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Samae San Islands

Text supplied courtesy Paul Lees author of Dive Guide Thailand.

Koh Chuang

Location: The largest of the islands dived around Samae San almost 8km (5 n. mile) south of Samae San harbour.

Access: About 45 min's. by boat from Samae San pier. Boats can easily anchor on the sand anywhere close to the reef.

Conditions: Due to the island being rather large it offers protection form the winds on either side all year long. A good all round training site. Visibility ranges between 5m (16ft) and 15m (50ft).

Average depth: 6m (20ft)

Maximum depth: 14m (46ft)

With it's picturesque beaches and rocky headlands Koh Chuang offers several shallow dive sites, ideal training sites for beginner or novice divers. Usually you enter the water and follow the fringing coral reef down to a sandy bottom with patchy coral. It is not uncommon to see turtles around here, numerous fish including blue spotted sting rays, moral eels, fusilier, angle and butterfly fish make Koh chuang their home.

Koh Chuang Bay

Location: Around the southern most tip of Koh Chuang is a small bay, a medium size area with a rocky shoreline approximately 20 minutes south of the Hardeep ship wreck.

Access: About 1hr. by boat from Samae San pier. Boats can easily anchor on the sand south of the reef..

Conditions: During northerly winds this site is quite suitable for novice divers. Southerly winds, however, make it unsuitable when winds are strong. Visibility ranges between 5m (16ft) and 15m (50ft). This site offers good protection from strong tidal currents when others sites are not divable.

Average depth: 9m (30ft)

Maximum depth: 24m (80ft)

When entering the water you follow the natural contour of the reef down. The coral formations in the shallows are abundant, soft and hard. There is one large rock in the centre of the bay heading seaward to 14m (45ft). On the eastern and western sides of the bay are large rocky outcrops that head south into deeper water24m (75ft). These deeper areas are subject to fast tidal flows both incoming and out going, when sheltering from the tide behind the larger rocks divers can observer larger fish feeding. Large Blue Ringed angle fish are plentiful, another attraction of this site is the fish are extremely tame and will follow the divers as they are used to being hand feed with rice after lunch.

Koh Chan

Location: A small, beautyful island some times off limits to divers as the local Thai Navy hatch and release turtles here. 10km (6n. miles) south of Samae San Pier. The island is the south eastern most island in the Samae San chain.

Access: 45min by dive boat from the pier in Samae San. An ideal second dive after diving the Hardeep ship wreck.

Conditions: Currents can some times make diving around the deeper headland difficult to get back to the dive boat, drift can de fun when the boat picks you up on the other side. Visibility ranges between 5m (15 ft) and 15m (50ft).

Average depth: 12m (40ft)

Maximum depth: 25m (80ft)

This island can also be dived on ether side due to winds and currents.The southern most tip of the island has huge rocks that have fallen from the cliff, where it has eroded over the centuries. If you are anchored here for your lunch break it is well worth a snorkel trip around the shallow waters, it's not uncommon to see small Black Tip reef sharks.

The best dive site here is the headland on the south east corner of the island on the seaward side. On entering the water follow the coral reef down. Upon reaching the bottom head south toward the headland, it will be shallow to start then rapidly getting deeper, large rocks covered in sea fan, whip coral, hard and soft coral. Many blue spotted sting Rays, schools of Yellow Tail Fusiliers and lion fish can be seen feeding in the currents.

Koh Rong Khon

Above the northren of the two rocks, below the southern rocks.

Location: Just 200m east of the Hardeep ship wreck is Koh Rong Khon. Two small rocky islands each about 50m (165 ft) in length.

Access: About 40 min's. by boat from Samae San pier. Boats can easily anchor on the sand south of the reef..

Conditions: Good drift dives along the seaward side of these rocks, can be exposed to large waves when strong winds are from the south. Visibility ranges between 5m (16ft) and 15m (50ft). This site offers some of the deepest reef around the Pattaya/Samae San area.

Average depth: 9m (30ft)

Maximum depth: On the northern end depths well exceed 60m (200ft)

When entering the water on a incoming tide start at the southern end of the rocks on the eastern side, then let the tide take you the whole length of the two islands. On a good flooding tide you will move the whole length of the dive site quite quickly, this is not a problem, when reaching the northern end follow the rocks around to the other side, here you can remain out of the current for the rest of your allowable bottom time.

The northern tip of these islands is very deep and is popular with Tech divers as depths can well exceed the limits of recreational divers. You will see many clusters of filter feeding corals and sponges attached to the boulders

Shark Fin Rock (Hin Lak Bet)

Location: Approximately 1 Km ( ½ n. mile) west of the Hardeep ship wreck lies a small rock resembling a shark fin.

Access: About ½ hr. by boat from Samae San pier. There are no mooring buoys.

Conditions: During northerly winds this site is quite suitable for novice divers. Southerly winds, however, make it suitable for more experienced divers only. Visibility ranges between 5m (16ft) and 15m (50ft). Strong currents can make the site unsuitable for novice divers, although one side or the other is normally protected.

Average depth: 15m (50ft)

Maximum depth: 28m (95ft)

Although at first sight Shark Fin looks to be a very small dive site, once in the water a large reef appears. On the north western side of the rock the reef close to rock is shallow,large areas of stag horns brain corals, barrel sponges and anemones are abundent.The main attraction is the South eastern side with it's 16 m (55 ft) vertical wall almost braking the surface. The north eastern side has a single rock formation that is vertical on the west and has a large sand bank sliding down to 25 m (80ft) on the east, this is home to some large Black Spotted Sting Rays. On a good day this is easiestly the best dive site Pattaya has to offer. Marine life is plentiful and varied.

 

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