
Similan Islands · Thailand · Reef · Night
Donald Duck Bay
Shallow bay under the duck-shaped rock, with no current
Area photo: Reinhard Link · CC BY-SA 2.0
Donald Duck Bay is a shallow bay on the northwestern side of Similan Island 8, named for a rock on the bay that looks like the cartoon character. The diving runs from the surface to about 10 m with no current at all, which puts it well inside beginner limits, and the bay is used for dives after dark as much as for daytime ones.
Where it is and how deep
8.6667° N, 97.6462° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The reef is shallow, from the surface down to about 10 m, and there is no current, so the dive can be swum in any direction and run until the gas does. That makes the bay a place to sort out trim and weighting at the start of a trip, or to take a long second dive without pressing a decompression limit. The same still water is why the bay is dived after dark, with green turtles occasionally spotted on night dives.
For such a shallow site the list of what turns up is long: barracuda, fusiliers, groupers, Napoleon wrasse, parrotfish, trevally, jacks, dogtooth tuna and rainbow runner, with whitetip sharks, leopard sharks and manta rays also recorded here. None of that is owed to you on a given dive, but the depth means a slow, wandering circuit costs nothing in bottom time.
Marine life and season
- Barracuda
- Groupers
- Manta rays
- Napoleon wrasse
- Trevally & jacks
- Reef sharks
- Tuna
- Sea turtles
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Prime |
Season follows Similan Islands: The park is closed by law from mid-May to mid-October; December to April is the calm high season.
Sources
- Donald Duck Bay — Divezone
- Donald Duck Bay — Scubago
More dive sites in Similan Islands
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Wreck
The 27 m liveaboard Atlantis X, bow at 16 m
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Canyons between the rocks, gorgonians below 20 m
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Huge schools of snapper over large hard-coral tables
Coral garden
Morning light on a shallow coral garden off Ko Bangu
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Morning light on the reef and leopard sharks resting on the sand
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Granite arches and swim-throughs at the top of the chain
Similar dives elsewhere
Shallow coral-block reef the dive tables list as a night dive
Calm ten-metre sand and coral bay used for training and night dives
Easy shallow reef with blacktip sharks and green turtles
A 3 to 12 m house reef off the beach for training, macro and night dives


