Thailand is where I’ve lived on and off since 2004. The diving here is relatively cheap and great, particularly on the west coast in the Andaman Sea. Here is a quick overview of diving in Thailand to help you decide where to visit.

Best Places To Dive in Thailand: The Similan Islands and Southern Thailand’s dive sites are my personal favourites. The links go to articles and trip reports I’ve written about each area. Pattaya is great if you are into wrecks. Koh Tao is great for learning to dive, a big backpacker party scene and also a growing tech diving industry.

Thailand’s Best Dive Sites is a useful introduction and also Whale Sharks In Thailand: Where To See Them.

Similan Islands

• 2006 trip report on diving the Similans
• 2005 Asian Diver story on diving the Similans five weeks after the tsunami

Southern Thailand

• 2005 Asian Diver story on the diving around Koh Lanta

Koh Tao

• An introduction to Koh Tao diving
• Tech Diving: The discovery of the USS Lagarto

Pattaya

• Hardeep Wreck DVD

How To Get There

• Similan Islands – Liveaboard or daily speedboat trip from Phuket or Khao Lak.
• Southern Thailand – Daytrips or Liveaboard from Phuket, Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta.
• Koh Tao – Daytrip from Koh Tao or Koh Samui
• Pattaya – Daytrip from Pattaya

Liveaboards I’ve Been On In Thailand: Trip Reports

• MV Flying Seahorse – Similan Islands 2010, 2011
• MV Jazz – Similan / Burma liveaboard January 2008 and 2009
• MV Flying Seahorse – Southern Thailand liveaboard December 2007
• MV Dolphin Queen – Similan liveaboards 2004, 2005, 2006
• MV Colona – Southern Thailand liveaboard October 2005

Nearest Dive Sites To Famous Places In Thailand

• Phuket – Similan Islands and Southern Thailand sites. See my guide to Phuket Diving
• Koh Phi Phi – Southern Thailand sites: Hin Daeng, Koh Bida, Phi Phi Leh – see my article on Koh Phi Phi Reborn after the 2004 tsunami
• Koh Samui and Koh Phangan– go to Koh Tao: it’s easier to dive from there

Other Places To Dive In Thailand:

• Koh Losin – hidden dive site in the southern Gulf
• Koh Lipe – tiny island near Malaysian border in Andaman Sea
• Koh Chang – booming tourist island near Cambodian border in the Gulf
• Trang – relatively unexplored area of southern Thailand’s Andaman coast

Buying Scuba Gear In Thailand

• Bangkok Dive Shops – where to go and what to expect

Useful Dive Travel Information About Thailand:
Money: Thai Baht
Electricity: 220 Volts AC
Time: GMT +7
Languages Spoken: Thai. English spoken widely at varying levels. On dive boats English is spoken widely as the dive crew are usually always Westerners.
Major Airports: Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Krabi

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Scuba diving is not the cheapest of sports to pursue, but if you’re diving in Asia, there are plenty of great dive spots that won’t break the bank to explore in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines

I’ve dived a lot around South East Asia over the last 12 years, and I’ve often been surprised at how cheap the diving can be here. If, like me, you like to dive often and travel specifically for the chance to dive, then there are plenty of opportunities to do so without having to spend a huge amount of cash.

Indeed, with the cheap flights provided by AirAsia and other budget carriers in Asia, it’s possible to dive in several countries within the space of a few weeks and still not break the bank.

The other great source of cheap diving in Asia is last minute liveaboard deals – where you go on board a boat and basically eat, sleep and dive for typically 4 to 7 days. You can get steep discounts up to a couple of months before departure, so it’s worth checking as the price is typically inclusive of diving, food and accommodation.

Here’s the beginnings of my list of cheap places to dive in South East Asia. The list below is by no means definitive and I welcome suggestions in the comments of other places to add to it. I have stuck with places and dive operators that I have personally visited and dived with.

The benchmark I’ve used is the cost of a one or two fun dives (ie assuming you’re already certified to dive) including all scuba gear. Virtually all operators offer package deals which make dives cheaper, so this is just a rough benchmark to help comparisons.

Thailand:
Koh Tao
Koh Tao is the most popular place to get certified as a diver in Asia Pacific outside of Cairns and it’s a renown backpacker destination.

Price: Fun Dives are 850 Baht each on Koh Tao. So two dives is 1700 Baht = $50 US approx. See my article Koh Tao: An Introduction

Koh Lanta
Located on the West Coast, Koh Lanta is Koh Phi Phi’s sleepy neighbour and much more relaxed as a result. Lanta has access to some of Thailand’s best dive sites – Koh Haa, Hin Daeng/Hin Muang and Koh Bida.

Price: 2 dives are twice the price of Koh Tao – 3700 Baht or $110 US approx – because the dive sites are much further away – and you get breakfast and lunch included. The diving here is pretty amazing because the sites are so remote. You can also do liveaboards from Koh Lanta that can help you save on accommodation and food costs.

