Clear water, white sand and reefs made for easy exploring.
Racha Yai is one of our favourite places for courses and first dives, with sheltered bays, generally good visibility and mild currents. White sandy bottoms and shallow coral reefs also make it one of Phuket's most popular snorkeling destinations. But it isn't just for beginners—deeper reefs, artificial reefs and wrecks give experienced divers plenty to explore too.
The island can be dived year-round. In the dry season we mainly dive the west coast, including Bungalow Bay and Siam Bay; during the rainy season, the sheltered east coast opens up Bays 1–5, Home Run Reef and the wrecks.
Natural reefs, coral gardens, artificial reefs and coral restoration projects give the different sites plenty of variety.
Large coral-covered boulders continue down from the island, with extensive hard corals and particularly large areas of fire coral on the southern side. Artificial reef and coral-restoration structures add plenty of small hiding places around the bay.
Large coral-covered boulders and fire corals slope down towards a coral garden, while isolated coral bommies and artificial reef structures sit across the white sandy bottom.
Keep an eye out for the school of young barracuda—they are surprisingly curious and sometimes come remarkably close to divers.
Phuket Dive Park sits on the sandy bottom of Siam Bay, with elephants, Thai figures and older artificial reef structures now beautifully covered in soft corals and surrounded by small fish.
The newest addition is a five-metre-tall Hanuman sculpture, installed in March 2026 and depicting Hanuman swallowing Rama's pavilion from the Thai Ramakien epic. We're looking forward to watching this brand-new structure slowly become part of the reef.
Bay 1 and 2 have a beautiful shallow hard coral reef starting at just 2–3 metres, gently sloping towards white sand dotted with coral bommies. Further out sit the artificial reef and several wrecks, including the two we visit most often—Harruby and Meditation—with batfish regularly hanging around them.
Don't rush the shallows. Coral bommies, garden eels and schools of fish under the boats give us plenty of reasons to spend the end of the dive in just a few metres of water.
Between Bays 3 and 5, the landscape becomes rockier and more open, with sand and scattered coral before the hard coral picks up again towards Bay 5.
Home Run Reef is one of our favourite places for a drift dive, following the current along massive boulders with patches of hard coral and schools of fish gathering around the reef.
The huge boulders and open landscape give this dive a completely different feel from Racha Yai's sheltered bays.
Tell us your dates and we’ll take it from there.
English
Deutschdemnächst
中文即将推出
