Marine life around Phuket in Thailand

Andaman Sea Diving Exploration

Phuket, a city located in the South of Thailand, is well-known to travelers throughout the world for its fine dining, its nightlife and as a great base camp for diving in the area. About a hundred kilometers northwest you will find one of the best spots of the country: the Similan Islands. The archipelago of nine islands in the Andaman Sea, it became a national park in 1982. Each island invites the divers into its beautiful warm sea and colorful aquatic landscapes.

Andaman Sea Facts

This particular region of the world is home to hundreds of marine species ranging from the smallest fish to the largest coral formations. On the east coast of the Similan Islands, you can find quiet coral gardens with an abundance of exotic invertebrates. You will encounter round and velvety-looking sponges attached to rocks and wrecks or colorful sea anemones that look like underwater flowers. Soft and hard coral of all shapes and sizes, as well as giant gorgonians, live there in abundance, and they offer shelter to countless sea animals that you can observe in azure-blue waters: small crustaceans hiding in the crevices, schools of exotic fish swimming with the currents, shells resting on the sandy bottom…

The west coast of the archipelago is harder to approach, with its currents and intricate rock displays riddled with tunnels and caves to explore if you are feeling adventurous. Inside the various folds and alcoves, keep an eye out for Murray eels and their long bodies that hide from divers but can peep out of their burrows. Often mistaken for aggressive animals because of their defensiveness and poor visibility, they are quite shy and would rather flee than fight.

Other species also populate the tropical waters, and you will find them at different times of the year. Sharks are well represented in this area, like the majestic whale shark visible from February to May. With their 10 meters and 10 tons, these giant plankton-eaters with spotted backs are considered the kings of warm oceans. Zebra and leopard sharks can also be seen, both innocuous to humans and fond of mollusks, crustaceans and small bony fish.

Andaman Sea Sharks

sharks like gray sharks and black-tip or white-tip reef sharks.In deeper water, it isn’t rare to be able to swim around barracudas, Malabar groupers, tunas, swordfish or mackerels, as well as some more specimen of sharks in Thailand waters like gray sharks and black-tip or white-tip reef sharks.

A little rarer but present nonetheless are the famous sea turtles with their glistening shells and fluid movements. Together with various species of skates like the manta ray, they roam the shallow water and coral formations and occasionally swim with divers and snorkelers. As you admire the amazing diversity and dynamic of the reef, you will surely be able to witness the elaborate dance performed by schools of orange snappers, blue and yellow caesionid ace fusiliers and black and white striped “trumpet fish.” Add to this the occasional trunkfish and sea horse that is often seen feeding on weeds. The well-known blow-fish also called balloon-fish or globe-fish that seems to inflate when threatened is a regular of these waters as well. Its defensive mechanism makes this small fish a curiosity for many tourists: At the smallest sign of attack, it compensates its slow locomotion by size to scare off much bigger opponents.

No matter where you dive in southern Thailand, you are assured to journey into a variety of marine life around Phuket and an amazing universe of colors and shapes that are unlike any other. Immerse yourself in these warm tropical waters and be ready to glide alongside magically submerged landscape to meet diversity in all its beauty!