See my article on diving Koh Lanta.

Khao Lak: Similan Islands Liveaboard
The Similan Islands are widely regarded as Thailand’s best dive spot and are extremely popular. You can do day trips by speedboat but the best way to see them is on a liveaboard.

Price: As of 2019, a budget 4 Day / 4 night Similan Island liveaboard costs around $620 USD all inclusive. You get 14 dives, so that’s around $45 USD a dive – but you’re also getting 4 nights free accommodation and all your food included too. To get maximum dive bang for your buck, liveaboards are hard to beat. Dolphin Queen is a fantastic budget liveaboard boat I’ve been on several times which has been operating for nearly 20 years. It’s important to check guest reviews to see what they say about the staff, food and most importantly, safety. You can compare it with other Similan Liveaboards

I also wrote up a detailed Similan Liveaboard report if you want more of an idea of what a liveaboard trip entails.

Indonesia:
Bali – Tulamben
The world famous wreck of the USS Liberty lies just off Tulamben Beach, a sleepy village in northern Bali that has some amazing diving. Great place for beginners to get lots of dives in.

Price: $30 US a dive – $100 for unlimited dives during one day (5 is probably most you could do) as offered by Tulamben Wreck Divers. These are one of the original operators to set up in Tulamben – an Australian husband and wife team, Tony and Dot, who previously pioneered whale shark snorkelling trips in Western Australia – and have been offering the unlimited dives package for $100 since 2010!

See also my guide to diving the USS Liberty and Tulamben

Lembeh
If you like seeing weird and wonderful underwater creatures, this is the place to come. Lembeh has an amazing array of marine life and is very affordable too.

Price: NAD Lembeh resort offers $399 for 8 dives and four nights accommodation and all meals – so that works out as $50 a dive, but you need to factor in the accomm and meals as part of that – see NAD Lembeh’s rates page.

See also my trip report on visiting NAD Lembeh resort and I went back again, and got some even better photos, diving Lembeh Strait in March 2011.

Palau Weh
A remote spot at the northern-western tip of Indonesia, Palau Weh is a superb location for doing lots of cheap dives on the huge house reef right in front of the resort, as well as taking a boat to explore further afield. Full details in the Palau Weh trip report.

Malaysia

Perhentian Islands
The Perhentians have long been a backpacker haven, two small islands with nothing but beach – no roads, no traffic. There’s some nice diving around the area too and a good variety of fish life.

Price: 80 Malaysian Ringgit – around $21 a dive – see Turtle Bay Divers and look under the Price List link.

See also my Scuba Diving the Perhentian Islands: A Quick Guide and my Perhentian Islands article for Asian Diver.

Vietnam:
Nha Trang
Despite having a huge coastline, Vietnam doesn’t get much dive attention. There are some interesting spots to explore but the main area is Nha Trang.

Price: $40 for one dive in Nha Trang, $60 for 2 dives. You can read my Nha Trang report for more info.

Philippines:
Sogod Bay
Sogod is a hidden gem in the Philippines, pristine reefs and annual visits by whale sharks.

Price: 1500 Pesos per dive – $31 US at Sogod Bay Scuba Resort. Read my trip report from Sogod about being In The Water With The Biggest Fish In The World

Davao
In Davao in the southern Philippines, it’s even cheaper – 1150 Pesos per dive – $26 US at WindAndWaveDavao.com. Davao is a little known macro heaven – I wrote a full article about Davao for Scuba Diver AustralAsia magazine a while ago.

There are loads of other places in the Philippines to go diving from the beach (eg Anilao, Puerto Galera, MoalBoal, Apo Island etc) and they won’t be that much more expensive (or much cheaper) than these places. See my Best Scuba Diving In The Philippines page for a rundown of what’s great about each of these places.

There are also several liveaboards in the Philippines which offer good value compared to resorts.

That is a quick rundown of places I’ve been too that are cheap to dive – I know there are many more (for example, Tioman and Redang in Malaysia, Sihanoukville in Cambodia, etc). If you have suggestions of other cheap places to dive, please leave a comment and include a specific dive operator you recommend so I can check their prices. Thanks!

Only an inch or so long, harlequin shrimp are one of the most beautiful – and elusive – critters you can encounter while diving in Thailand. What they lack in size they make up for in fiestiness though…

While diving last week at my favourite Thailand dive site Koh Haa (just a couple hours boat ride from Koh Lanta), I had an unforgettable encounter with two harlequin shrimp. Often known as “the funky shrimp” on account of their outrageous disco-like outfits, harlequin shrimp are usually found in pairs but are also very hard to spot. They are only an inch long, and mostly prefer to hide in the crevices of the reef. However, on this occassion, they weren’t shy and retiring at all.

Once the nearest shrimp had noticed I was gently nosing my camera into their space to get a a photo, instead of fleeing into the recesses of their crevice one of them came straight out at me. You can tell how close it got to the camera because it’s a little bit out of focus.

