Phuket Diving Guide

Phuket is the largest island in Thailand, and it is also a popular place for Chinese people to travel abroad. The air there is fresh and the climate is pleasant, making it very suitable for vacations, honeymoons and other trips. Relax your mind and body. Can you still go diving in Phuket in November? What do we need to prepare for diving? Below, the editor has made a Phuket diving guide for your reference.

Diving is really a wonderful thing. Because I don’t want to travel when there are too many people, I chose to go to Phuket alone at the end of October. Regarding this trip to Phuket, the most unforgettable thing is diving. I will also be the last to know about Phuket and some travel needs. Let it out.

First of all, let’s talk about a few basic questions:

1. Why do you want to dive?

Many people should have this idea. If you want to do something that you have never done before, you can be bold.

So I adjusted my vacation this time and went to Phuket alone at the end of October to relax myself quietly.

As for why I like diving, can I say it is fate? Because I chose to go to Phuket because it is an island and has very good diving conditions. It would be strange to go to an island and not do anything related to water.

Moreover, be sure to tell those friends who have never experienced diving! When you are in the sea, when you really dive, you will definitely fall in love with diving. The touch of life is unlike anything else. There is no way for people to refuse.

2. What are PADI, OW and AOW?

Friends who want to dive should often see these words, OW, AOW, and PADI.

PADI is the English abbreviation of Professional Association of Diver

Instructor International Association of Professional Diving Instructors.

PADI is the largest diving training organization in the world. Simply put, PADI is a certification organization.

OW is the abbreviation of Open

Water, which is an introductory course to scuba diving and the most popular junior diver course in the world.

After completing the PADI Open Water Diver course, you will receive a globally valid and lifelong diver certificate, allowing you to freely explore the underwater world within a depth of 18 meters.

To put it simply, OW is an entry-level diving course. You can start here to get a diving certificate. Generally speaking, this certificate is very easy to pass and is very simple.

AOW is the abbreviation of AdvancedOpen

Water, which is the advanced open water diver level. As an advanced diving level, we are required to complete five adventure dives, of which "deep diving" and "underwater navigation" are compulsory courses.

After obtaining the AOW certificate, you are allowed to dive to a depth of 30 meters.

In other words, if you want to continue diving and are particularly fond of diving, then you can dive deeper after taking the AOW exam.

There are many more, but if you don’t want to be a coach or an extreme enthusiast, these two are enough.

3. What is the best time for diving?

For Phuket, the peak tourist season is from November to May of the following year. During this period, the weather is very bad. The weather is fine, the water temperature is high, and the visibility is high, making it suitable for diving and swimming.

However, it wasn’t November when I arrived, so it’s not the best time, but it’s almost there~

For those who want to dive, you can do it on November 10th as soon as possible. If you go in February, the scenery will definitely be more beautiful!

Let’s talk about the above three questions first, and then talk about this itinerary, which includes preparations for this trip, course selection, and the best diving spots. , diving experience, etc., as well as delicious food and beautiful scenery~

I made some preparations in the early stage of this trip, because I just wanted to relax quietly by myself, so I had to prepare everything by myself. !But it’s quite convenient to go to Thailand now~

I saved up for a long vacation, so I spent two days in Bangkok before going to Phuket.

This time I wanted to experience diving wholeheartedly, and I took the OW certificate exam by the way, so I learned a lot of information online in advance.

I ordered the diving store on Taobao. After comparing it with many stores, I finally chose ALPHA

diving

center. This store is in Chalong Near the pier, Chalong Pier is the largest pier in Phuket and is also the pier where ships go out to sea.

In fact, many dive shops have similar packages. Can I say the main reason for choosing this shop is the icon, because the avatar is very cute. After reading the reviews, I decided to go here.

The one-stop service is more worry-free, so I chose this place, and of course the result will not disappoint me~

A very perfect OW course.

When it comes to dive shops, I can’t help but talk about coaches.

ALPHAdiving

There are 4 Chinese coaches in the center and many foreign coaches. So there is no problem in language communication. After all, I am a lousy English speaker and I can’t understand Thai.

The instructors there are very nice, and they will be very enthusiastic to answer any questions you have, so I went to a lot of tourist places that the locals know ~ I was very happy.

