Diving Information
Phuket
Island is an important diving center of the Andaman Sea, becase
it has many shops, on defferent beaches, particularly Patong beach
and Kata beach, selling and renting diving equipment. Ten of thousands
of divers visit Phuket every year with the express purpose of experiencing
the underwater world of the Andaman.
There
are two ways to approach diving trip around Phuket Island. Early
every trips leave for various diving spot including Raja
Island and Musang Rocks, known
as "shark point" among divers because
this is where many of friendly leopard sharks are found. This is
also the resting-place of the vessel King Cruiser that foundered
during passage from Phuket Island to Phi Phi Island. This area is
a popular dive spot for divers exploring shipwrecks.
For
those with a little more time to spare, longer journeys are possible
in larger boats offering a "live-aboard" service with comfortable
berths and all the necessary diving gear. This alternative allows
divers to explore a more extensive area of ocean with dive programs
spanning four to ten days in a single trip.
More
than 20 large boats offer live-aboard trips operating the north
Andaman Sea passage form Similan Nation park, a diving area with
one of the world's finest coral reefs, to Bonn and Tachai islets.
These islets are the domains of four-meter wide Rahu Ray - a very
friendly ray to divers.
Perhaps
no other diving spot is better known than Richaelew
Rocks. Named after a respected navy chief, divers visiting
this small group of rocks may have a close encounter with a whale
shark. The world's largest mammal, reaching fifteen meters, favors
this area because it is rich in plankton that comes sweeping in
with the waves.
It
is quite usual to see whales here on a regular basis. These giant
mammals are quite harmless, quitly feeding on single-cell plankton.
Diver from around the world can realize their dreams and swim alongside
these giants of the ocean.
The
southern Andaman route from Phuket Island, Phi
Phi Island towords the purple and red
rock piles offers another attractive diving area in the Andaman.
Here, two hundred-foot high cliffs protect an unusual range of underwater
life including the Longnose Hawkfish and Herlequin Ghost Pipefish,
which is closely related to the seahorse and said to be first discovered
around these purple rock piles in Thailand.
The
Andaman Sea diving season begin in October and runs until April.
After that, the sea comes under the influence of the tempestuous
southwestern monsoon. From May to October, divers move to the Gulf
of Thailand off the eastern coast to find protected waters.
