SCUBA Diving at King Cruiser Anemone Reef and Koh Dok Mai - Phuket Thailand

Phuket Scuba Diving and Snorkeling

SCUBA Diving at King Cruiser, Anemone Reef and Koh Dok Mai,
The King Cruiser is a new addition to Phuket's dive site portfolio. It is a car ferry, built in Japan 30 years ago as a comfortable catamaran-hull passenger cruiser with four decks. The King Cruiser had a length of 85 metres and a breadth of 25 metres, giving it a capacity of nearly 900 passengers. It was being used for sightseeing trips when on the 4th of May 1997, the ship sunk after a collision with Anemone Reef. The Cruiser was on its normal route from Phuket to the nearby Phi Phi Islands. Nowadays, the wreck lies in an upright position in fairly shallow water. The steering house is located about 10m below the surface. The propellers are at the deepest point and rest at about 32m. The most interesting areas are the passenger decks between 15 and 20m down. Penetration is extremely hazardous and should only be attempted by certified wreck divers. The wreck itself, is a wonderful opportunity to study the process of marine life-forms taking possession of a new part of their environment. Huge shoals of colourful fish already occupy the ship, groupers guard the holes and crevices. Even the slower movers - shells and corals - have begun to move in.

Anemone Reef, a stunning submerged reef 5m below sea level covered in soft coral. A large abundance and variety of fish can be found -- leopard sharks, nurse sharks, barracuda, tuna, trevally and much more.
This stunning submerged reef is merely 10 minutes by boat from Shark Point. The reef starts at around 5m below sea level and is completely covered by soft coral growing in a mass of sea anemones, which give this amazing dive location its name. A large abundance of fish can be found here, including harmless leopard sharks, large shoals of yellow tail barracuda, tuna, trevally, small nurse sharks and massive shoals of smaller fish. Whale sharks can also be encountered here.

Koh Dok Mai, rich in invertebrates and a wide variety of corals, black- and white- tip reef sharks, leopard sharks, large moray eels and other large fish are often seen.
Koh Dok Mai offers very interesting drift dives along a wall which goes down to 30m. Visibility ranges between 10 and 25 metres. The bizarre rock formations both above and below the water, are completely overgrown with a large variety of coral, home to many species of colourful marine life. The western side of the island features a steep sloping reef. Both blacktip and whitetip reef sharks have been seen here as have many other large pelagic. On the eastern side of the island, there is the opportunity for an impressive wall dive and the exploration of a number of caves and caverns. The area is rich in invertebrates and has a good representation of tube corals. There are large moray eels and black-and-white banded sea snakes. Besides that, there is a good likelihood that you may see leopard sharks sleeping in the sand at the base of the wall.