Best Dive Sites in Phuket for Spotting Marine Life

Scuba diving in Thailand is a bucket list activity for any diver and we’re here to share the best dive sites in Phuket with you all especially if you’ve never been diving before!

We spent time diving around the Phuket area in Thailand and had an amazing time doing it that’s for sure. During this trip, Liam had never been scuba diving before and Amy had her open-water from diving in Mexico but needed to do a refresher.

If you’re someone that is looking for adventure and excitement then visiting these best dive sites in Phuket will definitely be the one for you. From admiring sharks, turtles, rays and plenty of stunning fish, we didn’t know where to look at times as the dive sites were teeming with life.

Why Scuba Dive in Phuket?

Phuket is a great place to stay as you can reach multiple dive spots but you need to be comfortable with longer boat journeys. Not to mention that there are also loads of good spots to eat after a long day diving because let’s face it, you will be famished after diving all day! Here’s our top reasons for why Phuket should be on your scuba diving bucket list…

Best Dive Spots in Phuket

Phuket offers plenty of different dive spots with so much to see and to do for all different levels of divers. For those divers that like adventure then there are lots of spots to take on deep diving or wreck diving in Phuket.

For us, one of our dive goals is to spot sharks when we are in the water and Phuket is a perfect place for this. Depending on the season you visit, you may get to spot black-tip reef sharks or leopard sharks as these are the most common so you’re likely going to see them all year round diving in Phuket.

 Shark Point

This dive site located 26km East of Phuket which means that you may need to prepare for a little bit of a boat journey. We personally didn’t mind this as it gave us some time to chill out both before and after our dives.

The good thing about Shark Point is that you can access it all year round but the best time to visit this dive site in Phuket is between November and April. Shark Point was named because of the amount of leopard sharks that were spotted in the area and you can also see bamboo sharks around shark point too.

Another reason you should make a trip to shark point is that all levels will be able to dive here whether you are diving 5 meters or 30 meters. However, at times there is moderate to strong currents in this area so it is worth keeping this in mind. Your dive instructor will be able to tell if you’re able to handle it and keep you right so if you’re still new to diving don’t worry about the possibility of a strong current.

King Cruiser Wreck

This dive site is for advanced divers as the wreck itself is between 30 – 35 meters deep so new divers wont be able to take part in this one unfortunately. This will just give you a reason to take your open-water advanced course so that you can tick off this amazing dive site in Phuket!

If you’re an advanced diver, we would highly recommend this dive site as its a good way to test yourself with going deeper. The wreck itself is quite wide so it’s perfect for anyone that is new to wreck diving to be able to judge distances. You can also dive inside the wreck which isn’t possible in every wreck that you dive due to the structure or age.

Just like most wrecks when diving it really does show you how amazing marine life is and how the ocean can bring life to itself if we look after it. The King Cruiser Wreck has made its own eco-system full of fish that have made the King Cruiser its home. It has almost made a kind of man-made reef and seeing things like this will make you fall in love with how amazing the ocean is.

Racha Yai & Racha Noi

These two islands are South of Phuket which is the perfect spot for all divers no matter what level you are. Often when you are doing a day trip diving in Phuket, these two islands are paired together so it’s only right for us to do the same!

Racha Yai is perfect for beginners allowing you to practice your skill you have learned, whilst Racha Noi offers a bit more for divers with more experience and helps if you want to go forward as an advanced diver.

The islands are teeming with life such as barracuda, snappers, eels, stingrays, lionfish, and turtles so you won’t be stuck when it comes to ticking off marine life. If you’re really lucky you may also get to see some rare sights like the majestic whale shark.

MV Meditation Wreck

This is a luxury yacht intentionally sunk as an artificial reef and dive site near Racha Yai. It is such a unique spot as most people won’t do this dive because it is between dive site 1 and 2 at Racha Yai island so you’ll need to be dropped off in between both spots then meet the boat at site 2.

Due to this, this dive entails a bit more work as you’re not just deep diving but you need to do it fast as you only have so long to explore the wreck and then get moving to meet the boat before you air runs out or you will have a long swim at surface.

As a result of this, you must be an advanced diver and be confident in your ability to deep dive and even then your dive instructor may still not take you to this spot for multiple reasons. This is a very unique dive for all those reasons but if you get the chance to do it and you feel confident in yourself then don’t miss the opportunity to have your very own Navy Seal moment!

Koh Bida Nok & Koh Bida Nai

In this area, there are 2 islands that make up the Koh Bida Nok Islands and Bida Nok is the larger of the two. Koh Bida Nai is such a special dive site in Phuket because it is one of the most amazing wall dives and it is also a great spot for students learning to dive and sharpen their skills too.

For us, these were one of the best dive sites in Phuket purely because we got to see 2 beautiful black-tip reef sharks which Amy even got tattooed in Phuket too!

Throughout these 2 dive sites, you will get to see lots of larger marine life such as sharks, turtles, octopus and rays can also be seen too. You can also often see larger fish hunting around this area as well which is incredible to witness.

When is the Best Time to go Diving in Phuket

When choosing to go diving in Phuket, one of the first things you look at is when is the best time to go diving. Now the good news is that it doesn’t matter when you go you can dive all year long and see loads of marine life but that being said here are some pointers to help you choose when you want to book your trip because just like everywhere there’s a better time to go.

