Close your eyes for a second and imagine what paradise should look like: A perfect small white sandy beach that lends the water a cool aquamarine light and the sun shining brightly onto your skin. As you are soaking up the warmth of the sun you hear the waves coming in wetting your feet in the progress. This picture you have does not have to remain an imagination as this is exactly what awaits you at some places in and around Phuket. Thanks to its close proximity to other islands, Phuket has direct and close access to dive sites from other regions such as Hin Daeng, Hin Muang from Koh Lanta or Phi Phi’s Shark Point and Anemone Reef. In Fact it is the only resort area from where you can go to all major dive attractions in Thailand, making it ever so attractive for divers.
If wrecks is what you fancy, then Phuket with its King Cruiser Wreck is where you have to go. This 85 m catamaran passenger ferry with a car deck strayed off course on May 4th, 1997 hitting one of the pinnacles of Anemone Reef in the process. With one of the twin hulls ripped open the King Cruiser sunk within an hour. Thankfully, no one got killed in the process. Lying at depths of 12-30 m and just about 1 km (0.5 miles) from Anemone Reef, the King Cruiser is an ideal wreck dive for all divers, since it offers multiple fully accessible decks, open passenger compartments and bridge. Over the years, the ship was more and more covered by shells, anemones and soft corals and it has become home to countless schooling fishes and giant lionfish as well as big groupers and octopus.
Even with an offer like this, there is site that still manages to stick out. For many divers Racha Noi is the best site outside Hin Daeng and the Similan Islands. About 32 km (20 miles) south of Phuket this beautiful uninhabited island, surrounded by hard coral reef and huge granite boulders north and south, offers the best chance to see mantas and whales. Racha Noi South Point, only suitable for experienced divers, starts with a descent to 18 m down to a large rock formation surrounded by deep water. As tunas and jacks are sweeping past, mantas are hovering majestically over the site. Resting near the reef you are almost certain to find blue-spotted stingrays. Because of the strong currents and surface swells this dive is inadvisable for beginners and is therefore also more frequently visited on liveaboard cruises than on day trips. But beginners should not despair. Banana Bay on the east coast is one of the best spots anywhere in Phuket to acquire the basic skills. With visibility of 20 m and more, small bommies and staghorn reefs are waiting to be explored. But this isn’t everything this amazing site has to offer. A small bay at the northern point of Racha Noi hosts some of the healthiest coral formations in Thailand. Green sheet corals, porites and Formosa bottle-brush corals are as common to this region as is the red octopus. Make sure not to miss this beautiful spot.