Diving Phi Phi and surrounds with Visa Diving Center

Please click on the underlined dive sites names to read a description

The Bida Islands

Phi Phi Marine Park

Bida Nok and Bida Nai are two small uninhabited islands south of Phi Phi Don which offer five different dives within themselves. Large rocks form a mountainous terrain featuring walls that drop to 30 meters, swim thrus, small inlets, sloping reefs and giant sea fans often hiding Tiger tail seahorses. During the months of March, April, and May, Ornate ghost pipefish can be found. Bearded scorpion fish hide among the corals under hovering lionfish. Barracudas, Blue Fin trevallies and tuna can be seen out in the blue. Whilst Red Tail butterfly fish, Blue Ringed angel fish and Moorish Idols decorate the reef with their vivid colors. Sea anemones complete with brilliantly colored clownfish covering the reefs. Leopard Sharks and Blue Spotted sting rays can be found on the shallow sand bottom, whilst Black Tip reef sharks cruise the outer reefs. Often the unexpected passes through, with sightings of Manta Rays, Whale Sharks and Eagle Rays not being uncommon.

Koh Phi Phi Marine Park

Phi Phi Marine Park

The first and most popular trip is the one to our local dive sites. This trip takes you to the stunning Marine Park around Koh Phi Phi and her sister islands the Bidas. There are about 25 different dive sites in this area. Large rocks form a mountainous terrain featuring walls that drop to 30 meters, swim-throughs, small inlets, sloping reefs and Giant sea fans often hiding Tiger tail seahorses. Giant Gorgonian sea fans act as gates over the entrances of swim-throughs, which in turn are full of glassfish all moving gracefully apart as you pass. During the months of March, April and May Ornate ghost pipefish can be found. Bearded scorpion fish hide among the corals under hovering lionfish. Barracudas, Blue Fin Trevallys and tuna can be seen out in the blue. Whilst Turtles, Red Tail Butterfly fish, Blue Ringed angel fish and Moorish Idols decorate the reef with their vivid colors. Sea Anemones complete with brilliantly colored Clownfish cover the reefs. Leopard Sharks and Blue Spotted sting rays can be found on the shallow sand bottom, whilst Black Tip reef sharks cruise the outer reefs. Often the unexpected pass through with sightings of Manta Rays, Whale Sharks and Eagle Rays not being uncommon. This trip includes 2 dives with an experienced local guide, lunch and snacks on our custom built dive boat that for your convenience has a hot shower and western toilet. We leave at 8:30 AM and are back around 2 PM.

King Cruiser Wreck

Wreck trip

The second trip offered is to the King Cruiser Wreck and its surrounding reefs, sharks point and anemone reef. This trip can be taken as a two or three dive package with the first dive being the King Cruiser, a car ferry that sunk in 1997 en route to Phi Phi. Why use a car ferry when there are no roads or cars in Phi Phi Island? It was used for supplies to the whole Island so the car deck was a storage room for supplies. However the owners figured out that King Cruiser was worth more on paper than on the sea. So on the 4th of May 1997, a sunny day with calm seas, they sank the boat on purpose! They sent it way off course and rammed it into Anemone Reef. The King Cruiser was a very big catamaran car ferry, 85 meters long and 25 meters wide, and unsinkable like The Titanic. But Thais are friendly people so when it started taking in water they opened all the water tight doors to see if somebody was trapped inside. And somebody had told them not to close them again. So it went down with 300 people on board. There was an unusual number of fishing boats out there – they had been told that there was something else other than fish to pick out of the water that particular day. So everybody was saved and King Cruiser ended up as our first artificial reef. A great variety of species are now making the ferry their home. Mussels, barnacles and corals first covered the ferry. Now schools of baby Barracudas and Snappers circle outside, whilst Lionfish and Scorpion fish nestle on the inner parts of the structure. 2 Turtles have made it their permanent residence and Whale Sharks are occasionally seen at the wreck. Nudi Branches, Nurse Sharks and Moray Eels are to be found out there as well. We use our speedboat for this 2 or 3 dive trip. It takes us only 25 minutes to get there and we are the first and only ones with this very popular dive site. This trip leaves at 8 AM and returns at about 3PM.

