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Krabi Dive Sites | Racha Noi Sites | Racha Yai Sites
Dive Sites At Koh Racha Yai & Koh Racha Noi
in Phuket Southern Thailand
New for the 2010-2011 Season, Aqua Visions speedboat will be making regular trips to dive at some of the best sites at the stunning Racha Islands south of Phuket. The outstanding natural beauty, white sandy beaches, clear turquoise water and large granite boulder formations have lead to the Racha Islands being favorably compared with the much more distant Similan Islands, and have justifiably become known as the little Similans.
Useful Info Link! - Tide Tables
Useful Info Link! - Krabi Dive Sites Map
Diving Ko Racha Noi - Manta Rays, Clear Waters & Much More!
5 km south of Racha Yai Island is the last Island dive site before the Open Andaman Sea and Indian Ocean, making this one of the most oceanic sites that it's possible to visit without joining a multi day liveaboard. The deeper waters and distance from the mainland provide more challenging conditions, but are rewarded by some of the best visibility and aquatic life in Thailand!
This very popular site is an underwater plateau of huge boulders starting at 18 and dropping off to below 70 meters making it very reminiscent of the Similans Islands.
It's open ocean position makes it a magnet for both predators and prey alike, and on a typical dive you can see huge schools of reef fish being hunted by barracudas, trevallies and other pelagic predators, which constantly dart in to try to catch a quick meal.
South Point cannot be dived during full and new moon due to extremely strong tides, but the tides at other times, particularly January and February, bring majestic Mantas, Eagle rays and Whale Sharks to the site. Definitely one of the premiere dive sites in Thailand, and one of the best reasons for getting an Advanced Divers License!
Dive Level Experienced - Advanced
At the Northern tip of Racha Noi is a small bay with some of the best coral formations in Thailand. Like South Point, the site is very similar in topography to the Similan Islands with large granite rock formations and a clear white sandy sea floor.
Inside the bay are large areas of of delicate green sheet corals and formosa bottle-brush corals where many octopi offer great photo opportunities.
Moving eastward out of the bay, is a small wall like pinnacle reaching down to a depth of forty meters and full of schooling fish. The currents here can be strong but attract manta rays, one of the main draws for diving Rach Noi. North Point is also renowned for large numbers of bullet head parrotfish, huge morays, sea snakes and a fantastic variety of other reef inhabitants.
Dive Level Intermediate - Experienced - Advanced
Maritas Rock / Manta Bay on the more sheltered south west side of Koh Racha Noi is a beautiful bay characterized by steep slopes dropping from eight down to thirty meters. The many colorful corals that cover the site are full of aquatic activity including turtles, octopus, leopard sharks, stingrays, puffers, porcupine fish, sea snakes and much more.
The swim through's at Maritas rock are also a great place to test your buoyancy skills while swimming amongst schools of glass fish between enormous granite boulders.
Dive Level - Novice - Intermediate - Experienced - Advanced
On the less sheltered eastern side of the Island is Banana Bay, a small relatively protected area with white sand beaches and clear blue water filled with stag horn and soft coral patches sloping gently down to a depth of thirty 30 meters.
Although this site is more suited to less experienced and trainee divers, you can spot a wide variety of Thailand's endemic reef fish here, including leopard sharks, colorful angel and banner fish and the ever present parrot fish and wrasse. A great site for snorkelers too.
Dive Level - Beginner - Novice - Intermediate - Experienced - Advanced
