DIVE HAPPY

A year on from the tsunami, what state are Thailand's dive sites in and is it safe to return to the Andaman Coast?

Earlier today I posted a response to an item on Travel Dive's forums asking about the state of Thailand diving after the tsunami. I wound up writing a small essay, so I thought it would be worthwhile reposting my response here.

"I live in Thailand and freelance for Asian Diver magazine. I headed out to the Similans in early February 2005, to write a report for them about how well they'd survived. The upshot is that most of the site are fine. It's still Thailand's best dive destination. (I've archived the article on Divehappy)

Yes, Khao Lak was heavily damaged, and the town's beachfront still bears several scars, but the reconstruction effort has been massive. The five star Le Meridien hotel has already re-opened there. It's completely safe to return to Khao Lak and has been ever since February 2005.

Phi Phi is also back on its feet, with over 250 businesses now re-opened. I recently did a lengthy interview with Andrew Hewett from phiphidivecamp.com, the organisation that co-ordinated thousands of volunteer divers to remove some 250 tons of debris from Phi Phi's shores and reefs, and he reckons the iisland looks like it did 10 years ago. Again, there are some visible scars, but it's not the disaster zone that remains in people's imaginations from the tsunami footage. While there are a lot of concerns about corruption and big hotel chains moving into Phi Phi, it's by no means a foregone conclusion that the island will be ruined again by over-development.

Moreover, the tsunami seems to have had some sort of cleansing effect on the ocean - the diving off Phi Phi, at Hin Daeng/Hin Muang in particular, is absolutely stunning now. When I dived there in April, I had the best dive of my life - 5 manta rays spinning around me for an hour with a whale shark turning up on my safety stop! (I wrote about this too if you want to know more).

I concur that the Surin Islands did apparently get badly damaged - I am actually trying to get a boat out there to see for myself, but the vast majority of liveaboards only stop off at Surin for a couple of dives, if that, and prefer the other sites North of the Similans.

In short then, the tsunami wreaked havoc on Khao Lak and Phi Phi but they are open for business again and the diving in the Andaman Sea is still spectacular. The local businesses really need tourists to come back and divers are usually amongst the most adventurous and open minded of travellers."