Bangkok Dive Shops

Posted on November 17th, 2006.

If you’re in need of some scuba gear while you’re in Thailand’s capital, you’re in luck. There are two excellent shops that can equip you with pretty much all the dive equipment you need.

The two main dive shops in Bangkok are Dive Supply, on Sukhumvit Soi 23, and Planet Scuba, on the main Sukhumvit Road between Sukhumvit Sois 22 and 24. Dive Supply is the main supplier of dive gear throughout Thailand, and has branches in Koh Chang, Koh Tao, Koh Samui and Krabi as well as Bangkok. It’s here you’ll get the more esoteric items and accessories you need.

Planet Scuba is a bigger, more attractive store with a definite showroom feel to it, with lots of wetsuits, BCDs, masks and fins to choose from. Planet Scuba’s main strength for me is that they sell the Mares Vision X mask with prescription lenses ready to go, so you can walk out the store there and then rather than having to put in a custom order. I’ve written about how pleased I was with this mask before, which I got before I went to the Perhentian Islands. Anything they don’t have, they direct you to Dive Supply.

At both stores, you get a 20 per cent discount if you have a valid Dive Instructor card and pay in cash. The staff in both shops speak good English and are very friendly. From the prices for scuba diving equipment on Amazon.com, I’m not sure there are massive savings to be made by waiting to buy dive gear in Thailand rather than in your home country. Both shops do have regular promotions and specials though, especially for complete gear sets.

Both stores are quite near each other. Sukhumvit is like the 5th Avenue of Bangkok, and its streets are arranged as odd and even numbers either side. However, they are not parallel with one another - so while you might reasonably expect Soi 23 to be opposite Soi 22 and 24, it isn’t. It’s about a 20 minute walk down the road, which can be uncomfortable in 30+ degree heat…

The easiest way to get to both stores is to use the BTS Skytrain.

Planet Scuba is at Phrom Phong BTS station. It’s a tall building whose sign is visible from the skytrain platform. Take Exit 2 to get to ground level and be on the right side of the road.

Dive Supply is on Sukhumvit Soi 23. Go to Asoke BTS station and leave via Exit 3, where the skytrain connects with the MRT subway. Walk up Sukhumvit, take the pedestrian crossing across the huge Soi Asoke, and Soi 23 is a couple of minutes on your left. Dive Supply is another minute or so down the road.