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

Posted on January 24th, 2006.

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.

Koh Tao: An Introduction
Koh Tao, Thailand: Learning To Scuba Dive
Koh Tao Dive Sites: Chumphon Pinnacle
Koh Tao Dive Sites: South West Pinnacle and Sail Rock
Koh Tao Dive Sites: Hin Daeng
Koh Tao Dive Sites: Green Rock, White Rock, Shark Island
Koh Tao Dive Sites: Twins, Japanese Gardens, Mango Bay

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