I was quite lucky. The OW course coach I was assigned was Coach Dafeng, a very knowledgeable and experienced coach. He doesn't talk much, but once you get to know him and chat, you will find that this person has so many stories and his personal experience is so rich that it is unimaginable.

In short, if you chat with Dafeng and listen to him tell his story, you will probably feel that your life is great, and you will be shocked by such a diving spirit. Only the soul that truly loves diving can be revealed from within. Such attraction.

So, you will know the story of Coach Dafeng when you come to ALPHA

divingcenter.

I signed up for the OW three-day certification course. The actual process will be adjusted based on your learning situation and weather.

In fact, the test time really varies greatly, because some people are naturally more adaptable to water and adapted to diving, so they will learn quickly. It will also be beneficial to have played other extreme sports before.

However, no matter how talented you are, it’s okay to practice a few more times. Diving is really a simple and exciting sport.

The first day is theoretical study and confined water practice, where you learn the most basic diving skills in the swimming pool.

You will go out to sea the next day, and the instructor will take you through the first and second exercises in open water to test your diving skills. The maximum depth shall not exceed 12 meters.

On the third day, we still went to sea and completed the third and fourth dive exercises. After completing the course and passing the assessment, OW graduates.

Let’s talk about the diving course at ALPHAdiving

center. It is very reasonably configured and can be adjusted in time according to different personal progress. The instructor is very responsible.

The diving equipment is very new, so there is no need to worry about safety and other issues. If many people come together, the price will be cheaper. It is recommended to sign up with friends. And you can add Dafeng WeChat, so the price is more cost-effective than what you can find on Taobao or the website.

Next time I come here to take the AOW course, of course I hope there will be strong winds, so that I can fly freely in the underwater world in the future. It’s quite exciting to think about it.

This dive is over. Of course, you can also choose to stay in a dive hotel, because the accommodation environment in the dive store is not bad, the hotel is clean, quiet and comfortable, and very cheap.

It is also very convenient during the course. If you want to go to Patong Beach or other places at night, the enthusiastic instructor will give you good advice. If it is convenient, you can go together~

But I wanted to go to the bar and have fun by myself, so I went by myself. The only thing is that the diving room is a double room. If you want to live alone, you need to pay an additional room fee.

But when I go out to play, I also want to make more like-minded friends, so I don’t care about this.

Friends who mind can pay part of the room fee, or if they are lucky, they can be alone.

Then let’s talk about some knowledge about Phuket dive sites.

Phuket diving is mainly divided into three major routes:

Emperor Island, PP Island, and kingcruiser shipwreck. The picture below is the general diagram, and then I will talk about them one by one.

Emperor Island

Difficulty: one star

Visibility: five stars

Flow of water: one star

Suitable courses: experience diving, skills training at OW and AOW levels and above

Racha Yai is composed of two islands, the Racha Yai and the Racha

Noi).

The Great Emperor Island is located 12 miles south of Phuket Island in Thailand. It was originally only open to the Thai royal family and can be reached by taking a diving boat from Phuket Island in about an hour.

It takes a 30-minute boat ride south from the Great Emperor Island to reach the Little Emperor Island.

The water quality of Emperor Island is clear and the current is gentle, making it an ideal primary diving destination.

Great Emperor Island Bay 1

There are continuous hard corals within 10 meters, which is suitable for beginner divers to visit.

When diving below 18 meters, there are three small sunken ships scattered around, as well as a motorcycle for divers to take photos.

SiamBay, Great Emperor Island

After entering the water from the shallow water area, there are large areas of beautiful coral, and turtles and squid often appear here.

Dive into the depths of the sea along the coral belt, and you will see the statues, temples and stone elephants that sank to the bottom of the sea in memory of the tsunami.

BananaBay, Little Emperor Island

The water quality is crystal clear and has ultra-high visibility all year round.

There is a large area of ??white sand in the shallow water area, which is especially suitable for OW students to do skill training.

Turtles and eagle rays will sometimes swim past you.

Little Emperor Island SouthTip

This is the most difficult dive site on Emperor Island, located at the southernmost tip of Little Emperor Island.

The dive site is 25-30 meters deep and has currents, so it is only suitable for divers above AOW level.

During the dry season, a large number of divers often come here to dive, because if they are lucky, they can dance with the manta ***.

