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A two-hour drive southeast of Bangkok gets you close to Samaesan and some of the premier diving destinations in the northern Gulf of Thailand.
This guide contains useful tips and expert information about the best diving spots around Samae San Island (south of Pattaya) with extra details about the diverse marine life found in the area.
Unlike the Andaman Sea to the west, the eastern coastline of Thailand is unique for several reasons:
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, Chonburi Province has more than 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 found at the islands around Pattaya have transformed the region into one of the top places for diving holidays in Thailand.
Here's the thing:
As a consequence of that, diving in Pattaya tends to be an annual activity. Even so, divers need to be mindful that the southwest storms usually arrive towards the end of October and can last for several weeks.
At certain times of the year, the north eastern gulf can have twenty (20) metres of underwater visibility. Thus, the best months for scuba diving and Pattaya snorkeling trips are from the beginning of September through to the end 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.
Some of the diving conditions at Samaesan differ from those further up the coastline at Pattaya. For example, you should expect to have strong currents and better visibility (up to 18 metres is commonplace).
As a consequence of that, the dives at Samae San will be a lot more enjoyable if you have some experience in drift diving (e.g. gliding with the current).
But wait - there's more:
Divers will find several reputable dive centers that operate in the Samaesan area. Most of them offer guided dives, PADI certification courses, and scuba equipment rental.
The price for a one-day scuba dive, including hotel transfers, lunch on the boat, soft drinks, refreshments, and an experienced dive guide, starts around 3,000 Thai baht per person.
Pro Tip: The sheltered bays at Samaesan, with spacious areas of open sand and little water movement, make it an ideal location for local dive shops to conduct the Discover Scuba Diving program, and its related training dives. This kind of underwater topography also provides a superb backdrop for underwater photography, freediving, and learning how to snorkel.
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 Samaesan dive spots.
Most of the Pattaya dive sites are good places to see big fishes (e.g. pelagics). Plus, divers should expect to catch sightings of common marine life native to the northern Gulf of Thailand, especially during the plankton blooms in March and April, such as:
Pro Tip: Samaesan dive sites offer good opportunities to explore diverse sea life that lives around hard and soft corals. For example, the hard varieties include brain, table, and staghorn corals. Some soft coral species include mushroom coral and toadstool leather corals (Genus Sarcophyton).
This popular diving spot is located in the Samae San Marine Park near Pattaya, about eight (8) kilometres south of the harbour.
The scuba diving depths range from five (5) metres at the shallow shorelines to a maximum of eighteen (18) metres.
You can expect to see plenty of fringing coral reefs and rocky outcrops. Some of the favoured dive sites at Koh Chuang include:
Pro Tip: In conjunction with several conservation projects, including the one to help save sea turtles, Ko Chuang's northern beach has been designated as a protected area and prohibits scuba diving activities to avoid disturbing the wildlife.
Imagine a historic shipwreck teeming with an abundance of lively marine life. You should consider yourself unlucky if you don't see blue-spotted rays, scorpionfish, and hawksbill sea turtles.
In fact, Koh Chan is the southernmost island in the Samae San archipelago. This is the ideal location to see stunning underwater scenery with colourful corals, shallow bays, and unusual underwater rock formations.
Along with Koh Rong Lakhon, Koh Rong Nang is one of two tiny satellite islands that are connected to each other by shallow rocks and a narrow sandbar and they are only a few hundred metres from Koh Chuang.
Frequent sightings of nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) are the main attraction at this site and there will be no shortage of friendly encounters with other large marine species.
Pro Tip: This short video [3:59 seconds] presented by "Sky in Thailand" contains footage of the amazing marine life found at the Samaesarn diving site.