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Khao Na Yak Reef
Khao Na Yak (Coral Reef) is the nearest reef to Khao Lak, being 40 minutes away by longtail boat. It is a good site for beginners, and the maximum depth is only 9 meters.
It offers a colorful and varied selection of tropical fish, (including lion fish, ghost pipefish and occasional leopard sharks), and beautiful nudibranches. Longtail boats can easily be hired from beachside operators.
Bangsak / Boonsung tin miner wreck dive
In the mid-eighties, during the height of the tin mining boom along the Andaman coast, a tin mining boat, operated by the Boonsung Mining Company, sunk to the sandy seabed at a depth of
nearly 20m. The name Bangsak refers to a nearby village. This wreck has become a kind of artificial reef over the years, and is now home to
some hard and soft corals, and a large diversity of fish life including porcupine fish, seahorses, batfish, schools of barracuda, leopard sharks, several
crustaceans and nudibranches (including, we understand, the rare Hypselodoris Zebrina variety). It makes an intriguing dive for the day. (Also known as Boonsong or Bonsoong dive).
Premchai tin miner wreck dive
This is a relatively new local wreck dive as the tin mining boat in question only sunk in August 2001, at a depth of 21 meters. The structure is thus strong and still
well preserved, which makes it an interesting and explorative dive. There is still little coral of course, but there is an abundance of colourful fish including reef sharks. This site
is becoming increasingly popular.
MV Sea Chart 1 wreck dive
In August of 2009 the Mv Sea Chart 1, a Thai registered bulk carrier sank in rough waves off the coast of Khao Lak (about 1 hour from Thap Lamu pier) during a journey from Myanmar to Vietnam.
The vessel was carrying 1200 logs of teak wood in its 3200 ton hold.
The rough seas and severe weather battered the ship, causing multiple leaks in its hull.
Water also leaked into the engine room and began to sink the vessel.
All crew on board the Sea Chart managed to escape on inflatable rafts and were rescued by a Royal Thai Navy ship.
After the Thai Navy surveyed the wreck it was buoyed and opened for diving.
The wreck now lies on its starboard side at a depth of 38 - 40 m with a length of 85m and a beam of 12m.
The site has a permanent government mooring line on it and you can see the outline of the wreck from the surface which is typical for the conditions in this region which is typically 30 - 40 metre visibility.
This facinating ship wreck still with cargo aboard and many other original features makes it an interesting dive for wreck divers.
A huge amount of marine life has already settled on this wreck. There are lots of Lionfish, a school of huge
Batfish, several different unusual nudibranchs, a school of big Rainbow runners, a big old Baracuda, Octopus, Ghost Pipefish, Frogfish and many others.
This is a dive site for tech divers, more experienced divers and for deep diver courses.
This dive site is best dived with Nitrox.
There are uncertainties to whether diving is still allowed at this site. A few dive centers have been diving here,
however, several liveaboards have been denied diving here by Thai authorities in a bid to avoid plundering.
Artificial seaweed - future dive?
In May 2018 at Bang Niang KhaoLak, the approach of artificial seaweed was employed to revive the undersea ecology using rope "seaweed".
In addition empty concrete boxes were used in combination with the seaweed to act as a starter for a reef ecosystem.
This artificial seaweed attracts small fish to live amongst it as a safe place and a breeding area.
Then not surprisingly big fish come into the area to eat the smaller fish which thus reinforces the ecosystem.
The installations aim to restore marine resources for marine life habitats and provide shelters
in the area for an underwater park which is three nautical miles from the shore.
The area is run like an "underwater museum" which helps support artificial reef tourism and decreases the detrimental affects on the natural coral reefs.
This is the first place in the Andaman Sea to take this approach.
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For all these dives, Dive shops provide organised trips.
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