Racha Noi
Racha Noi Island is located a few kilometers south of Racha Yai Island and is another popular destination for day diving tours from Phuket.
Unlike its neighbor, the island of Racha Noi is uninhabited and the snow-white sandy beaches of this island will delight you with its pristine purity. The bottom topography around the island is also varied - here you will find small bays with white sand and small reef banks of hard corals, walls covered with soft corals, going down to 70 meters, and huge boulders the size of a three-story house. Due to the great depths available, Racha Noi island is very popular for technical diving.
The island is located almost in the open sea, so the transparency of the water on it is usually higher than on Racha Yai. The eastern and western sides of the island are ideal for divers of all skill levels, but the northern and especially southern parts are only accessible to experienced divers who can dive in strong currents.
At most dive sites on Racha Noi Island during the season there is a high probability of encountering whale sharks and manta rays.
Banana Bay
On the eastern side of the island is the most popular dive site of the island - Banana Bay . This long bay, which is divided into three more dive sites, has a shallow part that is perfect for Discover Scuba Diving and Open Water Diver courses. However, if moving east or southeast, divers can easily reach depths of 30 meters or more.
If you dive in the northern part of the bay, at the Banana Rock dive site, then at these depths the bottom topography changes from flat sandy to steep with huge boulders and depths of up to 50 m. In this part you can conduct special Deep Diver courses and perform technical dives.
Marina Bay - Marina Bay
On the western side of the island is Marina Bay . The minimum depth in this bay is 10 meters, so only certified divers can dive here. The flat bottom of this bay is covered with thickets of Stoghorn corals, and the shallow part of the bay abuts steep cliffs covered with fan corals.
If you are interested in deep diving, then moving west you will find yourself at huge boulders, the walls of which go to a depth of 30 meters or more. About a hundred meters from the shore in this bay there are two elevations - pinnacles with depths of up to 60-70 meters around them, which allows for trimix dives.
North Tip
In the northern part of Racha Noi island there is a dive site called North Tip or northern point. On the surface, this dive site is bordered by beautiful cliffs covered with trees.
The central part of the dive site is quite simple - a flat bottom covered with a variety of hard corals smoothly goes to a depth of 20 meters or more. However, if you go to the western side of the dive site you will find yourself at huge rocks with passages between them. The bottom in this part goes down quite sharply. Look carefully around - you can see large manta rays soaring in the water column.
Moving along the huge stone slabs you can easily reach a depth of 40-45 meters. In this area you can often find whitetip reef sharks and huge marbled stingrays.
However, to dive to such depths you must be a technical diver or at least a Deep Diver.
South Tip
And finally, on the southern part of the island is our favorite dive site - South Tip or South Pinnacle . We can say that South Tip is the pearl of Racha Noi island. From October to April we regularly see huge manta rays here.
The minimum depth here is about 9 meters and, at the same time, there is almost always a strong current, so a safety stop almost always has to be done while drifting.
The upper part of the South Tip consists of several plateaus located at depths of 9, 12 and 18 meters and covered with soft corals and anemones.
As a rule, between the plateaus you can hide from the strong current and look out for huge manta rays. The edges of the plateau on the eastern, western and southern sides drop down with steep rocky walls covered with a variety of corals. Frequent guests at this dive site are huge trevally and trevally, which hunt schools of small fish.
Descending below to a depth of 50-60 meters, technical divers will meet large marbled stingrays and whitetip reef sharks. The depths around the southern ledge reach 70 meters and very often downward currents “blow” along the walls going down, which can greatly complicate the ascent.
When planning technical dives at this dive site, you must take a very responsible approach to calculating gas reserves and choosing decompression gases.
As a rule, our dive center conducts Advanced Open Water courses, special Deep Diver and Drift Diver courses, as well as technical diving courses on Racha Noi island.