Phuket Diving

Koh Doc Mai

Koh Doc Mai is a huge limestone rock that rises steeply out of the sea to form a small, jungle covered island. Its name means 'Flower Island' in Thai due to the beautiful and colourful flower-like corals that cover every surface under the water. It is located on the way to Shark Point from Phuket and is considered one of the best wall dives in the area. This is a favourite site for Phuket's divers because of the sheer diversity of marine life here.

On 3 sides the sheer walls drop straight down to the sea floor to a depth of about 30 metres. All sides are home to numerous creatures occupying every crack and crevice. It is possible to swim around the whole island when currents permit.

The gently sloping reef to the west is covered with hard staghorn coral with an abundance of colourful sea life decorating its ridges. There is a vast variety of reef fish and you can easily spot the resident giant moray eels and white-eyed morays.

On the east side of the island there is a virtual garden of yellow tube corals along with some small caverns and caves along the base of the wall. These caves are great for practising more advanced diving techniques such as penetration.

The resident yellow tiger-tail seahorses are well known but still hard to find as they are so well hidden in the gorgonian sea fans. You can also see harlequin ghostpipefish. This is one of the best sites for macro diving in Phuket so a macro lens is a must for the keen underwater photographer.

There are numerous invertebrates here too including lobster, crabs, oysters, squid, zigzag clams, urchins, and octopus. Large fish such as leopard sharks and grey reef sharks can sometimes be encountered here as well as Indonesian bamboo sharks thanks to a recent breeding programme by the Phuket Marine Biological Research Centre.

Koh Dok Mai Reef Basics: Small islet and wall diving
Depth: 5 - 30m
Visibility: 5 - 20m
Currents: Usually strong
Surface conditions: Calm
Water temperature: 27 - 30°C
Experience level: Intermediate
Number of dive sites: 2
Diving season: All year round
Distance: ~15 km east of Phuket (1 hour)
Access: Phuket scuba diving day trips

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