Laying in Phang-Nga bay about 45km east of Phuket and 30km southwest of Krabi, two breathtaking limestone islands make up the greater part of Moo Koh Phi Phi; the largest island of Phi Phi Don being a few kilometres north of Phi Phi Lae. Limestone cliffs rise vertically into the sky, where the trees take over. There are many beaches, coves, and bays which make for dramatic scenery to enjoy during surface intervals. 

There are many, many dive sites around the Phi Phi island group, many consisting of wall dives, the limestone dropping to depth ranges between 10m and 25m. The walls can have gorgonian fans, soft corals and coral bushes and interesting rock formations and swim throughs. At the base of these walls there are often hard coral gardens to explore. You can expect a great amount of fish life, including lionfish, wrasse, Moorish idols, angelfish, rays, trevallies. Also keep an eye out for leopard sharks sleeping on the sandy bottoms or blacktip reef sharks cruising the reefs. Turtles can also quite commonly be seen here. Lastly, check the fans and bushes for tigertail seahorses and harlequin ghost pipefish.

The King Cruiser was a car ferry that used to travel between Phi Phi and Phuket. In 1997, ‘the cruiser’ hit Anemone Reef on her crossing and sank a short distance away. No lives were lost, but divers were left with a great wreck dive! While she is largely broken up now, she is covered in soft corals and hides some wonderful gems, as well as being home to several large schools of snappers. While currents can be strong and visibility sometimes challenging, this is a great site to dive as part of an Advanced Open Water course.

These pinnacles are part of the same reef system and are only a very short distance apart from each other. Both sites are covered with colourful soft corals and anemones with a variety of fish to suit all divers. From barracuda to seahorses and for the lucky ones of course, the iconic leopard shark!

Racha Yai is an excellent trip for  beginners and those that have not dived for a while. Indeed for any guests aboard carrying out Advanced Open Water courses on-board, Racha Yai offers the perfect opportunity for course dives, with sloping hard coral reefs, white sandy bottoms and a choice of wrecks on the west coast. 

Racha Noi has some of the best visibility of all sites in the area. Often described as a ‘mini Similans’ the granite boulder topography is also unique compared to other sites. It offers a choice of hard coral reefs, boulders with large swim throughs and the beautiful pinnacle on the south point of this island. Strong currents can make the southern sites challenging, however, with a year round chance to see manta rays, it is worth the effort to dive here.