Phuket dives: King Cruiser

King Cruiser is a popular day trip dive site from Phuket, and one of my favourite sites in the area. It was a steel, twin-hulled car and passenger ferry built in Japan in the 1960's. It was operating as a passenger ferry from Phuket to Koh Phi Phi, there are no cars on Koh Phi Phi so no cars on the wreck either! This is how it happened: it was May 4th 1997 and a beautiful day - the sea was flat, the sky was blue and there was no wind, but the captain managed to hit one of the few submerged rocks between Phuket and Phi Phi, which is another of our dive sites, Anemone Reef. The ferry was badly damaged and travelled another kilometre before sinking 2 1/2hours later. There were 561 people on board, but everyone was rescued due to the fast emergency call, there were a few injuries but no-one died. The wreck now sits upright in 31metres of water. There are 3 theories as to what happened. The first was that it was sunk for insurance money - the policy was almost up on the ferry. The second was that the captain was drunk and his daughter was steering the boat. The third theory is that the dive shops in Phuket paid the captain to sink it so we could have a nice wreck dive!! Whatever the real reason, it's given us a fantastic dive. The wreck is 85m by 35m, is largely intact, and has attracted a huge amount of life. The wreck itself is covered in fish, sometimes so many that you can hardly see the wreck - that's the reason I love this dive! There are big schools of barracuda, snapper, fusiliers, and often rainbow runners coming in to hunt. There are some huge lionfish, schooling bannerfish and moorish idols, batfish and squid hanging around the mooring line...not to mention the smaller stuff - a huge variety of nudi's, different kinds of shrimp, ornate ghost pipefish, and LOTS of moray eels to name a few! There is also a resident turtle and if there are whale sharks in the area, they like to visit the wreck too :) All in all a fantastic dive...one of the 7 we do on our Phi Phi Overnight trip, contact us for booking!

*Phi-Phi Overnight - August 17-18 the trip is confirmed and we still have space available!

*How to get 7 of the best dives around Phuket and Phi-Phi in only 2 days, incl. 1 night accommodation on Phi-Phi Island!

*Fascinating Fish Fact*

The cuttlefish is a small to medium sized mollusc that is found throughout the ocean waters of the world. Cuttlefish are found in large numbers throughout the world's ocean waters. They are well known for the "flashing" colours that are displayed on their bodies during fighting and mating.

The cuttlefish is a carnivorous animal that primarily preys on small crustaceans such as shrimp and crabs, but they also eat lots of fish. The cuttlefish uses its ability to change body colour to camouflage itself, before catching its prey with the sucker-pads on the end of its long tentacles which bring the prey into the sharp beak of the cuttlefish.

Recent research on mating strategies has shown that some male cuttlefish make themselves look like female cuttlefish in order to trick the dominant males and steal their mates, which is almost certainly what is happening in the picture above taken here in Phuket at Shark Point (Hin Mu Sang). The dominant male is in the centre guarding its mate, with the smaller male below left. After mating, the female cuttlefish lays around 200 small eggs and sadly dies soon afterwards.

PADI Discover Scuba Diving - an introduction to scuba diving

If you’ve ever even thought about what it must be like to see all those amazing underwater wildlife you see in National Geographic, this is for you! Don’t know if you want to commit to a full certification course? This will let you start diving right away and find out if you like it – we know you WILL!! Our Introduction Dives lets you experience the thrill of diving under the supervision of a Professional instructor in a pool or in open water with pool-like conditions (i.e. calm and safe). During your adventure, you’ll master some basic concepts and scuba skills and might even head off to experience an exciting open water adventure. Here's Claudia enjoying her introduction dive :)

What do I need to start?
Be at least 10 years old, be in good health and have an interest in finding out what it’s like underwater. No experience necessary but a sense of adventure is definitely a plus!
How long will it take?
Get ready to dive today. Your instructor will get you in the water quickly and get you ready for your scuba adventure. The whole experience usually takes one day.
What will I do in this course?
When you participate in a Discover Scuba Diving program, you discover excitement and adventure - freedom and serenity. Nothing compares to the "weightless" exhilaration of breathing underwater. Only a diver knows the feeling. Please contact us directly via email if you have special needs.
What can I do after this course?
You can decide to go on and become a fully certified diver by taking the PADI Open Water Diver course. If the open water portion of the required skills in this course were taught, then you may be able to cut some time from your Open Water Course. Worth checking out…
Sample Itinerary
This course can be done as a beach experience, or as an open water (boat) experience.

Beach course:
Skill development and 1 fun beach dive.

Open water experience:
Skill development & 2 boat dives.

Contact us for prices :)

*Fascinating Fish Fact*

This was one of many nudibranches we recently spotted on a stunning morning dive at Hin Dot, Phi Phi Don. The blue dragon (Pteraeolidia ianthina) is a sun-powered slug. It eats coral filled with tiny plants called algae. After eating the coral, the nudibranch keeps the algae in its cerata. There, the algae get to work. Algae, like other plants, use sunlight to make food through photosynthesis. Inside the slug's cerata, the algae keep using sunlight to make food. That food then fuels the nudibranch. To keep their algae farms going, blue dragons must soak up a lot of sun. Hanging out in shallow water during the day helps them get the sun they need. After eating algae, the sea slug can go for days without another meal. It lives off the food being farmed inside its body - amazing!!

A big congratulations to Uginn and Alex who recently got engaged. Alex chartered the boat and made a very special underwater proposal to which Uginn accepted - a great experience for all of us, we look forward to seeing them back for an underwater wedding!!!






We have a new schedule for high season, in addition to our 2 overnight trips to Phi Phi, we have added 2 dive day trips to Shark Point and Anemone Reef on Thursdays and Sundays. The good thing about these trips is that you still get a lie in - pick up time from Patong is 9.20am and Karon/Kata is 9.40am :)

•Phi-Phi Overnight - November 21-22 the trip is confirmed and we still have space available
•Shark Point - Anemone Reef daytrips on Thursdays and Sundays. 2 dives - 3200 Baht. Late start! (pickup at ~9:30 a.m.)
•How to get 7 of the best dives around Phuket and Phi-Phi in only 2 days, incl. 1 night accommodation on Phi-Phi Island!

Wow, sorry, been a while since I posted on here - been busy busy! Looks like the wind has changed and high season has arrived. We've had flat seas and great visibility, especially around Phi Phi. The wind change means that we can now dive on our house reef at Kata Beach, and the east side of Phi Phi Ley, and we have seen lots of black tip reef sharks at Palong Bay and turtles at Turtle Bay (surprise!). Here is a funny video I took of one of the turtles up in the shallows trying to feed in the surge....



The high season also means that the Similan National Park is now open - contact us for all the latest liveaboard deals. •Phi-Phi Overnight - November 4-5 still have space available at a last minute special price of only 8900 Baht per diver •How to get 7 of the best dives around Phuket and Phi-Phi in only 2 days, incl. 1 night accommodation on Phi-Phi Island!