Diving in Similan Islands

Thailand

220 dive sites

119 dive centres

The Similans, for us, are all about the sheer scale of the place. Those huge granite boulders, smoothed over millennia, create incredible swim-throughs and gulleys. You’ll feel tiny next to them, especially at sites like Elephant Head Rock, where the light plays off the formations in a truly dramatic way. We love watching the blue-fin trevally hunt through schools of fusiliers so thick they almost block the sun, particularly in the channels between islands. Visibility here is often phenomenal, 20 to 30 meters on a good day, letting you really appreciate the hard corals - lots of staghorn and honeycomb. Keep an eye out for blennies popping their heads from the coral, particularly the Lubbock's combtooth. While the Similans are often touted for manta rays, especially between December and April, we’ve had more consistent luck spotting them at Koh Bon or Koh Tachai, just a little further north. Richelieu Rock, while technically outside the Similans, is often combined in liveaboard trips and that’s where you’ll have your best chance for a whale shark encounter, typically late in the season. Current can pick up, so be ready for some exhilarating drifts, particularly around the pinnacles.