PATTAYA NEAR ISLANDS DIVE SITES

 Koh Sak Island

Dive Site Names: Koh Sak East, Koh Sak West, Deep Reef, The Cubes, HTMS Kut Wreck
Location: In the Pattaya Near Islands group Koh Sak is the most popular nearby site, just over 10km west of Pattaya Beach.
Conditions: Good year-round with good protection from strong currents and winds.
Visibility: ranges between 5m (16ft) and 20m (73ft)
Average depth: 10m (30ft)
Max depth: 30m (100ft)

Koh Sak must be the most dived site by many of Pattaya’s dive shops as it is a perfect training site, with sea turtles, muck diving and the nearby KUT wreck. Dive leaders will be very specific to take care and attention when in the centre of the bay or on the surface due to tour boats and potential jet skis, surface markers are a must to ensure a safe ascent.

The east and west headlands have some very interesting and diverse shallow reefs and underwater artificial reef projects (the Cubes), as little as 5m (15 ft) in the west of the bay. You can scuba dive all around this kidney-shaped island but the bay diving area is most protected from the weather most of the year it sometimes has some of the best visibility.

At various times of yea,r you can enjoy drift diving here as well as practice your deep diving skills by heading out the deep reef, a short swim from the west point of the island. Divers will often be able to dive with sea turtles here too with at least 4 or 5 resident turtles living and feeding here daily. Koh Sak really does offer you amazing marine life with plentiful and varied muck diving opportunities for those who like exploring the sands looking for macro life such as seahorse, nudibranchs, shrimp and more!

 Koh Larn (Ko Lan) Coral Island

Dive Site Names: Had Nuan, South Point, Saxaphon Bay, Shark Point, Laem Tong, Seahorse City, HTMS Mattaphon Wreck
Location: In the Pattaya Near Islands group Koh Lan is the largest of three, just over 12km west of Pattaya Beach.
Conditions: Good year-round with good protection from strong currents and winds.
Visibility: ranges between 5m (16ft) and 15m (50ft)
Average depth: 7m (23ft)
Max depth: 22m (73ft)

Koh Larn or Ko Lan is the largest of the nearby islands in Pattaya. Around it are some of the best dive sites in the near island cluster. Had Nuan Beach Bay (Golden Beach) has numerous giant corals in very shallow water, ideal for snorkellers and novice divers. In the bay at the southernmost point of the island is a breakwater and a small concrete platform, about 50m (150 ft) from this platform are large concrete rings under the water. These rings are covered in soft corals and fans, and many reef fish have made the rings their home.

To the south end of Had Nuan Bay, the island wraps around leading to the South Point Dive Site. The reef gets a little deeper as it rounds the southwest headland, it continues north until reaching the next bay. Saxophone Bay, or White Rock as it is also known. You will find a few very large coral bommies along this stretch of coastline. Although you might not be able to get any really deep water here you will be pleasantly surprised at the varied amount of marine life in the shallow waters.

Other sites around Koh Larn include Laem Tong Shark Point, which yes you guessed it offers shark diving. But it’s not what you might imagine! we are talking Bamboo Nurse Sharks! These dosile relaxed sharks chill on the rocky ledges which descend down to around 20m. This is one of the deeper dive sites beside the HTMS Mattaphon Wreck which is just off the island at 22m deep.

Koh Khrok Island

Dive Site Names: Koh Khrok Reef, KK Bay
Location: This is the closest of all the dive sites off the Pattaya coast, 9km east of Pattaya Beach.
Conditions: During northerly winds this is a good site for novices.
Visibility ranges between 5m (16ft) and 15m (50ft).
Average depth: 7m (23ft)
Maximum depth: 12m (40ft)

Koh Khrok is the nearest island to Pattaya, just 9km away. a long finger-shaped islet, it features a sloping reef ranging from 5m deep to approx 12m deep. There is a huge anemone garden down the south end full of clownfish and you will also see a plethora of hard corals and sea fans.

Although Koh Khrok Reef is the best and most visited site on this island, you may visit KK Bay as this offers protection from currents when you don’t want drift dive or just want to explore the bay looking for giant seahorse! This dive site is commonly used for night diving and it does not disappoint, the wide variety of coral here makes for an interesting visit after dark as the starry coral polyps come alive in the evening along with the nocturnal marine life such as Moray eels, octopus, squid and cuttlefish!

This site is always one to watch when strong incoming tides are present, drift dives along this side of the island can be quite fun. although in a dropping tide the waters are calm and tranquil. This site is home to many reef fish, and nudibranch and is home to many hawksbill sea turtles with visits from Green turtles once in a while. in fact, you are 99% likely to be diving with sea turtles at Koh Khrok