Ein besonderes Erlebnis sind Dive-Worlds neue Tauchgründe im Tarutao Marine Nationalpark, nahe zur malayisichen Grenze. Auf dem Rückwerg betauchen wir zudem die beiden Hai-Spots Hin Daeng und Hin Muang.
Koh Tarutao
Tarutao National Marine Park, formed in 1974 and Thailand's oldest national park, is in Southern Thailand in the Andaman Sea, near to the Malaysian border. It is about 32 nautical miles northwest of Langkawi.
Koh Tarutao consists of Koh Adang, Koh Rawi, Koh Lipeh, Koh Dong, Hin Ngam, Koh Yang and Koh Bitsi islands. These islands with crystal clear water are still largely unknown to tourists. Explore the underwater world around these islands for some of the best snorkelling spots and diving in Thailand. The clear waters support rich coral reefs, lobsters, and around 25% of the world's tropical fish species, including lionfish, angelfish, butterflyfish, groupers, trumpetfish and others. Dolphin encounters are common and rare dugong encounters are possible too.
Koh Lipeh is the smallest of a group of islands (Koh Rawi, Koh Adang, Koh Butang) and these islands form the extreme south Thailand border. There are plenty of dive sites in the small archipelago, from the shallow small boulders in the channel to more challenging and deeper formations at the island's points, such as Lighthouse South Tip where current can be very strong and visibility drops to 5 meters.
The Lipeh reefs are in good condition during diving, when you can enjoy beautiful hard coral formations, many reef fish species. Blue spotted Kuhl's sting rays are plentiful in the area. Diving at the island points, where currents bring in water from the deep, it's possible to encounter pelagic fish. Due to its sand bottom and morphology, it is better to avoid full and new moon when diving at Lipeh as the currents can be very strong, causing sand dispersion and reducing visibility.
The coral formation at Eight Miles Rock is completely submerged and takes its name from its position, just 8 miles south of Koh Lipeh. The location makes it a good place for pelagic as it is exposed to strong current.
The shallowest part is about 12 - 14 meters from the surface and the rock falls away to over 50 meters deep. Soft coral grows in the areas sheltered from current, such as the deep southern channel. Pelagic as the big as mantas and whale sharks can be spotted here. Also stay calm and look around you during the dive and you may just encounter a massive potato grouper that come up from the deeper waters.
The offshore location makes Eight Miles Rock exposed to very strong currents and you must avoid diving here during full and new moon as the waters move fast and can change direction suddenly, making the diving uncomfortable and difficult. Diving is suitable only to advanced divers and a safety balloon is a mandatory part of your equipment as the safety stop will be drifting in blue water.
Hin Chabang
This is one of the prettiest dive sites in Thailand. A set of underwater granite pinnacles set out in a rough triangle shape. Its an open water dive site with depths of 16m, where the sandy bottom and soft whip coral gardens play host to seahorses, nudibranches and lots of other strange little macro critters. On the pinnacles you can find all the usual suspects, big colorful scorpion fish, lots of lionfish and sometimes a turtle or two!
Probably the nicest thing about the dive site is the amount and condition of the soft tree corals, the dive is usually finished in the coral gardens from 8m deep to the end of the pinnacles at 3m below the surface. The density of coral growth here is surprising; you cannot see the rock formation because the coral is fighting for space, truly a photographers dream. Visibility can range from 5m up to over 25m. As an open water site the current has to be slow to make it an easy dive, although shelter from current can usually be found. Hin Chabang has been known as a cleaning station for pelagic in deep water close by.
Koh Adang-Rawi
As currents can be strong in areas of the marine park, the best thing to do is utilise them, hence this dive is also called the "super highway drift". The dive is stared with a drop off at the nortern tip of Koh Adang, making a descent over a rocky slope to around 18m. In this area there is no current, as you swim around the coast where the 2 km deep channel between Koh Adang and Koh Rawi sits the current starts to pick up. The dive follows the coast of Adang, and up to 3km of drifting has been covered in an hour. Along the way various stops are made, tucking into a sheltered bay on the way to look at the hard coral formations. Large schools of stingray have been seen feeding in the channel. Many types of reef fish can be seen, from red tooth and clown triggerfish to big eyed travelly.
Stonehenge
Awesome dive site with four different types of reef in one. First on the east side we have a boulder slope ideal for giant morays and large groupers to rest. This area sweeps down to over 40m, leopard sharks and eagle rays have been observed roaming the deeper parts of the reef. Next is an area of sponges, big barrel sponges, rocks encrusted with sponge, all of this providing food for angel fish and the like. Big scorpion fish blend in well here and some very colorful specimens can be found for photography.
A large sandy area littered with small coral bommies to the southeast side can be used to find large healthy conch, pipefish and many other odd species. The final area is in the center, giant granite pinnacles rise up to 2m from the surface. Resembling Stonehenge in the U.K., the upright slabs of rock play host to schools of damsel fish, basslets of many colors and a legion of other small reef fish, we also see large healthy table corals, stag horn and many other types of hard corals. Also due to the sometimes strong current we find good dense growth of soft tree coral. Some currents can be utilized for part drift dive. Consult dive operators for more information on best times to dive.
Koh Sawang
Koh Sawang is the most westerly point of the marine park. This rocky outcrop island has starting depths of 4 to 5m and slopes down slowly to around 28 to 30m. Hard coral gardens mixed with varieties of anemone, mollusks and big colorful feather stars surround the island. As it gets deeper large granite boulders form peaks to create pinnacles that are covered densely with large white soft tree corals. Depths here reach 30m, large yellow margin trigger fish patrol the sandy slopes that head west to depths of over 70m.
Not unusual to see some large pelagic, large barracuda, huge jellyfish and even to sharks. A large variety of reef fish can be seen amongst the coral gardens. Stone, scorpion and lion fish can be observed waiting to pounce! Large moray eels and puffers are also common. Strong current sometimes felt but can be utilized for an exciting drift dive. Visibility is usually superb up to 30m is common and can be dived differently over several dive plans, each bringing its own surprises.