islands, and one three-dive day at Shark Point or at Phi Phi for the rest.

Feel free to PM me for details.

 

[keipasjeto]

Hi,

I am jumping on this thread. We are thinking of coming to phuket for the exact same days, but thinking of just staying in phuket and diving from there (for simplicity). Do you (or anyone) have any specific recommendations for dive shops there?

Is it good diving there now, or are we better off going somewhere else for now and come back at a later date?

Are liveaboards (launching morning 2nd and coming back sunday 4th afternoon) a good alternative, and how would availability and pricing be on such short notice?

Lastly, and bit off topic question, accomodation-wise, does anyone have any specific recommendations for where to stay that has easy access to diving and mid range pricing?

Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[Quero]

Hi keipasjeto. hanssahni and his group have decided to do a short overnight trip out of Phuket. That might work for you, too.

 

[Divesanywhere]

Hello. A friend and I are flying into BKK about Sept. 28th or 29th then heading to Phuket. Want to dive for about a week and am unsure of the best plan. I have about 400 dives so I feel pretty comfortable diving in different conditions. Aiming for 2 dives/day with a little down/relax time in the afternoons. Am flexible to go to Phi Phi or other islands. Should we split the diving on different islands or just set up camp? Would not mind a place with some night life. Basically flexible for whatever makes sense or sounds good. Any tips would be appreciated!
Thanks.

 

[Quero]

If you are looking at diving for a full week, a couple of times a day, you should think about hopping from island to island. From Phuket, during the low season (which includes your target dates) you can get a good two or three days diving without much repetition, but after that, you'll be looking at repeating trips, or at least dive sites, multiple times. You could consider a liveaboard (I'd have to check schedules for you to see if they match up with your dates), but that wouldn't give you any down time or nightlife opportunities (which is why I haven't looked at the sailing dates).

What I'd suggest is splitting your time between Phuket and Koh Lanta. From Phuket do a couple or few days, travel to Lanta over one day, and from there do a couple or few more days at dive sites further south that you can't reach from Phuket on day boats.