Anemone Reef or Hin Jom

Wreck trip

A small and beautiful dive site close to Shark Point and the King Cruiser Wreck. As the name suggests this dive site is covered with anemones. They are living on the shallow part of this dive site, so plentiful that you can’t see the rock. Because of the current the movement of the anemones makes the pinnacle look alive. The pinnacle is submerged so you don’t see it on the surface but it starts about 5 meters down and the sandy bottom is at around 25 meters. You find big schools of fish feeding on the nutritious waters and you can find the predators out there feeding on the smaller fish. Trevallys, Barracudas and Tuna are to be found. And a lot of macro stuff is to be found in the small cracks such as Crabs, Nudi Branches, Tigertail Seahorse, Ghost Pipefish and Cleaner Shrimps. There are different kinds of Moray Eels, lots of Lion Fish, Scorpion fish, and Anemone Fish are there in great numbers. You could find Leopard Sharks sleeping on the sand or swimming around the pinnacle. Whale Sharks, Manta Rays and Eagle Rays have been spotted out there as well. This is the 3rd dive on our King Cruiser trip but sometimes we do a local dive as the 3rd one depending on the conditions out there and what our divers wants to see. Sometimes we go and look for Turtles or Blacktip Reef Sharks on the way back. This trip leaves at 8 AM and returns at about 3 PM.

Phuket Shark Point or Hin Musang

Wreck trip

This is one of the most beautiful dive sites in Thailand. It got the name from the biggest of the pinnacles in this dive site. It breaks the surface and from a distance it looks like a big shark fin. There is a 95% chance of spotting Leopard Sharks there as well. They are nocturnal so you will find them sleeping on the sandy patches surrounding the pinnacles. Soft corals in all the colors of the rainbow, anemones and a great variety of hard corals and sea fans create the perfect scenery for this amazing dive site. And surrounded with all the colorful fish of the Andaman Sea, makes it a very beautiful dive. Turtles, different kinds of Morays, Ghost Pipe Fish, Nudi Branches, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Groupers, big schools of Snappers and Glass Fish are everywhere to be found. Guitar Sharks have been spotted here as well as Whale Sharks, Manta Rays and Eagle Rays. This dive site is part of our 2 or 3 dive trip to the King Cruiser Wreck. We leave at 8 in the morning and are back around 3 in the afternoon. We go on our own custom made speed boat and since we are out there in 25 minutes we are usually alone on the dive site even though it’s one of the most popular dive sites in this area. This trip leaves at 8 AM and returns at about 3PM.

Cavern Diving at Koh Ha

Koh Ha trip

Our third trip is exclusive to Visa Diving and is to one of our favorite sites, Koh Ha. It takes about 40 minutes by speedboat to get there. From a distance it looks like 5 Islands and that’s how they got their Thai name (Koh Ha which means 5 Islands). But Amazing Thailand – there are actually 6 Islands. Famed for its spectacular caves and amazing visibility, Koh Ha with its white sand and spectacular beaches is a pleasure to visit both for its diving and for the very beautiful snorkeling around these pretty Islands. We have 2 amazing dive sites out there. One is called The Cathedral and consists of two huge caverns where it is safe to go in. You can surface in there and take off your mask and regulator. Light is coming from below and illuminates the water in the most amazing turquoise color. This site is worth the whole trip alone. In the lunch break we have an excellent snorkeling site where you can skin dive into a beautiful small lagoon and even do some cliff jumping if you are up for it. The second dive, we start out at a swim through we call The Chimney. We go down 10 meters through a hole and continue out through 2 open swim throughs and end up on the sandy bottom where we look for the Marble Rays. Sharks, Turtles, Marble Rays, Pipe Fish, Nudi Branches, Razor Fish, Octopus, Cuttlefish and even the occasional Manta Rays, Eagle Rays and Whale Sharks can to be seen at Koh Ha. A very unique trip and one of the best dive sites in all of Thailand. This is a two dive trip and we go on one of our 2 custom built speed boats leaving at 8 AM and are back around 3 PM.

Manta and Whale Sharks at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang

Hin Daeng trip

Our last and most amazing trip is to the world famous 5 star twin sites of Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. Nobody visiting Thailand to dive should miss a trip out to see the incredible soft corals that adorn the pinnacles. Red ones on Hin Daeng (Daeng means red in Thai), and purple ones on Hin Muang (Muang means purple). And of course the highlight of any Hin Daeng trip is the amazing Manta rays that come to the site to be cleaned by the reef fish that live there. They circle these two beautiful pinnacles gracefully to feed on the plankton in the water. So far this season they have been seen on every trip. Although not guaranteed, encounters are almost certain with these safe and friendly giants. Up to 7 meters, these giants of the sea will give you a memory of a life time. In addition to the rays, free swimming Giant Morays, Tuna, Bat Fish and Barracuda are all frequent sightings. Big Leopard Sharks are found sleeping on the sand, Eagle Rays and Reef Sharks are often seen out here. Small stuff like Nudi Branches and Shrimps spread all the colors of the Rainbow on the rocks between the corals and we have the biggest variety of reef fish out here. And on certain days divers are lucky enough to see the Whale Sharks that occasionally are seen here. Drop offs up to 60-70m and amazingly good visibility (up to 40m) makes this dive site one of the best in all of Thailand. This trip takes about 1 hour 20 minutes by speedboat, leaving at 8 AM and back around 3 PM. A trip that very easily could be your best dive trip ever!