Best Diving in Thailand - Top 8
Koh Tao, Thailand
I lived and worked on Koh Tao as a Dive Master for a year. Getting your open water certification is on the list of things to do for most young people back packing through Thailand. More open water certs are completed on Koh Tao than any other location in the world. Koh Tao is a small vibrant island in the Gulf of Thailand. Koh Tao has good diving, great night life, and plenty of topside activities to do.
The Diving: There are good things and bad things about diving on Koh Tao. First we will start off with some of the negative aspects of diving Koh Tao. Koh Tao dive sites can be very crowded. Some of the larger resort boats hold close to 50 divers. Dive sites like White Rock, Twins, Japanese Gardens can have a dozen boats onsite all at once. Sometimes dive sites look like parking lots. Also due to the fact that most people are on Koh Tao to learn to dive, there is a huge number of beginner divers everywhere. Now for the good things. Due to the fact there is a huge number of dive ops, all of which are very different, it's easy to find one that offers what you are looking for. There are small shops with small boats, big shops with big boats, etc. Also the diving is cheap, really cheap. Due to all the competition on the island, courses and diving prices are extremely low and affordable. There is also a variety of dive sites for both beginners and more experienced divers. Notable sites are Laem Thian with great swim throughs, and geographical features, frequented by black tips. Chumpon Pinnacle was my favorite site, which is frequented by bull sharks, whale sharks, huge schools of fish, tornadoes of barracuda, and giant groupers. White rock, which can be crowded at certain times, is a nice reef with lots of life, no shortage of morays and blue spotted sting rays. Sail Rock is also easily accessible from Koh Tao, and Sail Rock is without a doubt the best site in the Gulf of Thailand. Sail Rock is frequented by whale sharks, bull sharks, huge schools of fish, big schools of barracuda and Trevally, as well as a few resident giant morays. Turtles can be seen on the island but are surprisingly scarce, and also you WILL NOT see a manta ray in the gulf of Thailand. There are also a couple of wrecks on the island that were sunk to make artificial reefs. The diving on Koh Tao is good, but it is not world class, and is even not as good as the diving on the West Coast of Thailand. But it is a great island that is lots of fun and definitely worth visiting.
Topside: Koh Tao has a large variety of restaurants and resorts. Everything from 5 start luxury resorts, to dirt cheap hostels. Koh Tao also has a great night life and huge party scene. Lots of bars, and drinks are very cheap. Choppers is an Aussie owned sports bar on the island that opens early and they show NFL games, Soccer, Baseball, Cricket, everything, so you can still watch your favorite sports games while on the island. Rock Climbing is another popular topside activity on the island, companies like Good Times Adventures offers a variety of activities other than diving. Koh Tao is also a great place to learn free diving. There are a few free diving schools on the island with great instructors.
Getting to the island is also relatively easy. From Bangkok you can book transport down from a few different companies, such as SongSerm, and Lompraya. Buses run from Bangkok to Chumpon, where you board a ferry that takes you to either Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, or Koh Samui. You can also fly from Bangkok to Koh Samui, and then jump on a ferry or speed boat over to Koh Tao.