Never mind that I am about 1000 times bigger than it, the harlequin shrimp proceeds to put on a warning display. You can almost hear it say “Oi! Gerrout of it!”

It then goes through several different poses, making itself look far bigger than it actually is.

It holds each of these poses for a couple of seconds, then tries something different to look even more menacing.

Its mate, however, seemed completely indifferent to my presence.

Fearlessly the harlequin shrimp gets nearer and nearer to the camera. Maybe it saw its own reflection in the camera lens cover – its own eyes are up on the ends of the top most stalks

I left the shrimp alone after this ninja crouch was adopted. I was a bit concerned it might go for the throat.

If you want to read more about Koh Lanta and the awesome Thailand dive sites around it, please see my article Koh Lanta: Manta Ray Paradise.

In November 2008 four World War II planes and six helicopters were sunk off Bang Tao beach in Phuket to create an artificial reef. We went and had a look…

As we were in Phuket after coming back from our Burma liveaboard, my friend Ayesha and I decided to go and investigate the recently sunk WWII planes and helicopters off Bang Tao beach. They are four Douglas C-47 Dakota Skytrain military transport aircraft and six Sikorsky S-58T helicopters. These had been donated by the Royal Thai Airforce and put down to create an artificial reef in November 2008 and to create a new tourist attraction for Bang Tao. They have become known as the Coral Reef Squadron. There’s some great pictures and info of the planes being sunk on the Thai Military Information blog and also on the Tourism Authority of Thailand site.

After dropping another dive buddy off at Phuket Airport, we got the taxi to take us on to Bang Tao beach. It’s about a half hour drive and costs around 600 Baht. Bang Tao beach itself is a very pleasant sandy beach that seems popular with German and Scandinavian tourists. There are a few hotels and restaurants along the beachfront which are also very tourist-orientated i.e. quite pricey with mediocre food.

We turned up without any real idea of what we were doing or who could take us out to dive on the bombers. Fortunately, standing on the beach looking lost soon brought us to the attention of several friendly touts. It turned out one of them was Jub, a divemaster for the Pearl Andaman dive shop. Usually I’m wary of touts, but Jub was the real deal – we headed to his dive shop which was on the main road behind the beach (a minute’s walk) or so and it was easy to organise our own longtail boat out to the bombers. The price was around 3500 Baht I think for 2 dives with weights and tanks – we’d brought all our own gear. There were several other dive shops along the same stretch of road parallel to the beach but we wanted to get on with the diving so didn’t go shopping around.

The staff in Pearl Andaman were great – we needed space to set up our cameras and generally faff about and for these guys nothing was too much trouble – they made organising our trip very stressfree. You can see a photo of Jub outside the Pearl Andaman shop in the gallery above.

Once onto the longtail, it was about a 20 minute ride out to the sunken aircraft. There are four planes arranged in a cross shape, with the four helicopters arranged between them. Guideropes link each of the wrecks to each other underwater, and there are buoys on the surface marking each plane. The wrecks are located at around 22 metres maximum on a slope. The most intact plane (ie it still has its wings) is also the deepest. If I remember correctly, a couple of the other bombers had their wings removed.

When we got ready to go in, the viz looked great – I could the buoyline for at least 10 metres down. Once we got in, we soon realised that there was great viz for the first 10 metres and then it turned into a total peasouper! The viz was down to about one metre. The three of us actually managed to lose each other almost immediately, until we came out of the thermocline and then went back down together paying a little more attention to each other’s location.

Jub was an excellent guide – he knows his way around the wrecks very well and points out the guiderope to make it easy for you to follow him to the next wreck. He was also happy to patiently pose for photos for me and Ayesha, although as you can see from the results I had little luck getting anything decent – I’m just not a good enough photographer yet to be able to deal with so much backscatter-producing muck in the water.

The planes were still suitably evocative, and they are already covered with a layer of silt and becoming home to several schools of fish. The helicopters are perhaps more interesting due to their more open, exposed bodies. although you can go inside both the copters and the bombers.

Despite the viz being so poor on both dives, Ayesha still enjoyed our time on the planes, even if only for the comedy value of trying to take photos in such bad conditions. Jub and the Pearl Andaman team certainly made the experience good fun too – when we went back to the dive shop after the trip, the guys broke down all our dive gear and washed it for us ready for collection when we left the next day. The only hiccup we had was that they told us we could have dived on Nitrox for free – but they didn’t mention this when we signed up for the dives! D’oh!

I’m hoping to get commissioned to write a story about the planes so that we can go back and spend a few days there and next time maybe get some better conditions to get some better pictures – and it will be interesting to see how well the sea reclaims these planes. Apparently there is some controversy about the location of the wrecks as there are strong currents and poor viz in that area generally, which might actually make the planes disintegrate fairly quickly. We’ll have to see.