Similan Islands · Thailand · Wreck · Reef
Beacon Beach
The 27 m liveaboard Atlantis X, bow at 16 m
Area photo: KOSIN SUKHUM · CC BY-SA 4.0
Beacon Beach, also listed as Beacon Bay, is a sloping reef in the Similans with the wreck of the Atlantis X on it, a 27 m Similan liveaboard that sank in 2002. The bow sits at 16 m and the hull runs down to the stern at 30 m, so the whole wreck stays inside recreational limits. Current is none to light, and the site is also used for night dives.
Also known as Beacon Bay.
Where it is and how deep
8.6476° N, 97.6506° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The reef here is a slope and the Atlantis X lies along it, bow uppermost. You can take the wreck as a shallow pass over the bow at 16 m or work it from the stern at 30 m upwards, depending on how the profile is planned, and with no more than a light current neither approach is forced on the group. The hull is swum from the outside, so no wreck training is called for.
It makes an easy first wreck: the depths stay inside normal recreational limits and the reef around the hull gives somewhere to spend the rest of the dive, with the neighbouring Beacon reef often combined into the same outing. Batfish and blue-spotted stingrays are the regulars on and around the wreck, and a sea snake, an octopus or lobsters turn up in the shallows. The site is popular after dark as well.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Atlantis X
- Type
- Similan liveaboard dive boat
- Length
- 27 m (89 ft)
- Sunk
- 2002
- Cause
- Not published; no account of how she sank has appeared in the dive literature
- Lies
- On the reef slope, bow at 16 m and stern at 30 m
Marine life and season
- Stingrays
- Sea snakes
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Good | Prime |
Season follows Similan Islands: Similan National Park closes mid-May to mid-October for monsoon recovery; calm seas and peak manta/whale shark sightings run December-March.
Sources
- Beacon Beach — Divezone
- Beacon Bay — Scubago
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