Scuba Diving Holiday in Thailand
If you’re looking for a scuba diving holiday in Thailand one of the most popular options is what I like to call the ‘Andaman Safari‘. This isn’t a light hearted type of holiday and would not be of much interest to non-divers. It normally takes 14 days in total (or it should in my opinion) and would include 6 days and nights on a Thailand liveaboard to the Similans at the heart of the holiday.
You would have the opportunity to do 22 dives in the Similan Marine National Park and beyond but as I said above this is a heavy schedule and not suitable to non-divers. If you have never been on a Liveaboard then maybe 4 dives a day for 5 days wouldn’t be the ideal time to start. Thailand dive centres in Phuket and Kho Lak offer many different types and durations of liveaboard to the Similans, Richeliu Rock and Burma Banks and if it’s your first time I would suggest a shorter trip maybe 3days - 2nights.
If you are a committed diver however and looking for a scuba diving holiday in Thailand have a look at my suggested itinerary:
- Day 1 Depart your home
- Day 2 Arrive Phuket and transfer to your hotel
- Day 3 Take this day to rest and see a little of Phuket sights.
- Day 4 Board your liveaboard, usually in the evening, and travel to the Similans over night
- Day 5 to Day 9 There will be four dives in total offered per day.
- Day 10 After your two early morning dives you will return to your Phuket hotel.
- Day 11 Rest Day
- Day 12 Rest Day
- Day 13 Fly Home
- Day 14 Arrive home
The positive side to this type of holiday in Thailand is that you get to see the best dive sites the country has to offer. The negative side is that you would miss out on all the culture and sites around Thailand, it really depends what you want from a holiday! If you’re like me and many other divers who travel to Thailand often then you can have the best of both worlds. On one trip you can do the liveaboard and on your next trip stick with dayboat diving. The advantage of doing it this way is that you get all the dive sites. Liveaboards don’t often visit the same sites the day boats do.
Scuba diving holidays in Thailand are just as varied as the country itself and after only one visit you should try and get back to somewhere different the next time to dive something new!
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Comments
Hi Gary
Most liveaboards in Thailand, and everywhere for that matter, would require you to be at least an Advanced Open Water diver. The reason for this is some of the dives each day would be deeper than the allowed 18m on regular OW certifications.
I would advice though that with this many dives you get yourself a Nitrox course, this can be done in one day and again most liveaboard operators in Thailand can sort this out for you, it can even be done as part of your normal dives.
Great post you have there and a clean looking site. Could i suggest that as well as joining one of these types of dive trips you could also sort out a private yacht charter and do your own dives from that. I think this would be possable in Thailand.
Mall
Sounds like the ultimate scuba diving adventure! Does the Andaman Safari require further training or will a regular OW certification do? Would want to get into this and see what a dive in the national park has to offer. Moreover, staying in a liveaboard for a few days seems interesting. - gary