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Chumporn Pinnacle
Green Rock
Nang Yuan Bay lll
Nang Yuan Bay ll
White Rock
Hin Wong Pinnacle
Aow Leuk Bay
Aow Leuk Point
Shark Island
Southwest Pinnacle
Nang Yang Pinnacle
Mango Bay
Mango Point
Tanote Bay
Lighthouse
Sail Rock
Laem Tien Caves
Hin Pee Wee

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Dive Sites

Koh Tao has 25 sites. Below we have listed some of the more popular ones to give you an idea on what the island has to offer. If you require further information on other dive sites, please email us.
Sites are graded as follows:

  • *Blue Stars - Diving Sites
  • Graded 1-5 (5 Stars=Top Grade)

    • Chumporn Pinnacle * * * * *

    Koh Tao's most impressive dive site. The dive site consists of four underwater pinnacles that tower up from around 34m (112ft) to the highest peaks at 16m (53ft) below the surface. This is an ideal place to spot many pelagics and big reef fish.

    Large schools of great barracudas, big-eyed jacks, tuna, mackerel, and giant trevally are frequently seen. Whale sharks, with the accompanying striped remoras and cobia, are often sighted here during the months of March to April, August and September/October. Leaving the descent line, head northeast and pass between two small pinnacles. On the far side of the bigger rock, at a depth of 21m (70ft), is a large overhang that shelters several enormous groupers: the largest must be over 2m (6.5ft) long.

    As you head west there appears on your left a narrow gorge. Here you will find a large school of inquisitive batfish, which will swim up to you: just hover and the fish will come!

    The terrain changes in the southeast section, where a number of ledges are completely covered in sea anemones. Pink anemone fish dart about, attending to their hosts.

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    Green Rock (Hin Kee-Oh) * * * *

    Divers come here for the tremendous selection of adventurous swim throughs provided by large archways, caverns, caves and crevices that cut through Green Rock.

    There are many groupers, blue-spot fantailed rays and titan triggerfish, which can be aggressive, especially if protecting their nests during the spawning season.

    To the north of the pinnacle are the famous trigger pits that provide the breeding ground for many yellow margin triggerfish - swim across it at your own peril! This is a good place to see turtles when they frequent the region.

    Green Rock makes an interesting night dive and you will find many deep-water fish coming in close to the rock to begin their night time activities. The triggers secure themselves in the smaller crevices for the night and the parrotfish sleep while the nocturnal community comes to life. Check out the feather stars and crustaceans that leave their hidey-holes!

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    Nang Yuan Bay III, Twins (Aow Sam) * * *

    Descending down onto the large rocks in a depth of 9m (30ft) you will find the dive site come to life. Alabaster sea cucumbers with their feathery mouthparts occur in large numbers, but are part of a more interesting community scattered around rocks and boulder corals, which are rich with multicoloured Christmas tree worms and bivalve molluscs.

    Heading west from the shallower pinnacle, you will pass over a large sand patch with a saddleback anemone fish haven. Be careful that you don't disturb them with careless finning!

    Heading deeper to the west you will come across the second and larger pinnacle that houses big groupers, banner fish, titan triggers and snappers.

    Right at the far end of this site, the depth goes down to about 20m (67ft) and there are other smaller pinnacles leading you further off. If you continue further about 100m (330ft) west you will eventually come to the site known as "Noname Pinnacle".

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    Nang Yuan Bay II, Japanese Gardens (Aow Song) * * *

    A coral head covered bottom with patches of pristine sand, provides a good dive site to go off and see plenty of bivalves and tropical reef fish.

    Heading north along the shoreline of Koh Nang Yuan will allow you to see more of the larger fish such as triggers, banner fish, parrotfish maybe some of the smaller pelagics such as fusiliers and trevallies.

    If you keep heading round the corner, eventually you'll end up at Nang Yuan Pinnacle and the famous caves nearby. Heading southeast you will start to head round the bend into Bay I.

    A simple and easy dive site, Japanese Gardens still produces some exceptional diving and usually has better visibility than other bays around the island due to it being more sheltered.

