Phi Phi Islands Scuba Diving
The Phi Phi Islands in the Andaman Sea is one of Thailand’s most beautiful destinations with its white sandy beaches, turquoise waters and towering limestone cliffs rising out of the sea.
Its rich diversity of marine life with hard and soft corals and many species of tropical fish makes the islands one of the major destinations for snorkeling and scuba diving.
Phi Phi Islands dive sites
Among the best Phi Phi Islands dive sites are:
Bida Islands
The Bida Islands are two small islands just south of Koh Phi Phi Leh. Both Koh Bida Nai and Koh Bida Nok are limestone rocks vertically rising out of the sea. The islands take about 2½ hours to get to by boat from Chalong pier in Phuket.
Koh Bida Nai
The underwater landscape at Koh Bida Nai consists of underwater crevices, boulders and coral reefs of both soft and hard corals as well as anemones.
Fantasy Reef
At the south and west end of the island is a sloping reef called Fantasy Reef. The reef that begins at 6 meters deep consists of several hard coral species like pore coral, table coral and staghorn coral.
Leopard sharks
The sandy seabed on the east coast of Koh Bida Nai is a good place to see leopard sharks resting on the sand. The deeper waters a little further out are frequented by schools of trevally, barracudas, fusiliers, snappers and tuna.
Soft corals, sea fans & barrel sponges
The underwater walls at the north end are overgrown with beautiful soft corals, sea fans and barrel sponges. Seahorses and ghost pipefish can be seen here.
Marine life
Other marine life around Koh Bida Nai includes blacktip reef sharks, mackerel, cuttlefish, moray eels, sea snakes, Kuhl’s stingrays, nudibranch, lionfish, scorpionfish, blue spotted rays and hawksbill turtle. Whale sharks can sometimes be seen during the summer months.
All-year dive site
Koh Bida Nai is an all-year dive site for beginner and experienced divers. Best time is during the winter months from November until April. Depths are 5 to 30 meters; visibility is usually good.
Koh Bida Nok
Koh Bida Nok is a very small island a few hundred meters south of its sister island Koh Bida Nai. It is among the most popular dive sites in the Phi Phi Islands.
Hard and soft corals
Koh Bida Nok offers hard and soft corals, sponges, sea fans and a good variety of colorful fish. The landscape consists of underwater crags, caves, boulders and a swim through. The reef with hard and soft corals descends to a sandy bottom at a depth of 20 meters. A cave on the North tip of the island contains colorful soft corals.
Fish species
There is a good variety of fish species like moray eels, blue spotted rays, trevally, turtles, surgeonfish, octopus, cuttlefish, seahorses and reef fish as pufferfish, lionfish, porcupinefish, angelfish, butterflyfish and anemonefish.
Highlights
Divers will often encounter large schools of yellow and two spot snappers, tuna and barracuda. Other highlights include Kuhl’s stingrays and sometimes leopard sharks and black tip reef sharks. Sometimes during the summer season from May to August whale sharks swim past the island.
All-year dive site
Koh Bida Nok is an all-year dive site for beginner and advanced divers; the best time is during the winter months until April. Dive sites are at depths between 5 and 30 meters, visibility is usually good.
Koh Phi Phi Leh
Koh Phi Phi Leh is the smaller of the two Phi Phi Islands. It has several good dive sites, like Palong Bay, Maya Garden and Loh Samah Bay.
Palong Bay
Palong Bay is on the west coast of Koh Phi Phi Leh. The north end is known as Palong Wall, while the south end is known as Turtle Rock.
North End - Palong Wall
Palong Wall is a steep underwater limestone wall. Its sloping reef consists of hard corals as well as soft corals like whip coral and sea fans. The sandy bottom is at a depth of 18 meters.
The site is known for its blacktip reef sharks. On some days there are dozens of them, while on other days there are none. The site is also good for several species of reef fish, turtles, cuttlefish and nudibranch. Sometimes dolphins are around.
Palong Wall is a good wall dive site for beginner divers. Visibility is usually good and the current is mild.
South End - Turtle Rock
The south end of Palong Bay known as Turtle Rock is located just north of Maya Bay with its famous beach. The site is known for its turtles. Often there are leopard sharks as well. Species of common reef fish, octopus, cuttlefish and schools of snappers can be seen at the terraced reef that has sort corals, hard corals and sea fans.
An easy site well suited for beginner divers, currents at Turtle Rock are usually mild, depths are between 5 and 20 meters.
Maya Garden
Just North of May Bay and its famous beach is Maya Garden that has soft corals, barrel sponges and sea fans. Highlight is the hawksbill turtles. Among the other fish are trevally, parrotfish, scorpionfish and several reef fish. The sandy seabed at 18 meters deep is covered with huge limestone rocks.
Loh Samah Bay
Loh Samah Bay is located on the southeast tip of Koh Phi Phi Leh. The easy and beautiful dive site starts at 10 meters below the surface.
A karst wall is overgrown with hard corals like branching coral and brain coral. On the walls of a small limestone island in the bay are soft corals like sea fans and sea whips as well as barrel sponges and anemones. Bannerfish, morays, batfish, barracuda, sea snakes, scorpionfish and leopard sharks can be seen here.
Hin Bida
Nearly ten kilometers southeast of Koh Bida Nok is Hin Bida, an underwater limestone pinnacle. Also known as Phi Phi Shark Point, the pinnacle is shaped like a hand with three fingers. At low tide the top of the rock can seen protruding the surface.
It’s a good site to see leopard sharks resting on the sandy sea floor. Other marine life include snappers, barracuda, batfish, moray eels, stonefish, cuttlefish, octopus and reef fish like lionfish and cornetfish. Sometimes whale sharks and turtles can be seen at Hin Bida.
The site is up to 20 meters deep with usually good visibility.
National Park fees
The Phi Phi Islands are part of the Hat Noppharat Thara – Mu Koh Phi Phi National Park. National Park fees are 400 Baht per adult and an additional 200 Baht for divers.
Best time to dive at Phi Phi
The best time to dive at the Phi Phi Islands is during the dry season between November and April. During the monsoon months there is more rain and wind, and the waves are higher.
The best sites to dive during the monsoon season are on the East coast of the islands, where they are sheltered from the westerly winds.