Diving

Fact Sheet about diving in Burma and Thailand (FAQ)

The most important facts like a list of dive operators (dive centers) and liveaboard operators, dive safety (addresses of the hyperbaric chambers), dive conditions, climate, hotels and how to get to Burma and Thailand on one page and ready to print.

On this page: diving facts about Burma (Mergui - archipelago) and Thailand (west coast)
Look at my website about dive sites in Burma and Thailand
Click here to look at underwater photos taken in Burma and Thailand

How to get to Burma and Thailand

Map of Burma: Burma maps on www.worldatlas.com / political map
Map of Thailand: Overview / Thailand maps on www.worldatlas.com

East coast of Thailand: International flights from all over the world, some directly to Phuket, others to Bangkok first Koh Lanta: Fly to Phuket, take taxi to harbor, take ferry to Phi Phi Island (ca. 8.30am) and change to another ferry on to Saladan in Koh Lanta. Burma:  Fly to Phuket in Thailand and then go by Minibus to Ranong, then watertaxi to the harbor of Kawthung (Burma). This transport is usually arranged by the travelcompany.

Liveaboards in Thailand and Burma

There are actually only a few ships, that can operate in Burma, since tourism is very restricted, most of them only go to the Surin and Similan island in Thailand.

• Amadeus (ten ninety eight)
• MV Anggun and Genesis 1 (Phuket based liveaboard)
• Aqua divers
• Burma-diving.com (Colona II, Stressbraker)
• Diveasia (MV Dive Asia I and MV Mare west, based in Phuket)
• Dive Similan (offers nearly 20 different liveaboards)
• Faraway Sail and Dive Expeditions (Colona II, Amadeus, S Y Mozart, Lizard of Oz, Stressbraker)
• Kontiki diving (based in Phuket)
• MV Marco Polo (Seabees)
• Ocean divers (only Thailand)
• Private diving (MV Discovery, MV Sai Mai)
• Panunee (Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia)
• Seal Tauchsafari (Crescent)
• Scuba Quest (Thailand)
• South East Asia Sealiveaboards (Wanderlust, Gae and Cresent, Sirius)
• Sunrise Divers ( MV Similan I to IV / MV Burma I and II / Sailing I and II) based in Phuket
• Thailand Liveaboard
• West coast divers (M/V West Coast Discovery and M/V West Coast Explorer)

Phuket dive operators

List of dive operators in Phuket by Phuket.com / List of dive operators by Ifyoudive.com / List of dive operators in Thailand by Scubaduba.com / maps

Weather now in Phuket	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
Best time to travel
Highest temperatures (°C)	31	32	32	32	31	30	30	30	29	30	30	30
Lowest temperatures (°C)	22	23	23	25	25	25	25	25	24	24	23	23
Daily hours of sunshine	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Rainy days	12	10	13	18	20	19	18	18	21	22	17	14
Precipitation (mm)	48	34	84	173	307	228	235	280	413	309	205	52
Humidity (%)	76	74	77	80	81	82	80	81	84	86	82	81
Water temperatures (°C)	28	28	30	30	30	30	28	29	29	29	29	29

Koh Lanta dive operators

Atlantis Diving, Koh Lanta Diving Center, Lanta Diver, Dive Zone, Laguna fun divers. We were diving with Aquarius dive (doesn't exist any more). Ko Lanta Online - description of dive sites

Weather averages in Ko Lanta

	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
Best time to travel
Highest temperatures (°C)	32	33	33	33	33	32	32	32	32	31	31	31
Lowest temperatures (°C)	24	24	24	25	25	25	25	25	24	25	24	24
Daily hours of sunshine	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Rainy days	7	7	12	17	17	22	20	20	22	24	17	14
Precipitation (mm)	63	78	256	299	154	244	294	255	392	284	140	85
Humidity (%)	83	82	85	84	84	85	82	84	86	86	85	82
Water temperatures (°C)	28	28	30	30	30	31	30	30	30	29	29	29

Phi phi island dive operators

Phi Phi Scuba Diving Center, Phi phi diving, Barakuda diving center, Visa Diving Center, Moskito Diving

Surin and Similan islands

The Surin and Similan islands can be reached by liveaboard charter (see above). Information about the Mu Koh Similan Marine National Park (Talaytai / Thaiways) Best time to go to the park is December to May (Not open in other period of the year).

Please check out the Similan Guide for more information.