Phi Phi Island

Difficulty: two stars

Visibility: three stars

Flow: two stars

Suitable courses: Skill training for AOW and above levels

PP Island is located 45 nautical miles southeast of Phuket. It has pleasant scenery, is a famous tourist attraction, and is a paradise for diving enthusiasts.

BidaNok

A classic diving spot, the specialty here is the storm of large schools of yellow snapper, which is extremely spectacular. If you are lucky, you may also see sea turtles and black tip reef sharks.

TurtleRock

Turtle Rock. As the name suggests, you come to this dive site to see sea turtles. Turtles are often seen within 10 meters. In addition, you can also see nudibranchs, seahorses, ghost dragons, blade fish and other small things.

PalongWall

This is a quality dive site. If you are lucky, you can see more than 20 black tip reef sharks in one dive.

kingcruiser shipwreck

Difficulty: three stars

Visibility: two stars

Flow: three stars

Suitable courses: Skill training for AOW and above levels

KohDocMai (Flower Island)

Located between Phuket Island and PP Island, the island has no beach and is an isolated island in the sea. , so the dive site is a wall dive site (wall

dive).

The cliffs are covered with beautiful corals, and seahorses, moray eels, and shrimps live on the cliffs. Another feature of this dive site is that there are two large natural holes on the cliff on the east side of the island. Bamboo sharks can also be seen at the bottom of the island.

Sharkpoint

30 minutes' boat ride further from Huadao Island, you will reach Sharkpoint. The reason why it is called Shark Point is that, as the name suggests, there are more chances of encountering sharks here, mainly leopard sharks (Leopard

Shark).

Turtles and seahorses are also often seen here.

KingCruiser ("Songshen" shipwreck)

Near Shark Point, there is a ferry "Songshen" that sank in May 1997.

The boat sank more than 30 meters underwater, and many fish can be seen hiding in the cabin. Therefore, this is a very challenging dive site for advanced divers who like excitement.

So here is a special reminder: when diving here, you must follow the instructions of the diving guide and do not go too deep into the cabin, especially when the current is strong.

Finally, let’s talk about this trip, things to note during the trip and preparations for the trip.

Air tickets: This time I had planned it for a long time, and the vacation was relatively long, so I went to Bangkok for two days before going to Phuket. I bought a discounted ticket from AirAsia, which is still very cheap if you buy it in advance. It should be noted that AirAsia’s discounted tickets do not include checked baggage, so you have to buy it yourself, directly on Taobao. At the same time, in-flight meals are not included, but it’s okay if we don’t have them for more than three hours~

Accommodation: I stayed at the ALPHAdivingcenter hotel during the Phuket diving course, and I booked it for the next two days. It's the cat

story Cathouse Hotel on Patong Beach. The proprietress is also Chinese, so there's no problem with the language. There are many cute cats in the hotel. I like cats very much, so I booked this hotel. Newly opened, nice environment, rooms are very clean. Accommodation in Phuket is divided according to the beach. Generally, Patong Beach is where you have more fun and food, so you choose Patong Beach for accommodation. It's very lively here at night.

Fun: Patong Beach has a unique weekend market, but it must be on weekends. It is also very lively at night, with many bars, transvestite shows and so on. As a tourist city, you can find everything you want to do, and the area near Patong Beach is great. There is also surfing in November, but Phuket is not very suitable at this time. Surfing in Phuket is better before October, and after November you can go kitesurfing in Hua Hin. If it is October, Kata Beach would be a good choice because there are fewer people there and the water and waves are great!

Preparation: There are many things that need to be prepared before traveling, and for the convenience of travel, It is best to store and organize them so that they will be easier to find when the time comes. In terms of medicine, the most basic cold medicine, anti-allergy medicine, and band-aids must be prepared. It’s still hot weather in Phuket, so be sure to pay attention to sun protection. It’s best to bring sun-protective clothing. Of course, sunscreen is indispensable, otherwise you will be a few shades darker. You also need to bring your own toiletries, as the hotel does not provide them.

There are many more, but it’s too chatty, so I’ll talk about it next time~

About diving, if you are interested, we can communicate. Diving is an important part of life. A missed feast, come to Phuket for diving, you will never regret it!

One last word! Phuket diving is highly recommended!

Diving has become a favorite sport since its emergence. , come to Phuket, come to the sea, and when you swim in the water, you will also fall in love with diving.