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    White Rock (Hin Khao) * * * *

    This is a very enjoyable dive, suitable for both novice and experienced divers. The site consists of two main pinnacles, the higher of which (White Rock itself) is covered by only 2m (6ft) of water and the lower (down in the southern end of the dive site) known as the Coral Garden.

    The pinnacles are broken by a number of elevated shelves graced with a host of honeycomb groupers, long-spined sea urchins, Jorunna nudibranchs and various sea anemones.

    Fan corals are abundant on the more current exposed sides of the rocks while small white-eyed moray eels, crabs and shrimps have taken up residence in the many cracks and crannies.

    White Rock is the area's most popular night diving destination and will undoubtedly see plenty of large yellow-tailed barracudas swimming around, attracted to the site by the diving lights that will illuminate their prey for them. Get in close and you'll see them actually catch and eat the smaller fish that try to escape them!

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    Hin Wong Pinnacle * * * * *

    The site consists mainly of large tabletop rock formation with an array of purple soft corals scattered over the surrounding area that give the site its name ("Wong" is Thai for purple).

    The rocky plateau is almost completely obscured by anemones, whip corals and finger corals. East of it, the sandy bottom slopes steeply down to the sites maximum depth past other, slightly smaller granite structures.

    Blue spotted rays and red coral groupers, banner fish and sergeant majors dominate the resident fish. Fusiliers and snappers are found in large groups in the deeper waters. One of the widest selection of whip and fan corals on Koh Tao.

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    Aow Leuk Bay (Aow Leuk) * * *

    This is an ideal site for novice divers. One of the most beautiful bays on the island, you will typically moor up in 6-10m (20-35ft) and begin your dive over some pristine sand - look out for the elusive snake eels that poke their heads out of their burrows.

    Swimming over to either side of the bay you will encounter a rock wall that will lead you into deeper water where larger fish roam and coral outgrowths become more prevalent.

    Aow Leuk is the best place on the island to come across turtles and there is superb snorkelling and sunbathing to be done in the bay. Look for mole cowries, triggers, morays, and angelfish that will come pretty close to you!

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    Aow Leuk Point * * * *

    If you continue round the corner from Aow Leuk, you'll come across this superb little site that is based around two above water pinnacles and leads you down into an underwater haven for small reef fish, angel fish, sweetlips, blue spotted rays and even, on occasion, turtles.

    Aow Leuk Point provides a calm water dive with easy conditions where you will be able to see an abundant range of corals and marine life.

    Unique to Koh Tao, this site boasts a small field of closely packed whip corals. Useful as a snorkeling site and with a clear buoy line, it is an all round site that will excite both novice and experienced divers alike.

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    Shark Island (Kong Sai Daeng) * * * * *

    I

    t consists of two main rocks that are separated by a narrow channel which gives the island the look of a shark swimming on the surface, hence the name.

    To the north, the rock walls drop down to 18-20m (60-67ft) and you'll find plenty of snappers, emperors and banner fish swimming around in large numbers.

    If the current is right, you'll be carried around to the south where the coral garden starts and you'll find superb purple soft corals that look like cauliflower heads covering huge exposed areas of the rocks.

    If you continue down deeper the site leads you down over several smaller pinnacles where you may be lucky to see whale sharks during the season.

    On the west side of the island the depth is a pretty constant 5-7m (15-23ft) and is the best area for snorkeling and doing your safety stop after circumnavigating the island. Look out for pipefish and nudibranchs that graze on algae in the shallow depths. It is known for having the greatest diversity of marine life on Koh Tao.

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    Southwest Pinnacle (Hin Tung Gu) * * * * *

    Smaller than it's counterpart, Chumphon Pinnacle, Southwest consists of a series of pinnacles the deepest at 28m rising up to 5m below the surface.

    The site is an excellent place to see pelagics, whale sharks and has a couple of resident, but shy, leopard sharks which are seen at regular intervals. The site has a resident school of several hundred harlequin sweetlips which are always a pleasure to see.

    The crevices and holes made by the pinnacles provide havens for groupers, snappers, emporers and harlequin sweetlips. At shallower depths you'll find the pinnacles covered with magnificent anemones and their symbiotic partners, the pink anemone fish, plus hundreds of fusiliers.

