Phuket — Racha Islands & Local Reefs

Almost all of it is day-boat diving. The shops cluster around Chalong Bay on the south of the island, the boats leave Chalong Pier, and Racha Yai is about 20 km south of the Prom Thep headland with Racha Noi another 10 km beyond it, about two hours on a standard day boat, so a typical day is a run south, two or three dives around one or both islands, and the return in the afternoon. The nearer reefs are shorter hops: Koh Hey, Koh Pu off Kata and the west-coast wrecks are within reach of a half-day boat, and a few resort house reefs such as Meridien Beach at Karon Noi can be dived straight off the sand, which is where much of the training happens.

Racha Yai is sloping rock reef and hard coral in a series of bays. Bay 1 on the east side has three small wrecks on a calm sandy floor between 5 m and 25 m, Bungalow Bay has no current or waves, and Marla's Mystery, a 34 m barge sunk in 2000, lies off the east coast at 30 to 34 m. Racha Noi is granite boulders and deeper water, dived at 10 to 30 m with stronger current, and Camera Bay on its west side runs from 5 m to 60 m and takes technical divers. Barracuda Rock is an exposed pinnacle from 5 m to 35 m. Turtles, stingrays and nudibranchs are common on the shallower reefs, seahorses and pipefish turn up on the sand patches, and the exposed sites hold barracuda, tuna and trevally.

This suits divers who are staying on Phuket anyway and want reliable diving without a liveaboard, a long transfer or a fixed season: Racha Yai is dived all year, and its east side has its clearest water in the rainy months when the west side is not dived. The trade-off is that nothing here is exclusive. The Similans, Richelieu Rock, Surin and the Phi Phi rocks are all sold from the same piers, and divers chasing a single headline trip should book those directly. Racha Yai and the house reefs are beginner ground; Racha Noi, Barracuda Rock and the deeper wrecks are for Advanced divers comfortable in current.