Dive Happy

USS Lagarto – The Lost Submarine Is Found

The World War II submarine USS Lagarto had gone missing in action until it was found by two British deep sea divers in the Gulf of Thailand. Ayesha Cantrell dived the wreck with them and described this important act of remembrance for Diver magazine

Back in October my friend Ayesha Cantrell, a technical diving instructor who lives in Thailand, shared her first impressions of diving on the USS Lagarto. UK dive magazine Diver have subsequently published Ayesha’s superbly written account of the USS Lagarto’s history, its rediscovery by TechThailand deep divers Jamie Macleod and Stewart Oehl, and one of their research dives to the Lagarto itself. You can read Ayesha’s article online in full.

Koh Tao Dive Sites: Twins, Japanese Gardens, Mango Bay

Koh Tao’s training sites offer a perfect environment for novice divers to explore, and there’s surprises for more experienced divers too

All of these dive sites are essentially training sites for dive students, and tend to be quite busy as a result. They are still quite remarkable sites all the same – Japanese Gardens has some excellent coral within it, as it’s just round the corner from Hin Daeng. There’s not much depth at Japanese Gardens, so after spending most of the dive at 5 metres it feels more like power snorkelling than anything else. Mango Bay has a large flat reef which is not particularly exciting, whereas Twins is a great site.

Actually three pinnacles but with two only regularly dived, Twins has a depth of around 12 metres with plenty of fish and coral clinging on to the big boulders making up the peaks. The most famous resident of Twins is a Nemo clownfish family who live just off from one of the pinnacles. Divers have placed a circle of stones around their anenome to show divers where to stop and give the clownfish some room. Twins is certainly worth doing once, but the other other sites mentioned previous to this are better choices once you’ve passed your Open Water course and are ready to see some more of the great dive sites Koh Tao has to offer.

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Koh Tao Dive Sites: Green Rock, White Rock, Shark Island

Three of Koh Tao’s staple dive sites which offer interesting aquatic encounters with the local marine life – although it’s not always wanted…

A collection of big boulders piled on one another, Green Rock has a great collection of swimthroughs at different levels which make it a dive site that seems to be continually different until you’ve dived it several times. The other infamous inhabitants of Green Rock are the Titan triggerfish, large aggressive fish that come complete with small fangs on their quite chunky bodies will bite onto your fins if you’re not careful. Triggerfish get very territorial, especially when they’re mating, and will protect their nest. They consider their territory to be shaped vertically like a cone, so finning upwards to get away from a triggerfish is dangerous both because you should never ascend rapidly and also because the triggerfish will continue to follow you. The best way to get away from a triggerfish is to flip on your back and slowly fin away so you can watch it all the time and you’re offering it your fins if it does decide to have a go.

Triggerfish are also to be found at White Rock, although thankfully they don’t come out at night, which is when most divers see this site during night dives. White Rock has a great collection of coral to explore during the day, but at night you also get to see barracuda hunting and hermit crabs scuttling across the sand with their stolen shells on their back.

No triggerfish lurk at Shark Island, so named because the this small outcrop from Koh Tao apparently looks like a shark fin. The dive itself is good fun, with a large wall of coral to explore at 15 metres and then come back along at 7m – there is a turtle that lives on this reef too, but is rarely spotted.

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Koh Tao Dive Sites: Hin Daeng

A spectacular reef dive with mesmerising coral formations and a memorable swimthrough, Hin Daeng is one of the great hidden gems of Koh Tao

Besides Chumphon Pinnacle, Hin Daeng is my other personal favourite amongst Koh Tao’s dive sites. Hin Daeng (Thai for “Red Rock” and a common dive site name around the country) is basically a reef dive, running from the shoreline down to about 20 metres. Divemasters who know what they’re doing can navigate to the great swimthrough at around 12 metres, which lets divers swim U-bend style through a rock crevice which has beautiful streams of light coming from above and acts as a grotto for many fish who hang in the still waters sheltered by the rock. I’ve seen banded sea snakes in here as well, which are quite rare to spot. Besides the swimthrough, Hin Daeng’s coral formations are quite breathtaking. They are clumped together in huge spires, spread out as far as the eye can see like an organic underwater city. The soft forms of the coral and its mixture of reds and yellows makes it look like something celebrated Barcelona architect Gaudi would have built. At Hin Daeng a humble reef dive is transformed into something that sparks and inspires the imagination. As you can guess, I really like it. Beyond the coral, there’s also the chance to see the reef’s resident turtle, one of the few remaining turtles around Koh Tao (which is, incidentally, Thai for “Turtle Island”.)

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Koh Tao Dive Sites: South West Pinnacle and Sail Rock

South West Pinnacle and Sail Rock are both geographically dramatic dives, providing deep depths and interesting ascents

South West Pinnacle and Sail Rock are Koh Tao’s two other deep water dive sites. South West Pinnacle is a beautiful site that, like Chumphon Pinnacle, repays repeated visits. It is actually a whole series of small pinnacles with the central pinnacle rising all the way to within five metres of the surface. Maximum depth is around 26 metres, unless you wander away from the pinnacle. There are no sharks here, although whale sharks have occasionally been spotted which keeps everyone hopeful – but what it lacks in terms of big fish South West makes up in terms of the sheer profusion of smaller species. There are huge clouds of glassfish hanging around the main pinnacle and just off it too, while grouper and morays are skulking in the pinnacle’s crevices. Following a classic deep descent and then working in a slow circular ascent back up the pinnacle, it’s possible to see the underwater landscape from numerous angles on the way up, looking different each time. Hanging around at the pinnacle’s apex are another collection of batfish, as if waiting to keep you company on the five metre safety stop. South West is an unabashedly pretty site, and when the visibility is good – which is most of the time – it can be quite breathtaking, even if it doesn’t boast the headline attractions of Chumphon.

Sail Rock is always bigged up as a major dive site off Koh Tao but it’s actually a bit of a pain in the backside to my mind – it takes a long cruise to get out there – over 2 hours – and the viz is often shocking. I’ve dived there several times and only once was the viz good enough to actually see anything. Another big pinnacle slam in the middle of the ocean which goes down 40 metres plus, Sail Rock is roughly square shaped and big enough to spend the entire dive circling once. The main point of interest is a beautiful coral chimney, big enough for 2 divers to ascend from 16 metres to the chimney’s opening at 5 metres on the flat coral reef above. This is undeniably quite spectacular but for the time and effort Sail Rock involves, I’d recommend leaving it alone unless you’re spending a week or more diving at Koh Tao.

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My Recent Dive Trips

My Less Recent Dive Trips

Back In The Day Bragging Rights Dive Trips

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