Diving in Thailand: description and features of the service, the best places for diving, reviews of tourists

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Thailand is a very beautiful country with beautiful beaches and clear sea. It is worth going to it for those who are looking for a vacation place where you can not only relax, lying on the sand, but also go diving. In Thailand, on the coast of the Andaman Sea, there are the most famous dive sites. You need to go to Phuket, Khao Lak and Krabi - it is there that you will find famous diving sites: the Similan Islands, Phi Phi, Lanta Yai and Hin Daeng, whose coastal waters are characterized by beautiful vegetation and a large species diversity of fish.

Types of diving

There are several types of diving: diving and swimming underwater. Professional diving includes technical, scientific and military diving. These types can be de alt with by real professionals in their field, who have good physical and psychological training. They use special equipment and have the skills to dive to sufficient depths.

The article is about amateur or recreational diving. In Thailand, and not only, this species is positioned as a safe holiday and harmless entertainment. Is it so? Perhaps, but only an ordinary tourist without training will not be allowed to dive. Firstly, he should not have he alth restrictions, and secondly, he must be trained in one of the dive centers, which are enough in resort areas.

Diving center services

On the island of Phuket you can learn diving in one of the best centers in Thailand. The dive center, in addition to training, organizes dive tours and dive safaris. If you want to diversify your vacation and fulfill your old dream (scuba diving), Phuket Dive Center will help you with this. What does the center guarantee? Safety first. Diving will only take place with an instructor. Next - high-quality training in all the necessary skills of being under water and, of course, interesting dives.

Study starts with a one-day beginner program and a trial dive. In the classroom, the instructor demonstrates everything that needs to be done under water, what commands and how to give, and the group must repeat everything unquestioningly. Under water jokes are bad. You need to memorize everything on dry land. In the training pool, one of the classes is led by a diving instructor (pictured above).

Not all beginners succeed in their first dive. Perhaps for some it will be the last. But it's better to do it, to try than to be afraid, and after a long timeregret it. From the reviews of tourists who have been trained at the dive center, you can find out what is best to do the first dives in the waters of the shallow Gulf of Thailand.

Here, on the courses, amateurs with some experience under their belts improve their diving level. Training provides an opportunity to receive a professional certificate.

Price for dive centers

I must say right away that diving is not a cheap pleasure. It is necessary to pay not only for training, but also for the dives themselves. And they can be different, for example, from a diving boat, catamaran, yacht or speedboat. Yes, and their number may be different.

As already mentioned, diving in tropical waters is not a pleasure for the middle class. A one-time starting price for diving in the presence of an instructor with full equipment and a Russian-speaking interpreter as part of a group of several people will cost 4-5 thousand Thai baht. At a rate of 1000 baht - 31 dollars, the cost of such entertainment will be equal to 120-150 dollars, which is from 7.5 to 9.4 thousand rubles. Self-guided one-time dives by certified divers cost $100.

Children's diving in Thailand

Diving is undoubtedly a pleasant and interesting entertainment for the whole family. For we althy parents, this is one of the ways to relax with their children, to introduce them to the underwater world. Not a problem if the kids don't have a diving certificate. There are several centers in Thailand where you can get training and get a certificate. At the dive centerconduct an introductory diving course for children from the age of 12.

Thailand is a country where locals have been fond of this type of scuba diving since childhood. For parents who come on vacation with a child, getting an introductory diving course (DSD) for him will cost 5,000 baht, as for an adult. The price includes equipment, diving equipment and a Russian instructor (or translator). Training takes place not at sea, but first in the pool. Having learned to follow the commands, under the watchful eye of an instructor, a child equipped with diving equipment can swim in shallow water.

Underwater tourism

Diving is incredibly popular in Thailand. It is especially in high demand in these parts. The richness of the underwater world and the relatively low degree of risk contribute to its popularity. The most famous dive sites are Koh Samui, Koh Phangan and the Similan Islands, which are framed on the western side by huge granite blocks. The resulting passages, caves and gorges are some of the best diving in Thailand.

On the eastern side of the island are gentle reefs with a wide variety of hard and soft corals. There are about 200 species of hard corals, about 350 soft corals and over a hundred species of fish in the Similan Islands. Interesting for divers are the moments of meeting with leopard sharks, turtles, harlequin shrimps, flocks of mackerel and barracudas (sea pikes).

Andaman Sea diving sites

If you ask tourists who are fond of diving: "Where is the best diving and interesting underwater views in Thailand?", then everyone will say that in the Adaman Sea, more precisely, near one of its most beautiful islands - Lanta Yai. The diving sites in the southern Andaman Sea around Lanta Yai are one of the most beautiful, exciting and diverse dive sites in the world. Hin Daeng, Ko Ha, Bidas and other dive sites offer diving in a world rich in tropical fish, whale sharks, various snails, schools of barracuda and mackerel. Even divers who rather love wrecks, caves and diverse underwater scenery are amazed by the underwater scenery of these sites with unique fauna.

But diving in Phuket in Thailand is of interest to lovers of the artificially created underwater world, sunken ships. The Phuket Island Visitor Center organizes tours to Ter Bay and Racha Yai Wreck (wrecks, wrecks, wrecks) sites.

When visiting Anemone Reef, AOWD certified divers are allowed to dive to a depth of 35 meters. They are lured there by a sunken cruiser, which has been covered with coral for more than 20 years and turned into an artificial reef.

Cave diving

Ko Ha (a group of five islands) is about two hours by boat from Koh Lanta Yai. The five islands offer everything the diver's soul desires. Koh Haa Yai is known for its caves, tunnels and unique reefs. They start at a depth of about 15 meters andpartially visible above the water surface. You can endlessly admire the underwater world and the rocks that the water has carved over the centuries. Blocks of beautiful soft corals pass before the diver's gaze, with which the entire lower part is overgrown. If you're lucky, you might see a whale shark as you exit the tunnel. Whale shark season begins in the southern Andaman Sea from mid-February.

Diving in Pattaya in Thailand

Snorkeling in Pattaya is not as exciting as in the Andaman Sea. But nevertheless there are interesting dive sites. Pattaya's main dive sites are several islands such as Koh Rin, Seaside Island, Chedi Island, Koh Chang, Koh Fai and many other smaller islands that are good for divers.

Ko Sak (Horseshoe Island) is a 45-minute boat ride from Pattaya Dive Center. This is a great place for beginner divers. The depth is 15 meters and the visibility in the water is about 15 meters. During the dive, you can meet turtles, eels, rays.

Koh Chang is about an hour from Pattaya. There are hard coral reefs with sea anemones. The maximum depth is 15 meters. Shark Point in Koh Larna is a famous diving spot with sharks lurking in crevices and coral reefs.

Reviews of tourists

The article made a small overview of diving sites in Thailand, named the most interesting places to dive. It is clear that a sophisticated diver is always in search of his ideal and best place. Here it would be appropriate to recall the words from Vysotsky's song that only mountains that you have not yet been on can be better than mountains. So divers, every time they look for new sites in different countries and are happy to go where they have not been before.

What are the first-timers' impressions? What emotions did the dives evoke? You can find out about this on social networks, where they post their photos and impressions. As a rule, the description of the first dive is always filled with emotions and delight. Some write about panic and fear, because you understand that there is an element around you that you do not control. However, when you see an instructor around you, you calm down and relax. Many beginners before the first dive did not even have a rough idea of \u200b\u200bwhat it is like to be at depth. But, having come to the surface, they said that these feelings cannot be expressed in words. Delight and impressions of a lifetime. And, of course, these are not the last dives. Already after the first time, I want to repeat and consider again and again the underwater world, which is nearby, at arm's length.