Looking for the best Koh Tao diving sites?
Lucky for you, there’s a lot of them! It’s one of the top places to go scuba diving in Thailand.
This travel tip will probably make it harder for you to choose a diving spot… as there are so many. Best is to try them all!
Go scuba diving in Koh Tao with Nava Scuba Diving. They offer Discover Scuba Diving, 3-day PADI open water dive, 2-day PADI open water dive, refresher dives and fun dives. Book here.
Top Koh Tao Diving Sites
Mango Bay
Located to the north of Koh Tao the area around Mango Bay makes a nice relaxing dive. With depths ranging from 2 to 15 meters its ideal for beginners and snorkelers. Hard and soft coral formations here are plentiful along with a variety of sponges and clams. The bay is only accessible by boat and makes a popular snorkelers day trip. Drop in further around the northwestern tip of the island and drift into the bay area to avoid the crowds.
Sail Rock
One of the more famous Scuba diving sites in the Koh Samui archipelago. It is an iceberg shaped pinnacle that rises from the sandy sea floor at 40 metres and rises 15 metres above the surface. It is a suitable dive site for all levels of diver, from Discover Scuba up.
Its surface consists of small patches of hard and soft coral. Common fauna that may be seen include barracuda, batfish, jacks, occasional whale sharks, and many other species of tropical fish. The currents can vary considerably, but generally are mid to strong. Visibility is usually in the 10-30 meter range. For more advanced divers, there is a vertical ‘swim through’ on the northwest side of the rock. Commonly called “The Chimney”, it begins at a depth of 18 meters and exits the rock again at depths of 12 and 6 meters. There are no associated fees as yet with diving Sail Rock.
Chumphon Pinnacles
Widely regarded as the Gulf of Thailand’s premier dive sites, 5 km Northwest of Koh Tao. The site is comprised of one huge granite pinnacle with some smaller pinnacles rising from the bottom. 40 Meters. Bull Sharks, schooling Barracuda. Batfish, Giant Gropers, Pacific Lionfish, occasional Whalesharks.
Southwest Pinnacles
Consisting of seven granite pinnacles ranging from 5 to 30 metres deep and located around 12km off the south west coast of Koh Tao is one of the islands best dive sites. The shallower sections of the pinnacles are covered in anemones, whip corals and sea fans. Big groupers and barracudas can often be seen here and you may be lucky enough to spot even larger visitors.
Green Rock
Green Rock offers several small swim throughs, caves and crevices where marine life can be seen sheltering. The boulders range in depth from 5 metres down to around 32. There is often a strong current here that you can use to drift around the submerged pinnacles so its not really recommended for inexperienced divers. You will certainly encounter Yellow Margin and Titan Trigger fish here as it forms a popular breeding ground for them … so approach with caution.
White Rock
Two large granite boulders make up the White Rock dive site. An expansive coral garden can be found here at around 10 meters that’s teeming with schools of butterfly fish and angelfish. Blue spotted stingrays are also a common sight on this dive. White Rock is also a popular night dive spot where feather stars, and an array of crustaceans can been seen hunting for food.
Red Rock
This Koh Tao diving site is also referred to as Nang Yuan Pinnacle. It starts at around 2 metres and drops to 22. The pinnacle itself is nothing special and the main attractions to this site are the swim throughs. The entrance to the swim through can be found if you leave the pinnacle and head west towards Koh Nang Yuan. This is usually done as a drift dive down to Japanese Garden where you can relax for the safety stop.
Twin Pinnacles
On the far side of Koh Nang Yuan starting at around 5 meters below the surface and dropping to a depth of 18 metres is Twin Peaks or just “Twins”. This is an ideal site for beginners due to its depth and ease of navigation. The rocks are embedded into white sand and there is no shortage of marine life here. A friendly pair of rare saddleback clownfish and be found to the western side of the larger of the Twins.
Japanese Gardens
This dive site is named after the ornate arrangement of coral boulders here. Situated on the east side of Koh Nang Yuan and with depths ranging from 2 to 12 meters it is suitable for snorkelers & beginners. Plenty of staghorn and plate coral can be observed in the shallows. A popular drift dive can be done from Red Rock through a series of swimthroughs and emerging into Japanese Gardens for a relaxing safety stop amongst the myriad coral formations.
Hin Wong Pinnacle
Situated on the east side of Koh Tao is Hin Wong Pinnacle. This site comprises several large granite boulders covered with sea fans and whip corals, as well as filefish, shrimpfish, coral grouper and many other reef fish. You may encounter the resident Green Turtle if you’re lucky. The summit is a tabletop rock formation within about 10 meters of the surface and the maximum depth at Hin Wong is around 32 meters.
Laem Thien Pinnacle
Laem Thian Pinnacle is a great rocky dive site near Mao Bay full of swim throughs, caverns and small caves. There are a few steep walls with some predators hunting for smaller prey. Some excellent white soft coral and sea whips can be admired along the wall at depths between 18 and 5 meters. It is possible to combine this cave dive with the beauties of shallow reef diving inside Mao Bay or Aow Mao.
Shark Island
Named after its resemblance to a dorsal fin, Shark Island is a twin rock outcrop situated to the southeast of Koh Tao. Each side of the islet offers a different array of marine life and features making it almost two sites in one! On the east side you’ll find myriad soft corals, gorgonians and sponges while the west offers hard coral formations that are home to moray eels, nudibranchs, sting rays and the odd Leopard shark. Titan triggerfish can be very aggressive here so approach with caution. Maximum depth at this site is 25 metres.
Unicorn Wreck
It was rumored at the time of sinking in 1989 that the Unicorn was sunk on purpose as an insurance scam. The 60 meter long cargo vessel was reported to have a hold full of expensive tuna fish which turned out to be inexpensive dog food, hence the nickname it later acquired – the “dog food” wreck. Lying around 12km off Mango Bay and in 50 meters of water it is also a technical diving site. Still mostly intact with the majority of the obtrusive fishing nets now removed some penetration is possible. The wreck is now home to some big red snappers and patrolling groupers.
Torpedo Wreck
The Torpedo is a 70 meter Japanese cargo vessel sitting upright in around 55 meters of water an hour north of Koh Tao, she sank in the mid 1970’s. Due to the depths involved this has been classified a technical dive for experienced divers only. There are three areas of penetration however visibility is usually poor at depth. The deck is at 45 meters and the cargo holds are still full of teak logs, with a few scattered on the seabed.
Hin Ngam
Same wider bay as Aow Luek, shallow training or sheltered dive dive.
Hin Pee Wee
Next to White Rock, 30m.
