Sail Rock
Level : All levels
Depth : Main rock until 22 meters and dive site up to 40 meters
Visibility : 15 to 35 meters
Current : weak to medium
When the diving conditions are nice, Sail rock, also called “Hin Bai” in Thai, is probably the best diving site of the gulf of Thailand. Only problem, this dive site is really in between the islands of Koh Pha Ngan and Koh Tao. It means that the dive site is 2hours boat from Ko Tao. It is basically a very large rock rising up to 7 meters out of the sea level which drop down to 22 meters and structured as a long chimney with a vertical swim trough. It is the perfect place to dive with large pelagic such as large tuna, Giant Groupers, King mackerel, Chevron Barracudas, whale shark or manta rays.
Chumphon Pinnacle
Level: Advanced diver (level 2)
Depth: Up to 45 meters
Visibility: 10 to 30 meters
Current: weak to medium
Chumphon pinnacle, located north-west of the island, is probably the most famous dive site of koh tao. It is in reality composed of four pinnacles covered with anemones. Only 45 minutes away from Sairee beach in Koh Tao, the dive site is often crowded but offers a large variety and abundant marine life with very good visibility most of the time. At Chumphon Pinnacle, all year around you can dive with giant groupers, barracuda, bat fishes, trevally, big eye jack, … During the whale shark season, from mars to May and august to October, you might be able to spot whale shark, Remoras and Cobias.
South West Pinnacle
Level: Open water diver (level 1) and advanced divers (level 2)
Depth: Up to 33 meters
Visibility: 10 to 30 meters
Current: weak to average
The diving site South West Rock, also called south west pinnacle is sometime considered as the second best dive site of koh tao. The dive shops of Koh Tao often go there for the 3rd dive of the open water diver course but, in our point of view, it is more suitable for advanced divers. It is composed of many small pinnacles with a larger one in the center. On this dive site you should be able to find scorpion fishes, yellow tail Barracudas, Leopard Sharks, Grouper. Lucky ones will meet the great whale shark and extremely rarely, people spotted Whales there.
White rock
Level: Open water diver (level 1)
Depth: Up to 24 meters
Visibility: 10 to 30 meters
Current: weak
White Rock is one of the most visited dive sites of Koh Tao because of its proximity (10 minutes boat) with the main beach of the island, Sairee Beach. It is also one of the largest diving sites of koh tao. It is particularly popular for night dives or for the fourth dive of the open water (PADI level 1).You can meet a wide range of life local marine with, for example, sea turtles, nudibranchs, blue spotted stingrays, barracuda, angel fish, moray eels, triggerfish and for the luckiest, Wrasses. It also has a wide variety of soft and hard coral.
Shark island
Level: Open water diver (level 1) and advanced divers (level 2)
Depth: 15 meters in average, 24 meters maximum
Visibility: 5 to 30 meters
Current: weak to strong
I will maybe disappoint you but you should know that there are no sharks in Shark Island. Indeed, its name comes from the fact that on the surface, the pinnacle has the appearance of a shark fin. The site is located southeast of Koh Tao, is particularly large and has a varied fauna and flora is rich in soft corals. You can dive in with turtles, sea snakes, triggerfish, clown fish and other common fish.
