There are many dive sites in the Similans & Surin National parks and over the years we have dived them all, but which one is it that we simply love…
If the weather prevents us from diving a scheduled destination then we have the knowledge & flexibility to adjust and dive at a different location but there are a few we just love to dive as often as possible; Koh Tachai Pinnacle is one of these sites.
The pinnacle lies a few hundred meters off the coast of Koh Tachai and can be pretty unpredictable at times particularly if the tidal differences are great. To use a simple analogy – Koh Tachai Pinnacle is much akin to my ex wife, she is absolutely beautiful, can present some amazing surprises but can also be pretty nasty!
Koh Tachai is without a doubt a stunningly beautiful dive site, the main pinnacle being a large dome surrounded by clusters of large boulders to the East and South petering off into the depths, smaller rocks and boulders to the West where the large fans and fauna begin to take shape, leading round to the North where the foliage becomes even greater in numbers and size. To the North there is a second smaller pinnacle but slightly deeper than the average depths around the dome itself. The North is where I like to hang out, particularly if my customers have an interest in photography, the varying fans and soft corals lay particularly well for wide-angle shots and are home to a plethora of macro species.
Day 2 of the trip and the last dive of the day, the tidal information tells us that it may be a bit rippy on descent and we all brief our groups ready for a buoy line descent only to find that as soon as we hit the water the tidal information was completely off, not a jot of rip, just a gentle nudge in the right direction as we descended onto the dome. With the visibility at around 20m and a lovely late afternoon blue tinge we headed for the Northern section and mooched around the fans finding macro and reef fish alike. Overhead the Giant Trevallies, Rainbow Runners & Spanish Mackerel where stalking through the schools of fish who where trying to catch a last minute nibble before retiring for the evening. Sudden bomb bursts of fish as the GT’s hone in and accelerate upon their prey. The show was simply amazing, we shallow up and whilst mooching through the smaller rocks and corals for macro we found ourselves distracted from macro hunting and hovering over the dome for a good ten minutes watching the display of nature around us, with the sun radiating down from the surface through the inky blue water this surely was one of Koh Tachai’s great dives.
Usually we find that some customers decide to sit this dive out as it’s the last dive of day 2 and the weary traveler is being enticed by the idea of a beer and a relax. Top tip…….wait a little longer, have some electrolyte and hit the bar after diving one of Thailand’s greatest sites.
Thank you all for a great trip, hope to see you again.
