Hello divers and underwater lovers! Of all the scuba diving locations in Thailand, Pattaya is often the one that is least talked about. It can be quite easy to pass off when considering a dive trip but I believe this is due to too many people not knowing the potential of scuba diving Pattaya, although it has a long history and many unique things to offer, people all too often don’t know about there are many things you never knew about scuba diving Pattaya.
I’m here to write this blog, set a record, and leave some facts. I have over 6000+ dives here over the past 12 years and this is what I have learned, experienced and want people to know about the Pattaya Dive Sites.
1) Pattaya was Known As The Wreck Diving Capital Of Thailand
For many years Pattaya was one of the only dive locations in Thailand to offer a variety of Shipwrecks to dive on. Besides the King Cruiser in Phuket, there were never really any quality wrecks within a depth that could be enjoyed by recreational-level scuba divers within the 30m depth range.
Nowadays, Thailand is shaping up to be the Wreck diving Capital of South East Asia, only revealed by Coron Bay in the Philippines. As I write this, almost every single area of Thailand offers at least one wreck dive now and some even more. Pattaya has 5 shipwrecks, HTMS Khram, HTMS Kut, HTMS Mataphon, The Breman, and the SS Suddhardib.. oh and the sunken Parsail Barge to this day I’ve not spoken to another diver to see it! 😉 Koh Tao has the HTMS Sattakut, Chompon the HTMS Prab, Rayong the HTMS Phetra, and Koh Chang the HTMS Chang!!
Pattaya may no longer be the only dive location to offer wreck diving in Thailand but it still offers more wrecks than any other location AND is still the easiest and fastest to access, being just 2 hrs from Bangkok.
You can Read about the Wreck Diving in Pattaya Here
2) Pattaya is not seasonal and open all year around
It’s true that during monsoon season in the middle to latter parts of each year, like many Southeast Asian countries, Thailand is also hit with stormy weather and plenty of downpours. This means many dive locations are seasonal and must either cancel dive trips frequently or close altogether for a part of the season.
What isn’t widely known, is that Pattaya, although it doesn’t escape the weather entirely, is largely protected from the worst of these weather fronts meaning dive trips can operate all year round. Now, don’t get me wrong! I’m not saying the sea is like a glass lake all year round! However, it’s not as bad as one might expect, and as any seasoned diver will tell you, it is not all about the conditions up top as it is below.
So, what am I saying? Is it better to dive in Pattaya during the monsoon? No, not exactly, the best conditions remain between November and Feb with a few months scattered throughout the year, when it’s pristine and clear and calm. But, if you need to scuba dive and NEED some much-needed relaxation time underwater and you happen to be in Thailand during the months other places are much worse, this is the place to be. Typically, during the monsoon I’ve only ever seen the Pattaya dive boats get a red flag and ban from going out maybe once or twice a year max! Compared to other places which can get closed for days and even weeks.
3) Pattaya Dive Sites are a haven for Macro Diving and Sea Turtles!
Whether you are talking about the Pattaya Near Islands or the Pattaya Far Islands I can tell you, most dive guides follow the basic coral lines like good tour guides should. However, after doing this myself for a decade, I naturally got somewhat bored and curious. This led me to explore these waters off Pattaya dive sites quite extensively which in turn led me to many discoveries. For one, I discovered that Pattaya has some awesome muck diving and some very rare and diverse macro life. I would love to see more dive leaders exploring this and continue to build awareness of the many Nudibranchs, Seahorses, shrimp, and other benthic bottom-dwelling creatures Pattaya has to discover!
Pattaya also has a very large population of Sea Turtles ( Hawksbill and Greenback) as well as a good population of Seahorse ( Many Hippocampus) like anything in the wild, some days you just don’t see them, but I can tell you having dived these waters every single day of the week at times, you can find these with 90% certainty if you know where to look and when at what depths. happy hunting divers! LOL
4) There are Many More Dive Sites Than Advertised
I have searched, been shown, and discovered many dive sites off the usually daily beaten tracks of the Pattaya Dive site routes. Some of these were well known, although rarely visited in the past and some were never known, even by Pattaya dive veterans who have been here even longer than I have. My time here is drawing to a close, but before I go, I will be passing this knowledge to my dive team in the hope that my scuba adventures will live on and become someone else’s dive ventures in the future beyond my tenure here as a dive guide. Then there is Samae San to consider. Samae San is a small fishing village 50 minutes down the coast from Pattaya, however, most dive shops have boats in Samae San too, so this entire area comes under the same umbrella as diving in Pattaya. Some of the very best diving can be found here.
