Wreck Diving in Thailand

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iamafish

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Location
Bali
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I'm a Fish!
Just finished a nice dive on the King Cruiser Wreck between Phuket and Phi Phi Island. It was a nice dive! Then, I was searching for more wrecks in Thailand (at recreational depths) and found the HTMS Khram and HTMS Kut and other wrecks in the Pattaya area that seem to be very mature with lots of wildlife and easy passages for exploration.

What are other recommended wreck dives in Thailand at above 40 meters (max at bottom) for non-tech divers?

Also, when searching the net, I found that one dive center has a post where the guy (Robert Camp of Adventure Divers) suggests a specific spot for a new wreck placement in Pattaya (by the Thai Navy, I think):

New Pattaya Wreck Placement

They also have a map of the suggested location for the new wreck, here:

Maps of Proposed Wreck Site

Comments were requested and encouraged, but there have been few (if any) comments so far. This seems like a great topic!

Wreck diving is great fun and some of the best diving!
 
Seachart off Khao Lak.......fairly new, but already lots of life. It's still not officially approved for diving, but quite a few dive op's go there.........

There's also Boonsung Wreck here, but it's not a wreck dive as such any more. Just a pile of rubble, which was once a tin miner, placed in the middle of sandy nowhere, which means that all the life (it looks like that anyway) in the area gathers there. Awesome dive site - but not if it's a wreck dive in the traditional sense you're looking for.

Happy diving :)
Karin
 
The Hardeep(Sameasan), best wreck in the Pattaya area. You need to dive it when the current is not ripping. Adventure divers among others are great options.

Tide Charts for Sameasan


PM if you want more info. I will be diving her soon and can't wait!
 
The Hardeep(Sameasan), best wreck in the Pattaya area.


Thanks Arizona,

FYI, I have heard from a number of people that they prefer to dive the Khram in Pattaya over the Hardeep in Sameasan (but both are great dives). Some say the Hardeep is very interesting but the Khram has a lot of fun swim throughs for experienced divers, as the Khram (metal, ex-US navy ship) is still "in tact" where the Hardeep (wood, isn't it?) is in danger of collapsing further. Folks have told me that the Hardeep has some nice swim throughs as well, but shifts in the tides, currents, wind (storms) etc. could trigger some "overhead falling" in the Hardeep. I've also heard both had a lot of beautiful fish; but I also heard the large Barracudas have left the Khram and there are mostly only juveniles now.

Also, from a current perspective, the Khram sits North - South (as I have seen in maps) , so you could actually do a nice short drift dive in current on the Khram, swim back against and out of the current on the desk or through the corridors and then drift again along the entire wreck. The Hardeep maps show she lies on her side, more East-West, so diving in current would be totally different, since the current would tend to be N-S, S-N, not E-W, W-E. This would also make a very good dive, especially in strong current with water running over and around the structure!

They both sound like great wreck dives!!!!

I plan to dive the King Cruiser Wreck in Phuket a few more times and then maybe some other wrecks in South Thailand before going to the Philippines for some wrecks there.

@aquamarin - The Seachart off Khao Lak looks interesting! I tried to Google for some history and specifications and did not find anything useful. Naturally, more "mature" wrecks that have been in the water longer are more interesting, at least for me.
 
Having dived all of them, the Hardeep is the best IMO. I would not pass it up if you have the opportunity.
 
The Hardeep is indeed the best wreck there imo and it's not made out of wood! Can be very challenging if dived during the 'wrong' tidal movement.

BTW The Khram, the Kut and the Hardeep are all three positioned in a North - South position.
 
The Hardeep is indeed the best wreck there imo and it's not made out of wood! Can be very challenging if dived during the 'wrong' tidal movement.

BTW The Khram, the Kut and the Hardeep are all three positioned in a North - South position.

Interesting! I spoke to a number of divers who live and dive in Pattaya and they said the Hardeep does not run North and South. Maybe they were wrong of misinformed?

I searched for an on-line map that shows the direction, and was not able to find one with accurate N arrows; and was also told that the currents generally run bow to stern, stern-to-bow on the HTMS Khram and Kut; but the currents run across and over the side (ninety degrees different) on the Hardeep. Since the currents in Pattaya seem to generally run North-South, maybe that is why so many people have told me the Hardeep lies East-Wesk; or maybe she lies behind an island and the currents change, accordingly.

Is there a map showing the position of the Hardeep relative to the compass? I searched and could not find a definitive one.

Thanks!
 
Correction!

The map in the link limbo provided shows the Hardeep lies North-South as well.

Thanks limbo!

:D
 

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