Diving the Eastern Gulf

Where the country curves around the Gulf of Thailand, it creates a vast stretch of coastline on its eastern flank, offering a hugely varied diving experience. To the east of this magnificent shallow inlet lies the beach town of Pattaya, famed for its amazing wreck dives, and the breathtaking Mu Koh Chang National Marine Park, where you can experience bustling reefs and rock pinnacles, as well as a smattering of fascinating wrecks. At Pattaya, you will be doing boat dives and the scattered islands nearby make a great starting-off point. Conveniently known as the Near Islands, the Far Islands and the Samae San Islands, each group has its own wreck for you to experience. The three Near Islands are the most popular to dive, with sharks and turtles gliding by and the HTMS Kood, a former US warship, as a focal point. The Far Islands number six in total and the scuttled HTMS Khram, donated by the US to the Thai navy after World War Two, has become one of the area’s best wreck dives, while the two Samae San Islands are little-visited and perfect for a spot of macro diving. Diving at Mu Koh Chang reveals abundant marine life and it offers shallow dives to cathedral-like rock pinnacles. The best time to dive here is between October and April and your best chance of seeing whale sharks and manta rays is between February and May.