Hin Daeng
About 100 km southeast of Phuket lie two of
Thailand's
best dive sites, Hin Daeng & Hin Muang (Red Rock and Purple Rock in Thai).
Hin Daeng is three rocks that are just awash. Underwater,
the reef features a dramatic drop-off, almost straight down to a
depth of over 60 metres. This makes it the deepest wall dive in Thailand.
Covered in a numerous hard &
soft corals and sea fans, this dive is fabulous. The east slopes gently off
along two long narrow ridges which disappear in the darkness, the
western plateau has an expansive coral garden with many Star Corals and
Compact
Corals. The walls on the north and south descend to the sand.
Even the deeper soft corals are usually visible
from the shallows!
Descending along the wall to a depth of 30
metres you are likely to
encounter large schools of Jacks and Tuna. Sometimes these schools are so thick they appear
to be a solid wall of silver. Hin Daeng is home to a large variety of
marine life including Reef Sharks, Giant Barracuda and from November to
April there is a really good chance of spotting Manta rays and the odd Whale
Shark. The sheer amount of marine life you find here makes this one of
the best dive sites in the Kingdom.
Hin Muang
Along with Hin Daeng, this is one of the best dive sites in Thailand. Hin Muang
(or Purple Rock), is a series of about a half dozen submerged pinnacles and is located just a
few hundred metres north of Hin Daeng. This unique dive site is almost
completely covered with the lush purple soft corals, that it actually seems to glow and attract the most
incredible amount of marine life you will find anywhere. This limestone
pinnacle stretches for more than 200 metres in length and in some places
is less than 20 metres in width. The walls are covered
with anemones, colourful sea fans, numerous little caves,
ledges and rocky outcrops which provide shelter for virtually every
underwater creature found here.
Hin Muang is an excellent site to view Manta Rays and several
species of sharks including the Grey Reef Shark. Hin Muang like Richelieu Rock in the Surin
Islands to the north is also a magnet for Whale Sharks and ranks among
Thailand's best places for observing these gentle giants.
One other unique spectacle often seen at Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are
Manta Rays performing spectacular leaps out of the surface, truly
impressive for non-divers and those already back on the surface.
