Dive Sites in Koh Tao (Gulf of Thailand), Thailand
2 dive sites in Koh Tao (Gulf of Thailand)
The world's busiest dive training island, where more PADI certifications are issued than almost anywhere else. Koh Tao pairs beginner-friendly bays with serious pinnacle diving at Sail Rock, Chumphon, and Southwest. Whale sharks visit between March and May. Open Water courses from $260, fun dives from $25. Browse all Koh Tao dive sites below.
Chumphon Pinnacles is Koh Tao's deep dive, a cluster of granite pinnacles northwest of the island that top out at 14 metres and drop to a sandy bottom...
Sail Rock is the best dive site in the Gulf of Thailand, and arguing otherwise is a waste of everyone's time. This solitary granite pinnacle rises fro...
Koh Tao issues more PADI certifications per year than almost any other location on earth. That fact alone shapes the island: over 70 dive schools compete for students, which keeps prices low and quality surprisingly high. An Open Water course here runs around 9,000 to 10,000 baht ($260 to $290), and most schools throw in accommodation. For a first diving experience, you could do a lot worse.
The training sites are genuinely decent. Japanese Gardens has hard coral bommies in 6 to 12 metres with resident turtles. Twins offers a sandy bottom and calm conditions perfect for skills practice. Aow Leuk and Mango Bay serve as sheltered alternatives when the wind picks up. But writing off Koh Tao as a beginners-only island would be a mistake. The deeper sites here have real teeth.
Sail Rock, sitting between Koh Tao and Koh Phangan, is a massive underwater pinnacle rising from 40 metres to just below the surface. The Chimney, a vertical swim-through from 18 metres down to 6 metres, is one of the Gulf's most memorable experiences. Southwest Pinnacles and Chumphon Pinnacles attract bull sharks, whale sharks (March to May is peak season), and thick schools of batfish and barracuda. These sites regularly feature currents and depths that demand Advanced certification.
The island itself is small enough to walk across in 30 minutes. Getting there means a ferry from Chumphon or Surat Thani on the mainland (2 to 6 hours depending on the boat) or from Koh Phangan and Koh Samui. Infrastructure is well developed: restaurants, bars, ATMs, clinics. The diving runs year-round, though visibility peaks between March and September at 15 to 30 metres. The Gulf gets rough from October to December during the northeast monsoon. Water temperatures stay at 28 to 30°C.