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    Nang Yang Pinnacle (Hin Daeng) * * * *

    A cylindrical rock column stretches up from a sand covered bottom to the surface and provides the normal start point for this dive. Spiraling down the rock you will come across a big crevice at about 15-16m (50-53ft) that is the home for large Jenkin's and pink whiprays.

    Inside the gap you'll also see plenty of coral trout, soldierfish and six banded angelfish. After reaching the bottom divers should head off in a westerly direction for approximately 50 meters which will lead you over to the Nang Yuan boulder strewn coastline which forms a basic cave system.

    By diving through a narrow rock canyon and heading right under a big rock, divers will enter directly into the caves. Here they see plenty of nudibranchs, cowries, soldierfish, squirrelfish and anemone corals while sweetlips peer out of the gloom in the more secluded corners of the cave.

    The cave system is illuminated by light coming in through the small cracks that lead up to the surface and through large exit holes that go off to the right.

    Once out of the cave, divers can follow the rock wall for a coastal dive.

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    Mango Bay (Aow Muang) * * *

    Nobody's diving or snorkeling experience on Koh Tao is complete without a visit to Mango Bay, located on the north of the island in between two palm fringed and jungle covered slopes.

    Used primarily as a training site by most of the dive shops on the island and a snorkeling site for people coming from Koh Samui, Mango Bay still offers some good diving a little deeper, especially along the rocky coastline to the west.

    The site provides a good confined water training area with little surge and current and beautiful aquamarine water covering the sand.

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    Mango Point * * *

    Heading round to the east of Mango Bay lies Mango point, a deep water site that starts along the shoreline of Koh Tao and descends deeper down to several coral covered pinnacles and rocks.

    A relatively little dived site, Mango Point still allows divers to experience deeper water and larger fish that keep out of the bay. Look out for white and yellow soft corals, whip corals and encrusting soft leather corals that abound here.

    This site usually leads you into Mango Bay where the safety stop can be carried out easily and amongst plenty of tropical reef fish. An advanced dive but well worth it!

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    Tanote Bay (Aow Tanote) * * *

    A shallow bay dive, Tanote Bay descends down a rocky pinnacle in the middle of the bay. Main thing to look out for here is some big coral trout and snapper that hide out at about 8-11m and for the six banded angelfish that go around in pairs.

    A better site for snorkeling, Tanote Bay also produces good conditions for a second dive after Hin Wong or Laem Tien.

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    Lighthouse * * * *

    Named after the lighthouse overlooking the bay. On the Northern point are two main rocks that come out of the water and these are where you will find most of the fish life.

    Check under the larger rocks for pink or Jenkin?s whiprays and blue spotted rays that hide there.

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    Sail Rock (Hin Bai) * * * * *

    A pinnacle that sticks some 7-9m out of the water, half way between Koh Tao and Koh Pha Ngan. A superb site offering a whole range of depths and diving areas and includes the famous chimney that is a vertical shaft that rises from 18m to 5m with another exit at 10m.

    To the South East of the site is another smaller pinnacle that drops down to well past 30m and is often the place where you'll find plenty of Horse-eyed Jacks and Barracuda.

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    Laem Tien Caves * * * *

    Along the rocky shoreline of Laem Tien are a series of underwater swim-throughs and caves. Starting off at around 18m and climbing up to around 5-6m these make an interesting and different type of dive for more experienced divers looking for a more challenging dive.

    At the base of the rocks, by the sand, look out for white soft corals and whip corals.

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    Hin Pee Wee * * * *

    Hin Pee Wee is approximately 200m to the south of White Rock (Hin Khao) and provides a deeper alternative to it's more northerncousin.

    Starting off at about 7-8m, the main pinnacle of Hin Pee Wee then descends down to about 22m on the northern side and 16-17m on the east.

    If you descend down from the buoy line to 18-20m and then start swimming along the small pinnacles in an anti-clockwise direction you will come across a series of deeper rocky pinnacles with an amazing amount of marine life on them. Check out under these for Pink and Jenkin's Whiprays and for large puffer and porcupine fish that like to hide there.

    Continue round these pinnacles until you come back across the main rock where thumbprint emperors congregate and slate sweetlips hide.

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