The Ultimate Scuba Diving Adventure in Phuket
If you’re looking for an unforgettable scuba diving experience in Thailand, the Racha Islands should be at the top of your list. Nestled in the crystal-clear waters of the Andaman Sea, Koh Racha Yai and Koh Racha Noi offer breathtaking dive sites teeming with vibrant marine life, stunning coral formations, and exceptional visibility. Whether you’re a certified diver looking for a thrilling three-dive day trip or a beginner eager to take your first breaths underwater, these islands provide the perfect setting for an exhilarating underwater adventure.
Where Are the Racha Islands?
The Racha Islands are renowned for their diverse marine environments, ranging from shallow coral gardens ideal for beginners to deep dive sites with strong currents for more advanced divers. The underwater topography here includes sloping reefs, boulders, sandy bottoms, and even artificial reef structures that have become thriving marine ecosystems.
Discover Scuba Diving at Koh Racha Yai – Perfect for Beginners
If you’ve always wanted to try scuba diving but have no prior experience, Discover Scuba Diving (DSD) at Koh Racha Yai is the ideal way to get started. This program is designed specifically for beginners, providing a safe and exciting way to explore the underwater world under the supervision of a professional PADI instructor.
What to Expect on a Discover Scuba Diving Trip:
Comprehensive Briefing: Before diving in, your instructor will explain basic diving techniques, safety rules, and how to use the scuba equipment.
Confined Water Practice: In shallow, calm waters, you’ll practice breathing underwater, clearing your mask, and adjusting your buoyancy.
Your First Dive: Once you feel comfortable, it’s time for the real adventure—exploring the coral reefs of Koh Racha Yai at a maximum depth of 12 meters.
What Will You See?
Koh Racha Yai is famous for its gentle slopes, sandy bottoms, and colorful reefs, making it a perfect place for first-time divers. You can expect to encounter:
- Clownfish (Nemo!) hiding among the swaying sea anemones
- Schools of colorful fusiliers and butterflyfish
- Parrotfish, pufferfish, and moray eels
- The occasional sea turtle gliding gracefully through the water
With multiple shallow dive sites and exceptionally clear water, Racha Yai offers an enjoyable and stress-free introduction to the world of scuba diving.
The Three-Dive Day Trip for Certified Divers
For those who already hold a scuba diving certification, the three-dive day trip to Koh Racha Noi and Koh Racha Yai is an unmissable opportunity to explore some of Thailand’s best dive sites. These sites provide a mix of drift diving, deep diving, and reef exploration, ensuring an exhilarating experience for even the most seasoned divers.
Racha Noi South Tip:
As you can assume, it is situated at the southernmost point of the island. Granite boulders make up the underwater seascape, starting at around the depth of twelve meters and dropping to over forty – fifty meters.
You will find a good mix of soft and hard corals, with the walls hosting a flourish of purples, reds, and Sea Whips. Gorgonian sea fans dancing in the current make beautiful underwater scenery.
Racha Noi South Tip is home to the only Manta cleaning station in the region, thus known as the best dive spot amongst all of Phuket to see Giant Manta, which can grow to an impressive seven meters. Visibility at Racha Noi South Tip is often excellent, with visibility beyond thirty meters, allowing you a perfect chance of seeing any Oceanic Manta nearby.
The deep waters and the cleaning station naturally attract bigger marine life, for if nothing else but looking for food. Eagle Rays and Whale Sharks like to swim up from the deep drops while they sift through the Plankton.
Big schools of Black Fin Barracuda and Yellow Fin, up to a meter long, can be seen along with Giant Trevally, Hunting Jacks, and Tunas that speed through the water and use the current to propel themselves. Unicorn Fish, Surgeon Fish, Parrot Fish, White Tip reef Sharks, Blue Ringed Angel Fish can also be spotted here, along with many other marine life species.
