Koh Samui Diving
What Options Do I Have For Diving On Koh Samui?
- Daytrips to:
- Chumphon Pinnacle
- Sail Rock
- Southwest Pinnacle
- Other Koh Tao divesites
Koh Samui is one of Thailand’s most popular beach destinations, but for scuba diving it’s not particularly ideal. Most of the dive sites that Koh Samui based diveboats visit are actually much nearer to the island of Koh Tao to the north – so it involves a speedboat journey to get there and back. It’s ok if you just want to do a couple of days casual diving, but if you’re looking to dive as the main reason for your vacation, it’s probably better to be based on Koh Tao and enjoy much shorter trips to the dive sites.
The one major exception is the dive site Sail Rock, which is nearer to Samui than Koh Tao. This is an impressive ocean pinnacle that attracts a plethora of marine life around it.
There are no liveaboards operating around Koh Samui and Koh Tao – all diving is done by daytrip boats heading out each morning and afternoon.
How To Get To Koh Samui
Flights
There are direct flights available from Bangkok to Koh Samui Airport with Bangkok Airways and Thai Airways. Flight time is about 1 hour.
You can catch a much cheaper flight to Surat Thani on the mainland with AirAsia and catch the ferry to Koh Samui, although this takes considerably longer.
Trains
You can catch an overnight train or coach from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then take the ferry.
Coaches
Overnight buses run from Bangkok to Surat Thani – you can buy a combination ticket for the bus and ferry together. Typically you arrive very early (4am) at the pier and wait a couple of hours until the ferry departs.
Ferries
Lomprayah Catamaran is the most comfortable and fastest ferry service from the mainland to Koh Samui, and it’s only marginally more expensive than rivals Seatran