Phi Phi Islands
The Phi Phi Islands are a group of four islands located approximately 50 kilometers east of Phuket. This is one of the most remote destinations for daily diving. It takes 2.5 hours to get to Phi Phi by dive boat, but it's certainly worth it!
If you want to dive with sharks and turtles, or like to dive in grottoes, then this is the place where you will find it all!
The northernmost and largest of the islands is Phi Phi Don Island, the only inhabited island of the entire group. The island is famous for its nightlife, especially the fire shows on the beach. But, as a rule, they practically do not dive on the island itself; they usually go to islands located to the south.
However, it is on this island that lovers of cave diving will be able to please themselves with two interesting dive sites - Snake Cave, so named because of the sea snakes living there, and Bell Chamber Cave, the far hall of which resembles the interior bells
To the south of Phi Phi Don Island is Phi Phi Ley Island, one of the most popular islands for diving and also famous for the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo DiCaprio.
On the western side of the island there are such popular dive sites as Palong or Palong Wall and Turtle Rock . If you dream of swimming with sharks, then the first dive site is just for you. In the shallow end, between 3 and 10 meters of water, you will almost always find a few blacktip reef sharks.
Don't be afraid, they never attack people. Under the very wall of the island you will find many small grottoes and caves in which sharks usually rest. Take a flashlight with you - you can always see something interesting in the grottoes.
The second dive site, Turtle Rock, naturally gets its name from the sea turtles that can almost always be found here during the high season. The shallow part of the dive site is also replete with grottoes, one of which even goes right through the island.
Also at both dive sites you can find octopus, cuttlefish and, of course, various reef fish.
A little south of these dive sites is Maya Bay, at the exit from which you can dive into the grotto of the same name - Maya Cave. The depth in the grotto is small - only 7 meters. The grotto is quite wide and goes almost 40 meters deep into the island. In the grotto you can meet blacktip reef sharks and marbled stingrays.
Another permanent inhabitant of this grotto is lobsters. The grotto is replete with air pockets in which you can float. Breathing in these pockets is not recommended due to the increased carbon dioxide content. This location is great for diving as part of the Cavern Diver course.
A little further south, at a depth of about 20-22 meters, there is another cave, which is also excellent for cave courses and diving courses in the side configuration of cylinders - sidemount .
There are also several dive sites on the eastern side of the island. I would especially like to note the dive site Viking Cave , so named due to the above-water cave of the same name.
Opposite this cave, at a depth of about 20 meters, an artificial reef was built - practically a small city made of concrete cubes. Over the years, the reef has become overgrown with corals and has become home to a huge number of living creatures.
Not long ago, not far from this place, a ship provided by the Thai Navy, Kled Keaow , was specially sunk. The ship became a new artificial reef, which also attracted a lot of fish and various small inhabitants.
Even further south of the island of Phi Phi Ley is the island of Bida Nai (Koh Bida Nai) . This beautiful rock is shaped like a tooth. The island's underwater terrain is varied. The western and northern sides of the island are a sheer wall covered with soft corals and sponges, going down to a depth of 20-30 meters.
The eastern side is flatter. Off the island, leopard and blacktip reef sharks can often be found on the sandy bottom. Schools of barracudas swim near the island.
On the southern side of the island, at a depth of about 20 meters, there is a group of rocks that have formed tunnels and passages through which you can swim.
The southernmost of the Phi Phi Islands is Bida Nok Island. Like Bida Nai, the island is a rock in the sea. In our opinion, this island is the most interesting for most divers.
The northern side of the island has sheer walls covered with soft corals, going down to a depth of 35 meters. If you move from the northern side of the island along the western wall, maintaining a depth of 10 meters, you can find a wonderful grotto consisting of several rooms. As a rule, you can find lobsters and various shrimps in this grotto. Be sure to take flashlights with you if you plan to dive in this grotto.
The southwestern part of the island is a slope gradually sloping from the shallow part (5-6 meters) to a depth of about 30 meters. At a depth of about 10 meters you will almost always come across a huge school of yellow fusiliers.
Turtles are also found in this part of the island. Large tuna and trevally almost always swim along the wall, and you can also find schools of fairly large barracudas.
In the south of the island there is a wide sandy lagoon with shallow depths. Beginner divers should start their dive from the southern part. The bottom of the lagoon is covered with coral banks with a variety of reef fish and, if you are lucky, you may also find a leopard shark here.
The eastern part of the island also features a rock wall that in some places overhangs divers. In this shady area you can almost always find large lionfish and moray eels.
To the east of Bida Nok and Bida Nai islands is another dive site often referred to as the Phi Phi Islands. This place is called Hin Bida . This dive site is located quite far from Phuket, so it is visited extremely rarely.
Hin Bida is attractive because you can often see leopard sharks and turtles at this dive site.
