Thailand is a very beautiful country with beautiful beaches and clear sea. It is worth going to those who are looking for a vacation place where you can not only relax, lounging in the sand, but also go diving. In Thailand, on the coast of the Andaman Sea, there are the most famous dive sites. You need to go to Phuket, Khaulak and Krabi - this is where you will find the famous places for diving: Similan Islands, Phi Phi, Lanta Yai and Khin Daeng, whose coastal waters are characterized by beautiful vegetation and a large species diversity of fish.
Types of diving
There are several types of diving: diving and swimming under water. Professional diving includes technical, scientific and military diving. These types can be occupied by true professionals who have good physical and psychological training. They use special equipment and have the ability to dive to sufficient depths.
The article is about amateur or recreational diving. In Thailand, and not only, this species is positioned as a safe vacation and harmless entertainment. Is it so? Perhaps, but only an ordinary tourist without preparation will not be allowed to dive. Firstly, he should not have health restrictions, and secondly, he must undergo training in one of the dive centers, which are enough in resort places.
Diving Center Services
On the island of Phuket, diving can be trained at one of the best centers in Thailand. The diving center, in addition to training, organizes diving tours and diving safaris. If you want to diversify your vacation and fulfill your old dream (scuba diving), the Phuket Diving Center will help you with this. What does the center guarantee? First of all, security. Diving will only take place with an instructor. Next - high-quality training in all the necessary skills to be under water and, of course, interesting dives.
Learning begins with a one-day beginner and test dive program. In the classroom, the instructor demonstrates everything that needs to be done under water, what commands and how to give, and the group should repeat everything implicitly. Under water, jokes are bad. Remember everything is necessary on land. In the training pool, one of the classes is conducted by a diving instructor (pictured above).
Not all beginners manage to complete the first dive. Perhaps for someone it will be the last. But it’s better to do it, to try, than to be afraid, and after a long regret about it. From the reviews of tourists trained in the dive center, you can find out that it is better to do the first dives in the waters of the shallow Gulf of Thailand.
Here, on courses, there is an increase in diving level by amateurs who have a certain experience behind them. Training makes it possible to obtain a professional certificate.
The cost of diving centers
Immediately you need to make a reservation that diving is not a cheap pleasure. It is necessary to pay not only for training, but also for the dives themselves. And they can be different, for example, from a diving bot, catamaran, yacht or from a speed boat. And their number may be different.
As already mentioned, diving in tropical waters is not a pleasure for the middle class. A one-time starting price for diving in the presence of an instructor with full equipment and a Russian-speaking translator in a group of several people will cost 4-5 thousand Thai baht. With a course of 1000 baht - 31 dollars, the cost of such entertainment will be 120-150 dollars, and this is from 7.5 to 9.4 thousand rubles. Independent one-time dives of certified divers cost $ 100.
Children's diving in Thailand
Diving is undoubtedly a pleasant and interesting entertainment for the whole family. For wealthy parents, this is one way to relax with their children, to introduce them to the underwater world. Not a problem if the children do not have a diving certificate. In Thailand, there are several centers where you can get training and get a certificate. The diving center provides an introductory diving course for children from 12 years old.
Thailand is a country in which locals are fond of this type of scuba diving since childhood. For parents who came to rest with a child, getting an introductory diving course (DSD) for it will cost 5 thousand baht, as well as for an adult. The price includes equipment, diving equipment and a Russian instructor (or translator). Training takes place not at sea, but first in the pool. Having learned to execute commands, under the watchful eye of an instructor, a child equipped with diving equipment can swim in shallow water.
Underwater tourism
Incredibly popular diving in Thailand. Demand is especially high in these parts. The wealth of the underwater world and the relatively low degree of risk contribute to its popularity. The most famous dive sites are Samui, Phangan and Similan Islands, which are framed on the western side by huge granite blocks. The resulting walkways, caves and gorges are some of the best diving sites in Thailand.
On the eastern side of the island there are gentle reefs with a wide variety of hard and soft corals. On the Similan Islands, there are about 200 species of hard corals, about 350 soft corals and more than a hundred species of fish. Interesting moments for divers are encounters with leopard sharks, turtles, harlequin shrimps, flocks of mackerel and barracuda (pike).
Andaman Sea Diving Sites
If you ask tourists who are keen on diving: “Where is the best diving in Thailand and interesting underwater views?”, Then everyone will say that in the Adaman Sea, more precisely, near one of its most beautiful islands - Lanta Yai. Diving sites in the southern Andaman Sea around Lanta Yai are one of the most beautiful, exciting and diverse diving sites in the world. Hin Daeng, Ko Ha, Bidas and other dive sites offer an immersion in a world rich in tropical fish, whale sharks, various snails, schools of barracudas and mackerels. Even divers who are more likely to like sunken ships, caves and a variety of underwater landscapes are amazed at the underwater landscapes of these sites with unique fauna.
But diving in Phuket in Thailand is of interest to lovers of the artificially created underwater world, sunken ships. The Phuket Tourism Center organizes tours to the Ter Bey and Racha Yai sites of the Wreck category (ruins, wrecks, wrecks).
When visiting Reef Anemones, AOWD certified divers are allowed to dive to a depth of 35 meters. They are attracted by the sunken cruiser, which for more than 20 years has become covered with corals and turned into an artificial reef.
Cave diving
Ko Ha (a group of five islands) are approximately two hours away by boat from Lanta Yai. Five islands offer everything that the diver’s soul desires. Koh Haa Yai Island is famous for its caves, tunnels and unique reefs. They begin at a depth of 15 meters and are partially visible above the surface of the water. You can endlessly admire the underwater world and the rocks that the water has been squeezing for centuries. In front of the diver’s gaze, blocks of beautiful soft corals pass through which the entire lower part is overgrown. If you're lucky, you can see a whale shark when you exit the tunnel. The whale shark season begins in the southern Andaman Sea from mid-February.
Pattaya Diving in Thailand
Scuba diving in Pattaya is not as exciting as in the Andaman Sea. Nevertheless, there are interesting dive sites. The main places of diving in Pattaya are several islands, such as Koh Rin, Seaside Island, Chedi Island , Koh Chang, Koh Fai and many other, smaller islands that are well suited for divers.
Koh Sak (Horseshoe Island) is a 45-minute boat ride from the Pattaya Diving Center. This is a great place for beginner divers. Depth is 15 meters and visibility in water is about 15 meters. During the dive you can meet turtles, eels, stingrays.
Koh Chang is about an hour away from Pattaya. There are hard coral reefs with sea anemones. The maximum depth is 15 meters. Shark Point in Ko Larn is a famous diving spot with sharks hiding in crevices and coral reefs.
Tourists reviews
The article made a short overview of places for diving in Thailand, named the most interesting places for diving. It is clear that a sophisticated diver is always in search of his ideal and best place. Here it would be appropriate to recall the words from Vysotsky’s song that only mountains that have not been before can be better than mountains. So there are divers, every time they look for new sites in different countries and are happy to go to places where they have not been before.
And what are the beginners' impressions? What emotions caused the immersion? You can find out about this on social networks, where they post their photos and impressions. As a rule, the description of the first dive is always filled with emotions and enthusiasm. Some write about panic and fear, because you understand that there is an element around you that you do not control. However, seeing the instructor near you, you calm down and relax. Many beginners before the first dive did not even have a rough idea of what it feels like to be in the depths. But, having come to the surface, they said that words could not convey these sensations. Enthusiasm and impressions for life. And, of course, these are not the last dives. After the first time, I want to repeat and examine again and again the underwater world, which is nearby, at arm's length.