A sheltered site on Koh Tao's southeast coast, on the way into Aow Leuk, with a fringing reef running right around the bay and a sandy bottom 12 m down at its deepest. The shelter and the shallow depth make it a standard choice for students and new divers, and the coral is varied: staghorn, brain and large star coral formations with small life all over them.
Also known as Hin Ngam Ko Tao.
Where it is and how deep
10.0676° N, 99.8410° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Hin Ngam sits on the southeast coast on the way into Aow Leuk, and the shelter of the bay is what defines the diving. The fringing reef runs right around the bay with a sandy bottom below it, and the deepest the site gets is 12 m, so the dive is a slow circuit of the reef edge with the sand as an easy reference underneath. That combination, sheltered water and a hard floor at 12 m, is why students and beginner divers are brought here.
The reef repays looking closely rather than covering ground. There is a good variety of coral for Koh Tao, with staghorn and brain corals alongside large formations of star coral, and it is the small life on those formations that makes the dive: Christmas tree worms retracting as you pass, yellowfin goatfish working the sand at the base, blennies watching from holes in the coral and bulldozer shrimps pushing sand out of their burrows.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good |
Season follows Koh Tao: No official closure; whale shark sightings peak March-May and September-October, while October-November bring more rain and surface chop.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Hin Ngam?+
The site has a maximum depth of 12 m over a sandy bottom, with the fringing reef running around the bay above that, which is what makes it a common choice for beginner and student divers.
Sources
- Hin Ngam Ko Tao - Scubago — Scubago
More dive sites in Koh Tao
Artificial reef
Sunken jeep and scrap at 10 to 12 m, colonised by reef fish
Reef
Shore-to-boat bay reef with a small wreck at 18 m
Reef
Plateau and canyon off the headland, sponges from 8 to 18 m
44.9 m navy attack craft, mast at 13 m, seabed at 23 m
Pinnacle
Rock islet dived top to bottom, surface down to 25 m
Reef
Training bay: sand from 1 to 16 m and concrete reef cubes
Seven submerged granite towers between 5 and 30 m
A vertical chimney inside the rock, from 18 m up to 6 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Shallow coral-block reef the dive tables list as a night dive
A 3 to 12 m house reef off the beach for training, macro and night dives
Calm ten-metre sand and coral bay used for training and night dives
Connected to the large Ao Tum coral garden off Ngamkho Beach