Home › Scuba Destinations › Asia › Thailand › Pattaya › Koh Chang › Hin Rap
Scuba Diving Around the Rock at Hin Rap
This guide contains helpful tips about the best dive spots near Koh Chang with extra information about the sea life found in the Gulf of Thailand.
Hin Rap is one of the favoured destinations for scuba in Koh Chang. The large underwater rock creates a stunning backdrop of reef fish swimming around natural coral habitats.
Which Month is Best to Dive at Koh Chang?
Unlike the Andaman Sea in the west, the eastern coastline of Thailand is unique for several reasons:
- Most of the coral reef dives are shallow (less than 12 metres deep) so they are suitable for all PADI® certification levels.
- You will also find a variety of challenging dive sites (including some of the best shipwreck dives in Thailand for beginners).
- The eastern seaboard tends to be sheltered from the worst of monsoon rains that sometimes rule out diving altogether in areas like Phuket and the Phi Phi dive sites in Krabi province.
It's fair to say that most scuba divers want to explore top diving destinations that have calm conditions underwater with lots of sunny and dry weather above the waterline.
In fact, Trat province has over 300 days of year-round sunshine and the water temperature rarely drops below 29° Celsius (84° Fahrenheit).
As a result, the white sand beaches and clear blue water at Koh Chang Island have transformed this area into one of the top places for memorable Thailand diving holidays.
Here's the thing:
Scuba diving in Koh Chang tends to be a year-round activity. Still, divers need to be mindful that southwest storms usually arrive towards the end of October and may last for several weeks.
At certain times of the year, the north eastern gulf can have twenty (20) metres of visibility underwater. Thus, the best months for scuba diving and snorkeling trips are from the beginning of September through to the latter part of February.
Pro Tip: Check out our sea life section for interesting facts about sharks (e.g. blacktip reef sharks) and rays (e.g. spotted eagle rays) that sometimes put in an appearance at the outer islands.
Tips for Diving at Hin Rap
In fact there are three (3) sites for scuba diving at Hin Rap. But, the main one is a large rocky patch with sporadic outcrops of corals dotted around the periphery.
The bedrock is a huge boulder that's used as a gathering place for a wide variety of marine life, but especially sea turtles and batfishes.
Here's the thing:
Swim a little to the north and you should stumble upon the second dive site. As it shelves down deeper you should see a small canyon, known locally as "Secret Reef". The other destination is T11 wreck dive site, around fifty (50) metres south of Hin Rap.
It's fair to say the average depth for scuba diving is about fifteen (15) metres. Even so, you can actually dive to 22 metres (72 feet) at the deepest section.
Pro Tip: Most of the professional scuba schools based in Koh Chang use Hin Rap as a training ground to conduct diving certifications. It is a popular destination to learn about Peak Performance Buoyancy, Fish Identification, and the PADI® Open Water Diver course.
Sea Creatures at Hin Rap
Having the opportunity to experience interesting topography, clearer underwater visibility, and a superabundance of aquatic creatures are the main reasons divers choose to visit the best dive spots in Koh Chang.
Divers can expect to see some big fishes (e.g. sharks) and catch sightings of common marine life that is native to the northern Gulf of Thailand, especially during the plankton blooms in March and April, including:
- Angelfish (e.g. blue ring angelfish)
Batfish (Platax orbicularis)- Chevron barracuda
- Christmas tree worm (Spirobranchus giganteus)
- Fusilier fish species
- Grouper fish
- Moray eel (Muraenidae)
- Parrotfish (family Scaridae)
- Sea cucumber (echinoderm)
- Stingrays (Myliobatiformes)
- Stonefish (Synanceia)
- Wrasses (e.g. cuckoo wrasse)
Pro Tip: Koh Chang dive sites offer good opportunities to explore diverse sea life that lives around hard and soft corals. For example, the hard varieties include brain corals, table, and staghorn corals. Some soft coral species include bubble corals (Plerogyra sinuosa) and toadstool leather corals (Genus Sarcophyton).