• Best Time November to April The sea is calm, and visibility is at its best making this the ideal time for a diving trip. 
•  May to October (Monsoon Season!) Diving is still possible, and this period offers fewer crowds and cheaper prices. Even though its monsoon season you still get days that are sunny with short showers. While weather can be unpredictable you can still get a good day for diving.

Make sure that you research on the best time to visit Phuket for you not just to combine with diving but with any other activities or plans you have for your time in Phuket.

What to Expect Diving in Phuket

Diving in Phuket is our biggest highlight of our trip to Thailand in general. When you go diving anywhere in the world there’s some things that are always different like the size of boats and what they offer you on board. However, when you dive in Phuket you’ll have a nice big boat and since all the different dive companies all use the same boats you’ll also get to meet loads of people on board.

The dive experience itself is amazing with beautiful blue waters full of life. You’ll be able to see everything from small clownfish living in sea anemones to big barracuda, sharks and green turtles.

The amazing man-made eco systems to help the animals thrive in itself is an awesome thing to see as well as seeing how people are trying to save our oceans and keep the ocean full of life. Being able to dive in amazing places such as Phuket makes you realize that we need to look after our oceans so we can enjoy them the way we did on our trip to Thailand.

Things to Know For Your First time Diving

If its your first time diving and you’re reading this to see what to expect, the first thing we want to say is that you need to 100% commit to doing it as its an amazing experience everyone should have at least once in your life.

If you’re planning on doing it then we, like many others. would recommend using any dive companies registered under the PADI name as they are known across the world. No matter where you go in the world you’ll be able to jump straight back in to choosing a dive company and feel secure that they are PADI qualified dive store.

Sometimes choosing a dive shop may seem like a task in itself but don’t worry most dive companies are very friendly and happy to answer any questions that you have. If you enter a dive shop and you don’t feel at ease and comfortable raising any concerns you have, the simple answer is to leave and find another one.

• The Night Before – the number one thing you need to know is that the night before you go diving make sure you have a good dinner and get a really good sleep. Diving all day will take it out of you so rest is important and trust us, you will really feel it if you don’t!

• Sun-cream – Make sure you pack sun-cream to bring with you on the boat and reapply it after every dive. Where possible, ensure that you purchase reef-safe sun-cream so that you can look after your skin and our oceans.

• Is Food Supplied? – Find out if the boat you’ll be diving from is supplying food for you and if not make sure you pack good food to bring with you. The boats in Phuket will most likely have food on board but best to make sure especially if you’re doing short dives or shore dives.

• Pick-Up – Make sure there is a pick up for you from where you’re staying or you know where the meeting place to meet your instructor and that it is ideally close to your hotel. Diving is exhausting and trust us, you won’t want to go far.

• Enjoy your dive – It might feel a bit strange when you first hit the water but once you get going it’s like a new world!

•  Equalising Worries – some people can have trouble equalising when diving, this is something Amy has trouble with herself. This is nothing to worry about and not to put stress on yourself. Your dive instructor will take time to teach you how to equalise when diving properly and safely. Sometimes it is also about finding what works for you.

Our Dive Experience

We went to Thailand specifically for the diving and we settled on Phuket for multiple reasons. It is safe to say that it was a great decision on our part. Phuket is relatively easy to get to when travelling from the UK as a start.

Amy is a travel agent and has seen how many people were raving about this part of Thailand. At the time we planned this trip, it was done last-minute and we had to stick to a fairly tight budget but wanted to go long haul.

The biggest reason we chose Phuket in particular was the price. Granted the flights can be a little bit more expensive but if you’re smart about it then you can go from UK to Thailand on a budget. For us, we actually spent 9 hours in Istanbul before catching our next flight to take us to Thailand.

Another reason for going for Amy was that she got to tick off another destination as she got to dive in Isla Mujeres that she loved doing. As for Liam, he had never been diving before but in this one trip he went from no experience to getting his advanced diving qualification and a few specialisations too so it is doable for anyone.

We choose to go diving with All4Diving Phuket and we were assigned our dive instructor Lo Lo who was absolutely fantastic. He was calm and patient especially for Amy who has issues with equalising.

Due to our budget, we went to Thailand at the end of September for two weeks mainly for diving so we were there for monsoon season. We only had 1 bad day of rain out of the 6 that we were diving. Even then you don’t notice the rain when diving plus when you re-surface its really cool seeing the rain coming down it adds a bit of dramatic scenery to diving.

On our dive trip, we were offered different breakfast items when we got on board with a variety of choices such as sausages, cereal, salad, eggs, toast etc.

Lunch was served after our first dive where it changed daily but there was plenty of variety. After this we were given snacks, biscuits, sweet treats and so much more. You’ll also get given water, tea, coffee and cans of juice to help keep you going since diving can be tiring. After the last dive of the day, you can opt to buy beer for your journey back to shore.

We got to do our advanced diving and some specialisation courses done during this trip that we were really proud of. Most importantly, we found that even though we were trying to get the courses done for our diving, we found that half the time we forgot we were getting tested and we were just enjoying the dives.

For anyone that is on the fence about learning to scuba dive, do it in Phuket because there are so many amazing sites and we felt fully support in our experience with All4Diving!