Fun Dives around Koh Ngai
If you are a certified diver, you may join our daily dive trips from Koh Ngai. You can do 1 to 3 dives a day at dive sites around Koh Ngai, guided by one of our experienced instrcutors. Upon request we can also organise night dives or, as a special highlight, fluorescent night dives.We love to show our divers a multitude of underwater marine life. The reefs around Koh Ngai are not only inhabited by a large number of angelfish, surgeonfish, butterflyfish, parrotfish, triggerfish and batfish, but also by numerous anemones featuring the star of the underwater world: the clown fish alias Nemo. Large schools of barracudas, trevallies and fusiliers are often encountered. A great variety of moray eels can be seen here while lionfish, pufferfish and scorpionfish are also frequently spotted. If you are lucky, you can also find turtles and nurse / black tip reef sharks in the area.
Koh Waen
One of our favourite local dive spots is Koh Waen. Just 20 minutes by longtail, this small uninhabited island has lots to offer underwater. You will find huge boulders covered with corals, sponges and plenty of anemones and big schools of fish such as yellowtail snappers and Chevron barracudas. Overhangs and caves provide shelter for plenty of marine life such as giant porcupine fish and moray eels and create a beautiful landscape to dive through. There is also a nice wall covered in purple and white soft corals. Perfect for spotting lots of lovely little nudibranches and tiny shrimps. With some luck you can meet stingrays resting in the sand and nurse / reef sharks hiding along the overhangs.
Experienced divers can explore the Black Pearl cave with us, Ko Waen's own 'cathedral'.
Train Wreck
A special highlight at Koh Waen is the train wreck, sunk a couple of years ago as an artificial reef and now hiding place for many reef fish. The wreck consists of 20 wagons found on some train rails. Schools of chevron and yellow-tail barracudas are circling the area looking for prey. Thousands of yellow fusiliers surround the wagons or hide inside from the possible current. We also meet giant puffer and porcupine fish on every dive and with some luck find a nurse shark hiding under the wreck or stingrays in the sand. If you like the small stuff, you can enjoy colourful nudibranches moving along the sand and wreck.
With a maximum depth of 18 metres this is a perfect place for exploring for divers of all levels.
Local Dive Sites
There is a good variety of dive spots around Koh Ngai giving us plenty of opportunity to show you the beauty of the Andaman Sea without having to spend much time on a boat. All of them can be reached within 20 minutes by longtail boat and are perfect for dive trips with one or two dives for divers of all levels. These sites are not well known (yet), giving us the chance to enjoy them in peace.
If you like Nemo, the Anemone Garden of Koh Cheuk is the right place for you. This bay is covered in anemones and its famous inhabitants, the clownfish. We can also spot lots of other colourful reef fish and nudibranches and, if you are lucky, we might meet our curious local hawksbill turtle.
Crocodile Rock is an underwater rock formation at the southwest tip of Koh Ngai. This is also called shark point as black tip reef sharks live in the area. Between the big boulders we meet hunting schools of jackfish and barracuda, needlefish circle above. We find moray eels, giant porcupine and puffer fish as well as boxfish hiding under corals. The rocks are a playground for all different kind of nudis and flatworms.
Paradise Reef has a healthy hard coral reef offering shelter to lots of different colourful reef fish and cute critters. This is a nice spot for a relaxed dive for beginners as well as experienced divers wanting to take their camera out. Occasionally we meet a black tip reef shark, turtles or giant barracudas in this area. So keep your eyes open.
Koh Rok
The west side of Koh Rok is comprised of a hard coral reef that slopes gently downwards. There is an abundance of colourful reef fish here as well as plenty of moray eels and octopus. Look closely for the numerous different nudibranchs. Blacktip reef sharks can be seen in the early morning and again at dusk. Watch out for Kuhl's blue-spotted stingrays partially hidden in the sand on the sea bed, the most common type of ray found at Thailand's dive sites.
Nice marine life and many giant clams. It is a good spot for diving and snorkelling. The hard coral is very beautiful and you'll see many barrel sponges. Pellagic fishes like dogtooth Tunas, barracudas and trevallies are common. You can also spot turtles and Eagle Rays. For the macro underwater photographers, there is the chance of finding a tiger-tail seahorse as well as many kinds of Shrimps and Nudibranches.
(Fluorescent) Night Dives
Upon request we organise night dives. It is always a special experience to see the underwater world when it is dark. Our personal favourite are fluorescent night dives. Equipped with high power blue torches and yellow filters over the mask, some underwater inhabitants glow in fluorescent colors. Corals, anemones, crustaceans, cephalopods, different species of invertebrates and fish will drastically change their colours when pointed at with these special torches. Some of our customers have described it as submerging into the ‘Avatar’ world, others have compared it with having a psychedelic experience (no side effects in here).
Ko Haa
Undoubtedly, the diving highlight at Ko Haa is the series of fascinating caverns which are located at Ko Haa Yai, the largest of the group of islands. The caverns have large entrances and are safe to enter. You can surface inside and see the ancient stalactites which hang from the cave ceiling. Another big attraction here are the swim-throughs. You can access the main cave by entering the swim-through to the right of the main cavern entrance. Once through the entrance, drop down a little and then make a sharp left to squeeze out through the exit point. You will find yourself back in the chamber of the main cavern.
You can often see green turtles, scorpion fishes, glass fish and groupers. The scenery is really beautiful. This dive site is easy and suits all level of divers, so enjoy the relaxing dive.
As the distance to Ko Haa is considerable, we can only offer this dive site occasionally with a miminum of 10 divers.
Hin Daeng / Hin Muang
Hin Daeng (also called Red Rock) is one of the best dive sites in all of Thailand. It is very famous for the great chance of spotting giant Manta Rays. The current can be strong though, making the dive sites trickier at times.
Hin Muang is ranked as one of the best diving spots in Thailand.You have great chances to see Manta Rays flying by as well as an incredible Marine life. If you are very lucky you can also spot a Whale Shark. Hin Muang is about the big stuff! The southern side descends to over 60 metres and on the eastern side where the slope is gentler, 2 long ridges descend out into the blue.
Both dive sites are suitable for advanced divers only.
As the distance to Hin Daeng / Hin Muang is considerable, we can only offer these dive sites occasionally with a minimum of 10 divers.