Home › Dive Sites › Thailand › Koh Tao

Diving in Koh Tao: season and dive sites

Phuket 27 Krabi 22

Dive schools in Koh Tao →

Planning a dive trip to Koh Tao

Every figure below is counted from the 34 dive sites listed on this page. Where a value is missing for a site, that site is left out of the count rather than estimated.

Best monthsJan – Junfrom ten years of rainfall records for this area
Dive centres within 60 km46avg rating 4.86 · SSI 25 · PADI 20 · SDI 1
Species recorded56Wire Coral Crab, Amakusa Jelly, Shoulderspot Wrasse

Why these months

The dry months are not about staying dry. Rain washes sediment down rivers and into the sea, and visibility drops with it. The wet season also coincides with the monsoon, so wind and swell decide whether boats reach the exposed sites at all. Water temperature barely moves across the year in the tropics and is rarely the deciding factor.

One caveat worth knowing: the dry season means convenient, not necessarily the best diving. The plankton blooms that draw in manta rays and whale sharks come with nutrient-rich, cooler water, which is often the opposite of calm, clear conditions. If a particular animal is the reason for the trip, its own season matters more than the weather.

Compare dive centres in Koh Tao →

34 dive sites found