Diving Ko Phi Phi, Thailand, dive sites with pictures and videos

Very famous in the travelers world, Ko Phi Phi offers spectacular diving, where turtles and leopard sharks share the reefs with a crowd of small fish dancing around the coral formation. Not to miss if you visit Thailand, diving in Ko Phi Phi will please the beginners with its easy accessible dive sites, and will surprise experienced divers with the diversity of its underwater world. Sometime, whale sharks cruise in the area.

Bida Nai:
Max depth : 28 m / 90 ft to surface
Level : beginner to experienced, sometime strong current
What is it : a pinnacle emerging until 30 meters above the surface.
What to see: this is one of the two main attraction while diving in Ko Phi Phi. Huge fan corals, black tip sharks, leopard sharks, sea snakes, schools of jack fish, shrimps, nudibranches lobsters, .... Sorry, a few lines are not enough to describe Ko Phi Phi's dive sites! Although you can swim around Bida Nai in 1H00, it would be missing everything. There are 4 dives to do there at least.

Bida Nok:
Max depth : 32 m to surface
What is it : a pinnacle emerging until 30 meters above the surface.
Level : beginner to experienced, sometime strong current
What to see : Bida Nai or Bida Nok, you will come back there several times. Bida Nok offers more deep reefs, although you could dive around at 5 meters deep and see more in one dive than in your entire life. Here again, big fish are swimming above plenty of little inhabitants, bamboo sharks are resting under the rocks, turtles are really disturb by you presence, and so on , and so on. 4 dives to do here minimum.

Paradise reef:
Max depth : 35 m / 120 ft to 12 m.
Level : self confident beginner to experienced, usually in the current
What is it : a submerged reef, accessible from Bida Nai, located between Bida Nai and Bida Nok. It has also different names.
What to see : it seems like this dive site is a club for a school of Huge barracudas. You need to approach quietly, and they will be in the blue, face to the current. The reef is covers with coral, sponges, fan coral, black coral, there is more predators is than in the other dive sites. Forbidden to miss this one.

Shark point Phi Phi:
Max depth : 14 m / 45 ft to 3 m / 9 ft
Level : beginner to experienced. Strong current can be a problem, but what a spectacle.
What is it : a submerge reef, far from the islands of Ko Phi Phi.
What to see : this is one of the few "shark point" which deserved its name. yes, you will see leopard sharks there.

Hin Bida:
Max depth : 18 m / 60 ft to the surface
Level : beginner to experienced. Strong current can be a problem, but what a spectacle.
What is it : very similar to Shark point Phi Phi, very close as well.
What to see :why are there less leopard sharks here than on Shark Point? I don't know, but it's still worth the visit, especially because very few divers go there. Mostly for small fish and coral composition.

Pileh wall :
Max depth : 18m / 60 ft to surface
Level : beginner to experienced, better in strong current
What is it : a wall, drift dive
What to see : to enjoy this dive, don't go deeper than 12 meters / 40 ft, and drift eyes on the reef. Pileh wall is a display of all kinds of colours soft coral can have on this planet. Not kidding. The full dives take 1H00 drifting in a strong current.

Hin Daeng and Hin Muang:
Max depth : 75 m  / 230 ft to 3 m / 10 ft
Level : beginner to experienced, depending on the current
What to see : mantas, giant groupers, tunas, barracudas, bat fish, and, if you are lucky, whale sharks. 2 beautiful rocks, covered with purple and red soft corals. Often in the current, the sea is never quiet, but it's really worth it. The mantas are turning around and like to travel from a rock to another. Beware, the bottom drops deep. Don't miss this one too (dry season only).

Ko Ha:
What is it : Five islands like high cliffs, intact also, that offer a great landscape and a famous cave dive
What to see : The highlight dive is "the cathedral" of KO ha yai (the biggest of the five). There are 2 huge caves linked by a large passage; an air pocket above the surface of the first one, where you can breath safely, because the air is renewed from outside. It is a save dive because the caves are not deep. Don't forget your torch. The drop off is interesting, not a lot of colours, but chances to meet with big groupers or octopus. The second biggest of the five offers a nice drop off dive, with plenty of pelagic hunters.