DIVING SPOTS
The reefs around Koh Kood with an average depth of
10 - 12m are rich in marine life and partly unspoiled.
Besides soft corals and big barrel sponges, you’ll mostly
find hard corals and rock formations with, among a lot
of others, stingrays, barracudas, seahorses and even
turtles. The water temperature ranges between 28 and
30° Celsius all year long. The viz is very good almost
throughout december till february. The shallow reefs with
almost no currents are perfect for novice divers.
A bit further away in the north-east of Koh Kood you’ll
find the highlights of the region: The marine
park Koh Rang and the wreck of the HTMS Chang.
The latter is with a depth of 31m one of the
deepest dive sites in the Koh Chang Archipelago.
Neverland Reef 4-10m
Here you can find big barrel sponges and mainly hard
coral formations with schools of yellowtail barracuda
and yellow grunt. There are also angelfish and butterflyfish
and if you’re lucky you can spot a turtle here.
Hin Loy 4-13m
Around the pinnacle which sticks out of the water you’ll
find canyons and small caves. There are soft corals,
gorgonians, sea whips and big barrel sponges and you can
also find anemones. Marine life is abundant here and
you’ll never know what you’ll find - you even have the chance
to spot some nudibranchs and unicorn fish. It’s one of
the few dive sites around Koh Kood with a moderate current.
Bang Bao Bay 3-8m
This dive site has a depth between 3 to 8m is perfect for
intro dives and beginners. In the hard coral formations
and sand you’ll find among other fishes flounder, stingrays
and boxfish. Above that there’s the
possibility to see a lionfish and even some seahorses.
Ao Toom 3-12m
This dive site with hard coral formations is full of fish,
such as snapper, triggerfish, pufferfish and
stingrays. With a good eye you can spot octopus and turtles.
Hin Chedi 4-10m
This dive site with it’s rock formations and hard corals is
our house reef. It’s an easy shore dive and perfect for
beginners and intro dives and you’ll find a lot of marine
life here. Among stingrays, flounder, giant pufferfish,
moray eels, box fish and butterflyfish you’ll also have the
chance to find seahorses, snake eels and cuttlefish.
Koh Raet 3-10m
You find here butterflyfish, stingrays and giant pufferfish
and there are lots of tiny fish hiding in the table
corals. Besides hard corals there are animal sculptures
with staghorn corals and anemones which are a
highlight for divers and snorkelers. Beside the hard
coral formations you’ll find underwater animal
sculptures made of cement with staghorn corals.
In addition to butterflyfish, stingrays and giant
pufferfish, there are lots of tiny fish hiding in the
table corals.This easy dive site is the
only one around Koh Kood there you’ll find
the vertically swimming razorfish.
Soneva Reef 3-9m
This place is perfect for intro dives and beginners. In
a depth between 3 and 9m you can find hard, and
soft coral formations as well as big barrel sponges
and giant clams. Besides yellow tail barracuda,
long fin batfish and indian ocean walkman, you can
find scorpionfish, oriental
sweetlips as well as cuttlefish and turtles.
Ao Lak Uan 9-13m
This dive spot offers rock formations as well as
formations of hard and soft corals. Next to big
barrel sponges and fields of anemones you can find
a lot of different fish species, such as: fusilier,
box fish, yellow tail barracuda, yellow grunt, porcupine
fish and stingrays. There’s also the possibility, to
spot frog fish, cobia, cuttlefish or a sleeping nurse shark.
Mike's Reef 13-21m
This dive site with hard coral formations and depths
between 13 to 21m belongs to the deeper dives
around Koh Kood. Besides Oriental Sweetlip and lionfish
you can find here, divers are enthusiastic about
the big schools of yellowtail fusilier and barracuda.
Ao Pak Weng 6-13m
In depths between 6 to 13m you’ll find rock formations
as well as formations of hard and soft corals
with anemones, stingrays, pufferfish and fusilier. There’s
the possibility for mild to moderate currents.
KOH RANG
The group of uninhabited islands around Koh Rang
belongs to the national park Mu Ko Chang, which
was established in 1982. Of the more than ten dive
sites around Koh Rang we visit among others:
Ko Mapring 6-16m
Here you’ll find in depths of 6 to 16m a lot
of hard corals with christmas tree
worms, bannerfish, butterflyfish and rabbitfish.
Whale Shark Rock 1-30m
This pinnacle isn’t called “Whale shark rock” for nothing,
if you’re lucky you can spot reef sharks and even
a whale shark here. If you’re not that lucky, this dive
spot has still a lot of different marine life to
offer. Besides soft and fan corals you can spot here
anemones, nudibranchs, cobia, stonefish,
triggerfish, batfish, great barracuda and also harlequin
sweetlips. There’s the possibility of moderate to strong currents.
3 Finger Reef 3-16m
The boulder formations which are covered in coral,
are shaped like three fingers, therefore the
name “3 Finger Reef”. The depth is 7m on the
west side of the reef and goes down to 16m
on the northeastern side. Here you’ll find a wall
which is great to dive along. In the valleys
and canyons of the reef you’ll find Giant Pufferfish,
moray eels, triggerfish,rays and even turtles.
Wreck HTMS Chang
In the Koh Chang archipelago lays the largest shipwreck
in Thailand: The HTMS Chang. The 110m long
and 15m broad former US landing ship was launched
under the name „USS Lincoln County – LST-898“
in Pennsylvania (USA) in october 1944. It was designed
to carry landing troops, tanks and trucks.
It had 14 artillery pieces, of which the last ones were
dismantled before it was sunk. The first operation
was the invasion of the japanese island Okinawa in april
1945. From 1950 to 1952 the ship served in the
Korean War. After that it was send on a peaceful mission
into the Antarctic, till it was decommissioned in 1961.
The USS Lincoln County was turned over to Thailand
under the terms of a military assistance program
in 1966. Till 2006 it served under its new name HTMS
Chang for the royal thai navy.
On 22nd November 2012 it was sunk in order to build
an artificial reef. The mast of the perfectly
upright wreck starts in a depth of 3m, the bridge
is on 15m and the main deck on 24m.
It’s surrounded by fish and schools of fish, amongst
them are yellow tail barracuda, lionfish, yellow
grunt and batfish. Besides that there are a lot of crabs,
stonefish and moray eels. Big groupers are hiding
inside the wreck and sometimes the wreck is being
visited by whale sharks. You can dive the wreck
of the HTMS Chang with an Open Water license, since
even in a depth of 18m there's a lot to discover.