Similan dive operators

There are no dive operators on the islands themselves. Sub Aqua Divecenter lies on the mainland in Khao Lak about 70 km north of Phuket airport. Day trips to the islands in about 2 hours.

Weather averages on the Surin islands

	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
Best time to travel
Highest temperatures (°C)	31	33	35	36	35	33	33	32	32	31	30	29
Lowest temperatures (°C)	16	19	22	23	24	24	23	23	23	22	20	16
Daily hours of sunshine	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Rainy days	3	5	10	11	25	22	25	24	22	17	10	3
Precipitation (mm)	4	18	49	75	168	183	199	221	271	138	28	7
Humidity (%)	69	65	67	70	80	81	81	82	84	82	74	67
Water temperatures (°C)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

Mergui archipelago (Burma - Myanmar)

The Surin and Similan islands can only be reached by liveaboard charter (see above).

Weather averages

Weather now in Rangoon	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUN	JUL	AUG	SEP	OCT	NOV	DEC
Best time to travel
Highest temperatures (°C)	30	31	32	32	31	29	28	28	28	30	30	30
Lowest temperatures (°C)	20	21	22	23	23	23	22	22	22	22	21	20
Daily hours of sunshine	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Rainy days	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--
Precipitation (mm)	25	52	77	122	417	750	822	750	612	302	95	20
Humidity (%)	68	68	73	80	89	88	89	90	87	84	72	67
Water temperatures (°C)	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--	--

General information about Burma and Thailand

Traveldocuments: Visa for Burma (issued on arrival), entry fee 98 to 138 dollars, depending on length of cruise, 3 passport photos.

Health: bring good sunscreen and something to avoid sandflies (beaches in Burma)

More information: lonely planet information about Burma and Thailand - yahoo information about Burma and Thailand

Book: For detailed information I also recommend the book "Divesites of Thailand" by Paul Lees (New Holland Publishers, London 95)

Dive conditions in Burma and Thailand

The dry season is from November to April. Water temperatures can be from 26°C to 30°C. I used a 3mm wetsuit.

In Thailand and Burma you don't have very good visibilities because the water is very rich with plankton. We encountered visibilities from ca. 5m to 25m. Under normal conditions you can expect mantas, whalesharks etc. There are no actual coral reefs, more like rocks and boulders, covered with hard and soft corals, oysters and barnacles.

Dive safety

Hyperbaric chambers (or recompression chamber) in Thailand:

There are several recompression chambers in Thailand to treat decompression sickness

Hyperbaric Services Thailand: SSS (Sub-aquatic Safety Services) Chamber Network www.sssnetwork.com

Bangkok: Department of Underwater and Aviation Medicine Somdel Pra Pinklao Naval Hospital Taksin Road Thonburi Bangkok 10600
Phone: (02) 475264144
Bangkok Badalveda Diving and Hyperbaric Medicine Center Bangkok General Hospital 2 Soi Soonvijai 7 New Pethchburi Rd Bangkok Phone: 02310 3000

Pattaya: (becomes operational in Jan 2004) Badalveda Diving Medicine Center Bangkok, Pattaya Hospital Sukhumvit Rd Pattaya City Phone: 03842 7777

Phuket: SSS Recompression Network (Hyperbaric Services Thailand Ltd, Head office)
44/1 Moo 5, Chalermprakiat Ror 9 Road,
Vichit, Muang, Phuket 83000
OFFICE PHONE (66) 76 209 347
OFFICE FAX (66) 76 612 660
24hr Diving Emergencies (66) 810819000
E-MAIL phuket@sssnetwork.com

Koh Samui (Gulf of Thailand):
34/8 Moo 4, Bophut
Koh Samui, Suratthani, Thailand 84320
OFFICE PHONE (66) 77 427 427
OFFICE FAX (66) 77 427 377
24 hr Diving Emergencies (66) 810819555
E-MAIL samui@sssnetwork.com

Koh Tao:
Evacuation Center
24 hr Diving Emergencies (66) 810 819777
E-MAIL kohtao@sssnetwork.com

Krabi:
Evacuation Center
376/3 Moo 2,
Aonang ,Krabi, 81000
OFFICE PHONE (66) 75 638376
24 hr Diving Emergencies (66) 810819222
E-MAIL krabi@sssnetwork.com

Khao Lak:
Evacuation Center
24 hr Diving Emergencies (66) 810819444
E-MAIL khaolak@sssnetwork.com

For more information about hyperbaric chambers in Asia look at the dive safety page.

More Information about scuba diving in south-east Asia