Phuket Scuba Diving Adventure

We had recently done a trip to Cambodia where we flew through Bangkok and this gave us the perfect opportunity to do a short local flight to Phuket for a bit of scuba diving.

We had also explored diving destinations closer to Bangkok, but most reviews suggested that the diving would be better in Phuket.

There are literally 20 or more flights a day, many under $100 between Phuket and Bangkok so not much of a worry. The flight was just over an hour.

We dove in Phuket over 10 years ago and we had fond memories. It’s always nice to see different types of creatures on the other side of the world. We didn’t have room for all our own equipment as this was really just an add-on to an existing holiday that we were doing with carry-on bags only! That said, we still brought our dive masks, computers, and of course my camera!

We stayed at the Meridien Phuket Beach Resort by Marriott and the local dive shop Sea fun Divers took great care of us. This is a superb operation with their own dive boat and experienced staff. The Meridien also has one of the nicest house reefs in Phuket, which we were told was rare.

Shore dive at Meridien House Reef (or Relax Reef)

The first day, we opted to try the house reef. This small area is roped off and just outside the dive shop and part of the secluded cove beach that is private to the Marriott.

A super easy entry with about 30 feet of visibility and we did over an hour with our 2 bar aluminum tanks.

We saw plenty of life out there and one of the best finds was a honeycomb moray eel. We also loved the juvenile harlequin sweetlips which is black and white and looks so different than the adult form which is more speckled.

Other notable sightings included many giant clams, 3 terra batfish, many small domino damsels, and various anemonefish. We even saw a large tasseled scorpionfish and many bicolored blennies with bright orange tails.

Boat Dives at Racha Yai and Racha Noi

The next day we lucked out with a three-tank boat dive with Sea Fun Divers on their private boat.

All the dive boats leave from Chalong Pier, so the first step was a van transfer to the dock to meet the boat. This was about a 30-minute drive from the Meridien but something to consider when booking accommodations. We had considered staying further north which would have made it a long transfer to and from the pier to go diving.

The Sun Sea Divers boat was large enough for a couple of dozen divers easily. It had two decks and an air-conditioned interior lounge. They had a compressor on board to fill both nitrox and air tanks and there were plenty of snacks including freshly sliced fruits and even some baked goodies. The kitchen even put out a full lunch meal. All part of the day’s diving package. Very cool.

Bungalow Bay (Racha Yai) Dive Site

The boat traveled over an hour to the remote island of Racha Yai and into a secluded bay area called Bungalow Bay. The water was warm on the surface, but we were surprised to feel an undercurrent that felt like it was in the 70s. The water had a champagne bubbly look suggesting there was cold fresh water mixing with the seawater.

We were lucky to have a private guide (Jorgen) who had also guided us on the shore dive the previous day. He brought us on a nice hour-long dive. The reef area close to shore had many spots of rubble but there were many healthy patches and lots of life.

Much of the dive was quite shallow, averaging 30-40 feet. Some divers from another group went out of the sheltered bay into a deeper area and the current took them right across the bay we were told.

A highlight of this dive was an enormous school of sardines that at one point made a circle around us and were visible in all directions. Amazingly they seemed to go on forever. We’ve seen bait balls before at the Blue Heron Bridge and in Grand Cayman but this was the largest bait ball we had ever seen. Incredible!

Other notable sightings were a huge giant moray eel, collared butterflyfish, giant clams, white jawfish, and a juvenile terra batfish.

Camera Bay (Racha Noi) Dive Site

The short boat trip to neighboring Racha Noi was only a few minutes and after an hour’s surface interval we dove into our second site of the day, Camera Bay.  So named because someone has lost a high-end camera we were told. It still hasn’t been found.

Also fairly shallow, much of this dive was done in the 60-foot range and we saw large boulders and huge coral structures. There were vast patches of what looked like elkhorn coral and staghorn coral. Many enormous mushroom-like coral structures were quite impressive.

We also saw our first cuttlefish ever on this dive which was amazing. A master of disguise, this 18-inch fellow was hovering on the bottom, and we almost missed him! The guide was pointing out something else and wow, there he was!

Other notable sightings included neon pigmy gobies, a beautiful nudibranch, various damselfish, and beautiful anemones.

Marittas Rock (Racha Noi) Dive Site

After a nice lunch (all included on the boat as part of the dive trip!) we had another hour or so of surface interval and we were ready for the third dive of the day at Marittas Rock.

This was another leisurely shallow dive in around 40 feet of water. We saw a second more active cuttlefish here as well as plenty of reef fish, pink anemonefish, Moorish idol, a lobster, and a huge Jorunna rubescent.

We also saw huge puffers here and a large patch with 16 crown-of-thorns starfish, all in one place!

Conclusion

It was a gray day for diving and the cloudy rainy day made for good but not great visibility. I had also opted to bring just a light instead of my strobe in an effort to save weight in the luggage. In retrospect, the strobe would have done a much better job as many of the shy creatures hid from the approaching light. The brightness of the strobe was also missed with the dark overcast sky.

Our dive guide told us that Phi Phi Island and Sharks Point were other regular sites for the boat and that these were equally nice and had the occasional leopard shark sighting. Had we been staying longer we would have definitely loved to join them for more diving at these sites.

While doing only 4 dives seems almost a tease when traveling all the way from Miami to Phuket, it was still way better than doing no dives at all. We were thrilled to see cuttlefish for the first time and the largest nudibranch (a 5-inch long Jorunna rubescens) we had ever seen.

We were happy to have been able to add a few days of diving to our Asian adventure combined with Cambodia and an Istanbul stopover.

For some ideas of top-side activities: A Few Days in Phuket