Dives sites rarely or never listed:
Breman Shipwreck
Koh Sak Deep Reef East
Koh Sak Deep Reef West
Koh Sak Cylinder Reef
Koh Sak Tyre Reef
Seahorse City
Koh Lan Cubes
Koh Lan Sunken Restaurant
Koh Rin South Deep Reef
Koh Man Whitchai Mount
Koh Phai Deep Reef
Koh Klung Badan Deep Reef
Sunken Parasail Barge Koh Lan
Sunken Jetski Koh Lan
Koh Khrok Deep Reef
Koh Nok Near Islands
Phra Nang Pinnacle Near Islands
Shark Rock Pinnacle Far Islands
Hin Yai Pinnacle Samae San
The reason we can’t visit these sites daily is mainly due to the fact they don’t suit your everyday average dive student and are not marked for easy finding. I hope to see them at least visited more frequently when the times are right and enjoyed by more seasoned certified Pattaya Divers!. By diving with my Scuba Adventures Team, you will be more likely to experience these hidden and lost gems at some point in the future as I will be leaving GPS and maps to ensure this happens when the time is right.
5) Challenging Conditions don’t mean bad conditions
Pattaya has terrible dirty water and visibility is so bad… Yeah, you will read and hear this a lot. Well, remember point 2 about the year-round season? This is why. If Pattaya only opened for scuba diving whilst the very best conditions were on offer, this would not so much be the case, but the fact is, it’s not perfect all year around, but it is accessible. The ocean is a wild place and conditions vary everywhere. Much of Thailand experiences the same style of conditions as Pattaya, so I’m not sure why beyond the timing of the seasons this has come to be known like this.
The bottom line is this, the best visibility is around the 18-20m mark the worst visibility can be as low as a few meters/feet. However, the water is always warm and the aquatic life is around to find. I never saw this as a negative as I was told early on, that diving in a variety of water conditions only makes you a better diver. I can navigate and feel confident in almost any water condition nowadays. I handled bad viz, strong current, and bizarre backwash and learned valuable skills like entries and exits in swell, surge, and storms. If you are the kind of diver that only wants aquarium-like conditions, then, yeah, Pattaya is NOT for you. But if you are the kind of scuba diver who likes variety, wrecks, turtles, seahorses, macrolife, and not long boat trips it is perfect. Also, divers who like to be challenged and be present in many situations to learn from, then doing any kind of training here, from beginner to professional level dive course will see you become a truly great scuba diver.
6) Rare Aquatic Life Spotted on Record
It’s funny, how I almost know with certainty, every inhabitant of the local reefs and wrecks here in Pattaya, has spent countless hours underwater here. What’s amazing is how I never got bored and I always had a glimpse of hope and imagination of what I might bump into underwater in the vast waters here.
Here’s a quick list of things to keep an eye wide for, yes I’ve may have only seen these once or twice and over many many dives, but you never know! Keep the faith and stay sharp and you might see them also.
Mimic Octopus
Dolphin
Whale Shark
Mabula Rays
Giant whip rays
Giant bull rays
True stone fish
Oyster toadfish
Leafy filefish
Ornate filefish
Snake eels
Guitar sharks
Marlin swordfish
Dragonet fish
Frogfish
Many rare nudibranch
Asian Box Jellyfish
Tiger shrimp
7) Pattaya and Thai divers have a home
The last gem of wisdom I will bequeath to you is a centralized home for what began as a local Pattaya dive hub website once named “Thai-scuba.net” which was a project that focused on cataloging and mapping Pattaya dive sites and aquatic life.
This project has been up and running for over a decade and to my surprise is not as widely known as it should be! It has now become Thai-scuba.com and it has branched out to cover almost every single part of Thailand.
Thai-scuba.com is the only website out there that all Pattaya and Thai divers should call home! Besides already having a vast amount of knowledge and information about dive sites and aquatic life, its mission continues to this day and can benefit from the support of all local dive communities in Thailand to offer up information, submit new photographs of finds, and promote to new upcoming divers and guides for learning.
The creator of this website is Alex, and he is one of the godfathers of scuba diving in Pattaya and now, through his ever-expanding adventures Thailand as a whole. Please support him and Thai-scuba.com so that our dive community continues to have a home and library of our amazing underwater world here in Thailand.
Need an Aquatic ID? Found something New In Pattaya Waters!? Visit Thai-scuba.com Aquatic Library here
