Thailand – Koh Tao & Samui
Koh Tao, a small granite island in the western Gulf of Thailand, is one of the busiest places in the world to learn to dive: dozens of schools run two boat trips a day to sites only minutes from Mae Haad and Sairee. Sheltered bays and boulder reefs suit beginners, while offshore pinnacles such as Chumphon, Southwest and Sail Rock (between Koh Tao and Koh Pha Ngan) draw big schools of barracuda, trevally and batfish and, in season, whale sharks. Three navy ships scuttled as artificial reefs add wreck dives. Koh Samui and Koh Pha Ngan operators run day trips to the same pinnacles and to the Ang Thong archipelago. The Gulf has its own monsoon rhythm: Koh Tao dives all year, and the wettest, roughest months are November–December – the opposite of the Andaman coast.
Dive sites
- Aow Leuk
- Chumphon Pinnacle
- Ghost Fleet
- Green Rock
- Haad Yao
- Hin Lak Ngam
- Hin Wong Pinnacle
- HTMS Hanhaksattru
- HTMS Prab
- HTMS Sattakut
- Japanese Gardens
- Junkyard
- Khom Beach
- King Kong Rock
- Ko Tae Nai
- Koh Kong Yai
- Koh Ma
- Koh Madsum
- Koh Ngam Noi
- Koh Wao
- Koh Yippon
- Laem Thian
- Lighthouse Bay
- Lighthouse Pinnacle
- Mango Bay
- No Name Pinnacle
- Pottery & Three Rocks
- Red Rock
- Sail Rock
- Sairee Reef
- Samran Pinnacle
- Shark Island
- Southwest Pinnacle
- Tanote Bay
- Twins
- Unicorn Wreck
- White Rock