Pushpitha Wijesinghe
Koh Samui's popularity as a tourist destination has grown steadily over the years due to easy access to sheltered snorkeling and dive sites in the Gulf of Thailand that can be visited throughout the year.
These are some of the most popular dive sites in the area; their huge underwater rock formations, sloping reef, soft and hard coral, pelagic fish and shoals of colourful reef fish and turtles attract divers from around the world.
This just an hour and 20 minutes by speed boat north of Samui has around 15 sites popular with divers and snorkelers of all abilities. They offer fantastic corals, fish and underwater landscapes. If you are in search for diving trips in the region consider Anantara Lawana Koh Samui Resort & Spa that offers snorkelling and diving experiences through an affiliated diving school.
The calm and clear water of this site is perfect for snorkelers and divers. It offers sightings of reef barracudas, groupers, fusiliers, moray eels, blue spotted sting rays, angel fish, butterfly fish and the occasional sea horse.
This group of submerged pinnacles off the coast of Koh Tao is another popular dive and snorkeling site. What makes this site special is a natural stone ring protecting the sea anemones. Stingrays, moray eels, angel fish, groupers, wrasse are among its other denizens.
It has a large number of different marine species. It is known as a breeding site for Jorunna Nudibranchs.
Located at the nearby Ang Thong Marine National Park this site sports colourful hard and soft corals, sea anemones, purple barrel sponges among others that are easy to spot in the clear water is a popular snorkelling destination.
Northwest of Samui this site offers a shallow protected bay chock full of stone corals and pelagic reef fish. While snorkelers enjoy the shallower water divers can go down to 20 metres to get views of groupers, big snappers, yellow tailed barracuda among others. The calm water and mild currents add to the pleasures of snorkelling and diving here.
