History of Diving in Thailand
History of Diving in Thailand
Diving in Thailand began in the beginning of the year 1962. The first professional dive centre was established in 1975 in Pattaya. There are also beautiful diving destinations in the Gulf of Thailand. The next big diving destination after Pattaya was Phuket and then the Similan Islands in the Andaman Sea. Nowadays the Similan Islands have been ranked as one of the best diving sites in the world. Today diving in Thailand is very popular all over the Andaman Sea, especially in Tarutao and the Surin Islands.
It’s believed that Thailand is the most popular and the most visited diving destination in the whole world. From 1999 to 2003 the Similan Islands achieved a fivefold increase in the amount of visitors and most of the visitors were divers. Statistics shows that over 200 000 divers visit Thailand in a year. The number of diving tourists in Thailand increases every year.
Diving in Thailand is a great way to spend a holiday. Also scuba diving in Thailand – watch this video – is a very popular activity. Also the visibility undersea is very good and in some places it can be up to 30 metres. In Thailand there are many beautiful reefs and amazing shipwrecks which makes Thailand a very popular diving destination.
Krabi offers beautiful diving and snorkelling sites with plenty of succulent corals, limestone outcrops and wide variety of marine life and it also has the largest range of dive sites available in Thailand. The main diving places in Krabi mainland are Ao Nang and Railay beaches. Also Phuket’s Chalong Bay and the Phi Phi Islands as well as Koh Lanta are main diving sites in the Krabi area.
Ao Nang beach has the highest number of dive centres and hotels. From Ao Nang you can access all dive sites like Koh Phi Phi, Shark Point marine sanctuary and a group of 30 small islands in Ao Nang Bay. The Phi Phi Islands have two great limestone crops divided by a narrow flat isthmus which is the place were most visitors visits. Koh Phi Phi has a large variety of succulent corals and colourful schools of fish.
