Re: Thailand: Koh Tao/Nangyuan ?

Any experience, pro/cons diving Thailand's Koh Tao & Nangyuan ? Dove the other side, Phuket, Similian, Hin Daeng/Muang already, just thinking about trying something North, sort of inside the bay so to speak.

http://www.nangyuan.com/contact.html

Thanks!

Dominic

Hi Dominic.

I was at Kho Nangyuang 8 years ago. Maybe things have changed. The location is amazing, extraordinary beautifull. But the resort was running very, very simple. In fact there were some of the bungalows that u must cross with the water to your neck (High tide) or to your knees (low tide). And really its not nice by night. In that moment not all the bungalows had 24h electricity so cross with the water to your neck, arms up to try to keep thing dry and completily dark was sometimes funny sometimes not but again, i think they have make new luxury rooms with all facilities.

Its also a point for day tourist, so during the day u can find those gorgeus place full (very full) of people....

For the diving, that time they dont have a dive center in the resort so they work with a dive center from Kho Tao, they come every day to take u and take u back in the afternoon...we were there in August, and even they said the moonsoon dont afect the west cost as it does in Andaman, was raining and the sea was rough for the 10 days we were there and was not very confortable the way back to hotel...specialy thinking that u have to take a new swing to go to ur room and u dont have any hot water in them

For the diving... Koh Tao is a divers factory its very, very cheap to get any course so its plenty of young people having fun by nights and diving in the mornings. For me the diving was poor, but maybe was bad luck...who knows

I hope this help u.

Cipriano.

CADiver,

Nangyuang is basically a small island off Ko Tao. Nice little place for sun and beach but it shares the same dive sites. To me, there are only 2 dive sites worth spending the time in the water, Chumporn Pinnacles and (to a lesser extent)Sailrock. Chumporn has the occasional whaleshark and sailfish, and there are a couple of bull sharks there off and on. Sailrock is has a swimthrough which is nice when there's schooling fish around. If you don't think the Andaman side is worth repeating, you won't find the Gulf of Siam all that interesting biologically.

If you're into young people partying and diving in urchin fields and broken coral, it's fine. Fatboy Slim actually played there once over a decade ago in an impromptu gig. Otherwise, it's a boring island of "the beach" wannabes (but that's just my opinion).

Any experience, pro/cons diving Thailand's Koh Tao & Nangyuan ? Dove the other side, Phuket, Similian, Hin Daeng/Muang already, just thinking about trying something North, sort of inside the bay so to speak.

 

http://www.nangyuan.com/contact.html

 

Thanks!

Dominic

Hi,

Koh Tao is firstly known for providing the greatest number of certifications in SEA for novice divers and/or young DMs at budget price. It's usually based on buy a course get the accom free deals.

I've been in koh Tao once 6 years ago, even though I'm not that old (late thirties at the time) I sometimes felt I was grandpa at the beach.

Diving wise I would say there are two Ok sites around : Chumphon Pinnacles for sharks (I've seen those large bulls at the bottom of the pinnacle even though at this time everybody on the island thought they were grey reefs on steroids ) and Southwest pinnacles, quite similar to Chumphon.

The rest was quite mundane coral diving with not much variety, and mediocre viz.

NangYuan is 500 m. off koh Tao, north of Sairee and not really interesting to dwell on, because you would be secluded on the island for activities or restaurants which are aplenty on KohTao.

That said I think you would be disappointed compared to the western Andaman coast. You would rather go fruther off south to Malaysia's Perhentians or Redang which are better diving and beach wise IMO.. although still not on Andaman coast level when it comes to underwater fauna .

cheers

Luko

Koh Tao is very good destination for learning how to dive but it is not top class diving comparing to the Andaman sea sites.

Dive sites are crowded with divers, but the island is a great place for R&R + dives in my opinion.

you can see my underwater photos from Koh Tao here:

Koh Tao Gallery

you can compre them to the Andeman sea Photos here:

Andeman sea Gallery.

Hi,

Koh Tao is firstly known for providing the greatest number of certifications in SEA for novice divers and/or young DMs at budget price. It's usually based on buy a course get the accom free deals.

I've been in koh Tao once 6 years ago, even though I'm not that old (late thirties at the time) I sometimes felt I was grandpa at the beach.

Diving wise I would say there are two Ok sites around : Chumphon Pinnacles for sharks (I've seen those large bulls at the bottom of the pinnacle even though at this time everybody on the island thought they were grey reefs on steroids ) and Southwest pinnacles, quite similar to Chumphon.

The rest was quite mundane coral diving with not much variety, and mediocre viz.

NangYuan is 500 m. off koh Tao, north of Sairee and not really interesting to dwell on, because you would be secluded on the island for activities or restaurants which are aplenty on KohTao.

 

That said I think you would be disappointed compared to the western Andaman coast. You would rather go fruther off south to Malaysia's Perhentians or Redang which are better diving and beach wise IMO.. although still not on Andaman coast level when it comes to underwater fauna .

 

cheers

Luko

I'll just repeat what everyone else said, having been diving in Koh Tao 8 years ago, and then again 2 years ago (and being disappointed)

If you want to get certification, Koh Tao is great

If you want to party and go scuba diving, I'd suggest Phi Phi instead

If you just want to dive, stay in Phi Phi or Phuket. If staying in Phuket there are a lot of choices, I prefer quiet Nai Harn to tourist trap Patong myself.

Racha Noi Phuket, July 2009 http://picasaweb.google.com/mysterioe/PhuketUW