Koh
Tao - Turtle Island (Dive sites around Koh
Samui)
Koh Tao, Thailand is one of the
world's few remaining secluded tropical islands which offer quality
amenities but few tourists. Most importantly, Koh Tao provides a superb
scuba
diving & snorkeling experience which will delight the highly experienced and excite the
novice making you want to return time and time again.
The island, which is
situated in the southern part of the Gulf of Thailand, near koh Samui, comprises a mere 21
square kilometres of rain forest surrounded by palm tree ringed beaches.
The rain forest is ideal for hiking, while the beach is better suited for
a lazy holiday. Unless you opt for the mind-blowing scuba or snorkeling
experience.
Because it is so remote, Koh Tao was originally a penal colony for political
prisoners. That stopped some 40 years ago (undoubtedly because the government of
the time realized it was a far too pleasant place to send prisoners! :-) and the
islanders made a comfortable living harvesting coconuts and fishing. It wasn't
until the mid 1980s that the first travelers discovered Koh Tao. But word
spread fast and today, tourism is a major income earner on the island. That
means you can find quality accommodation, such as bungalows complete with
electricity and air conditioning (if you want it), a choice of excellent places
to eat and the chance to meet some fascinating like-minded travelers. What you
won't find are coach loads of travelers or beaches packed with people who think
beaches are only for getting a tan. In fact, you'll be pleasantly surprised to
see how precious few people there are on the beaches.
The Dive Sites
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 Chumporn
Pinnacle, four
massive rocks that together form Koh Tao's premier and most challenging dive
site, reaches the bottom at 34 metres and soars up to within 16 metres of
the surface. Chumporn Pinnacle is not only the best site around Koh Tao to
have a close encounter with a friendly whale shark, it's also a great place
to spot all kinds of pelagic. As you descend over the grey stone monolith schools of
friendly batfish will rise up to greet you. Then off the south past
Barracuda Rock, swim with schools of enormous barracuda through the
thermocline. As you make the tour of the pinnacle, look also for Jenkins
whiptail rays, giant grouper, king mackerel and tuna. And then spend your
last 20 minutes over the top of the pinnacle, watching the reef fish that
swarm through an anemone garden. |
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| Green
Rock, between 28 and 10 metres deep, is a maze of swim throughs, canyons and
caves. At the deeper end of the site, watch for white-tip reef sharks, cobia
and Jenkins whiptail rays. Swim over the minefield, where yellow margin and
titan triggerfish nest in hollows in the sand - but keep an eye out for
protective parents! At the main body of the site, enjoy the challenges to
your buoyancy skills provided by the many swim-throughs. As you wend your
way through the twists and turns, be sure to look for banded sea snakes,
white eyed morays and green and hawksbill turtles. Some of the island's most
spectacular nudibranchs are also found here, along with flatworms and reef
squid. |
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 Twins
or Nangyuan,
just off the west side of Koh Nangyuan, is made up of two groups of rocks,
with depths ranging from 18 metres to 8 metres. At the deeper end of the
site, watch for big grouper, white eyed moray eels and blue spotted fantail
rays among the hard corals, cushion stars and top shells. Be sure to look in
the many small caves for a flash of incandescent blue. Juvenile blue-ringed
and six-barred angelfish shelter in the cool share of the rocks. As you
progress to the shallower side of the site, visit panda clownfish and pink
anemone fish. If you've got particularly sharp eyes, you may spot near-invisible
pipefish, scorpion fish and flatworms. Black tip reef sharks are occasionally
seen close to the shoreline over stag horn coral beds. |
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| White
Rock,
with depths from 20 metres to 8 metres, is one of the most popular sites
around Koh Tao thanks to its accessibility and consistently high quality of
dives. Parrotfish, butterfly fish and angelfish bring the reef to vivid life,
as do Trevor and Tina, two of Koh Tao's most notorious inhabitants. This
pair of titan triggerfish are known for tenaciously defending their nest
from all who pass too closely. So be sure to watch them from a safe
distance. If you are night diving, notice the three or four big barracuda
shadowing you just outside your field of vision; peer into tabletop coral
for a glimpse of scarlet coral crabs and juvenile moray eels; or just muffle
your torch and enjoy the fireworks of the bioluminescent plankton. |
 Southwest
Pinnacle,
where visibility is often the best around the island, ranges from 30 metres
to 6 metres deep. Around the outside of the site, leopard sharks sleep on
the sand, and blue spotted fantail rays in an abundance. As you slowly ascend along the
many small pinnacles, be certain to look closely for raggy scorpion fish and
tiger cowries hidden in and amongst the almost never ending carpet of pink
anemones. Schools of small barracuda and snapper shelter from the current
behind the lager rocks while the occasional visiting whale shark look on
from the blue. |
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| Hin
Wong Pinnacle, a large site on the east side of Koh Tao, bottoms out at 40 metres and
reaches to within 10 metres of the surface. Black coral, soft coral and colorful
sea fans fringe the table top rock formation. Look here for
Jenkins whiptail rays and hawksbill turtles Porcupine and pufferfish defy
the laws of physics and streamlining as they flee from noisy divers. Keep
quiet and you may watch them at your leisure. That yellow sunburst beneath
that rock may have been a juvenile cube boxfish, and snapper and sweetlips
abound. As you begin your relaxed ascent, spend some time watching the moon
wrasse and banner fish in and around the hard corral that covers the top of
the site. |
| Ao
Leuk, a
sandy bay on the south side of Koh Tao. offers depths of 18 metres. Fanciful
rock formations, boulder corals and other coral tors give this site the
eerie feeling of a surrealist painting. As you swim along the coastline,
pause and give the cleaner wrasse a chance to give you a thorough once-over,
then be sure to look under the rocks for masked porcupine fish and black-spotted
puffers. Notice also the many cowries, cushion stars and nudibranchs along
your course. In the sand, hungry wrasse and mullet stir up the bottom,
blowing the peacock sole's cover, and at the surface crocodile longtoms go
about the business of hunting for dinner. Watch the best protected long-spine
sea urchin. Finish your dive by paying a visit to the green and hawksbill
turtles that are sometimes sighted here. |
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| Shark
island or Red Rock, an elliptical island just off the Southeast coast of Koh Tao, is one of
the most varied dive sites in the area, ranging from 24 metres to the
surface. Venture into the blue to look for the whale sharks, leopard sharks
and reef sharks that give the site its name. Even if you have no luck there,
you can be assured of a beautiful aquatic wander through the most stunning
of Koh Tao;s soft corals in hues of purple, crimson and gold. Throngs of
bright coral fish will accompany you and you may sight solitary great
barracuda, pairs of emperor angelfish, orange-spined unicorn fish and the
resident turtle. Huge boulders and rock formations lend this site a unique
topography that is accessible to divers of all levels. |
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Sail
Rock, the famous pinnacle
that juts from 40 metres to the surface, is approximately halfway between
Koh Tao and Koh Phangan. Begin your dive above the thermocline and watch
closely for white-eye and yellow-edged morays that lurk in creaks in the
jagged rock. Tuna, king mackerel ad jacks circle just off the pinnacle,
while octopuses and scorpion fish magically blend in with the colourful soft
and hard corals. Then visit the Chimney, a dazzling vertical swim-through
that ascends from 18 metres to 8 metres. Rise up slowly enough to enjoy the
patters of light and shadow and frequent windows into the blue that stud the
walls of this natural rock tunnel. Finish with a bright garden of anemones
and coral that rings the top of the site.
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