Phi Phi Island Scuba Diving

Maya Wall

On the west side of Koh Phi Phi Leh is Maya Bay, made famous by "The Beach" movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and now Phi Phi's most popular snorkelling destination. It's possible to dive the walls outside of the bay to the south and the north with the latter offering more of interest.

The island walls, so beautiful above the water, are just as stunning below and in many places huge boulders have fallen and fused together to create exciting swim-throughs filled with glassfish. A good dive light is useful for looking into and under rocks in search of critters. This site has mainly hard coral cover which is not as prolific as at other Phi Phi dive sites but is still host to a multitude of reef fish including snappers, wrasse, bannerfish and moorish idols.

You'll probably see leopard sharks here and small rock groupers are numerous, as are oriental sweetlips. This is also the best dive site in Phi Phi for seeing hawksbill turtles.

At the very northern edge of the wall schools of black tips circle constantly. They are normally around the 10 metre mark, which means that snorkellers can spot them too.

Maya Wall Reef Basics: Wall diving and swim-throughs
Depth: 5 - 25m
Visibility: 5 - 20m
Currents: Gentle
Surface conditions: Can be choppy
Water temperature: 27 - 30°C
Experience level: Beginner
Number of dive sites: 2
Diving season: All year round
Distance: ~45 km east of Phuket (3 hours), 30 km southwest of Krabi (2½ hours)
Access: Scuba day trips and liveaboards

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