The currents at Racha Noi South Tip can be powerful as they come from both sides of the island, hitting the boulders and taking on new directions with force. On other days it is calm and peaceful. Some divers like to make a negative entry, descending to take cover using the boulders, but it is not always necessary. Along with the potential complex currents, open sea, and depths, Racha Noi South Tip is a challenging multi-level dive site where only the experienced diver is recommended.
Racha Noi Bay
Racha Noi Bay resembles most people’s idea of paradise. The Bay is located southeast of the island and is easily recognised by the tiny islet, which at low tide reveals a connecting ridge to the mainland. It is our second dive site within our ‘three dive day trip’ on MV Mermaid. Crystal clear waters on top of white sandy seabeds make it a stunning and inviting dive site, particularly for beginners and novice divers.
To the north and south of the islet, you will discover shallow hard corals and staghorn coral which eventually gives way to a sandy plateau at about fifteen meters. Continue south to follow a rocky reef dropping to over thirty meters, where you can explore Sea Whips and Sea Fans, Nudibranchs, and Sea Cumbers.
An abundance of sea life awaits you, with possible sightings of Scorpion Fish, Milky Fish, Garden Eels, Eagle Rays, Sweetlips, Angelfish, and Octopus. Be sure to explore the seabeds to spot Cuttle Fish, who like to camouflage themselves against the white sand, along with Pipe Fish and Flounder. In calm conditions, take time to investigate the deep blue depths, and you may be fortunate to see Eagle Rays, Leopard Sharks, and possibly Whale Sharks.
Racha Noi Bay is an excellent dive site, with often superb underwater visibility of fifteen to forty meters and a temperature of approximately 29°C/84°F all year round. Be aware at times if the current is powerful, as it will flow to the south and take you a long way if you are not mindful. Equally, it can provide the conditions for a good drift dive if you are an experienced scuba diver.
Racha Yai Island
Racha Yai Island is a dive site enjoyed by many as it is suitable for all diving abilities thanks to its shallow bays and reefs stretching down to over twenty-five meters. While not a big island ( 3.5km long and 1.5km wide), it is big enough to provide shelter on stormy days, usually in the low season when winds pick up from the west, thus adding to its appeal. You can also dive here generally all year round. It is Located just around fifteen kilometers south of Chalong Bay and boasts multiple dive spots.
Racha Yai translates into Big King and is the third destination in our three-dive day trip. An inhabited island where it is breathtakingly beautiful above and below sea level, you will no doubt be eager to explore the diverse marine life thanks to the nutrient-rich waters.
Racha Yai offers a variety of dive locations, mainly along the island’s eastern side, but many are dotted all the way around. Each underwater seascape provides a different dive experience ranging from investigating large schools of tropical fish along the coral reefs, sloping wall dives, wreck diving, or drift diving. It may be worth checking with your dive captain about which site you will be visiting.
You will undoubtedly be in awe of the sights you witness at this versatile diving location. Soft corals, Gorgonian fan corals, and Sponges add colour to the reefs, while there are also hard corals such as Elkhorn and star coral. There are also areas of Staghorn coral that house thousands of Damsel Fish. Various Reef fish, such as Parrotfish, Angelfish, Snapper, Butterflyfish, grouper, and Basslets, live in these waters.
You may be fortunate to witness Trumpetfish swimming alongside Groupers or Moray Eels hiding within the coral or rocks. You may wish to dive down to explore the sandy seabed to catch a glimpse of potential Eagle Rays or small Blue Dot stingrays.
If you are fortunate to dive down to one of the wrecks, you can expect to see large schools of Chevron Barracuda and giant Batfish that take up residence there. Such experiences leave you feeling humbled and honoured to have been part of their environment, even for a short time.
Visibility is excellent here at Racha Yai, ranging from fifteen meters to thirty meters in crystal clear waters; a moderate current makes the ideal dive spot for all abilities who can experience a range of diving depths. Understandably, scuba divers return here time after time.
Here at Thailand Divers, we take every precaution to ensure your safety; consequently, we limit groups to a maximum of four and ask for certified divers only. By doing this, we can keep to our high safety standards and ensure everyone’s needs are met.
