Located on the west coast of the peninsula of Thailand, with its shores in the warm waters of the Andaman Sea lies the beautiful island of Phuket. The largest island the coast of Thailand, Phuket island has an area of just over 300 square miles and is connected to mainland Thailand via a bridge in the north of the island.

Over the past 25 years, the island of Phuket has treated a large number of tourists from around the world, a large percentage of which are scuba divers looking for the best dive sites some of Asia. Today, scuba diving in Phuket is a big business, and the island has a large number of excellent facilities diving offers a range of diving services ranging from leisure dives through the more advanced courses.

The Racha Islands located in the extreme south of Thailand is one of the best dive sites in Phuket, and the two islands offer excellent diving in crystal waters and the chance of encounters with large animals. In particular, the smallest island, Racha Noi, offers a stunning underwater scenery, and is recognized by both whale sharks and manta ray encounters.

The sites Diving out of Ao Phang-Nga, including the famous shark point and King Cruiser wreck, are widely recognized as the best dive sites in the region of Phuket. The waters around in and around Ao Phang-Nga, are characterized by the abundance of marine life, divers offers access to a variety of marine life and coral, which is unparalleled elsewhere in Phuket.

Phuket is also home to one of the worlds most developed liveaboard industries with a large number of diving Cruises offered at places like the Similan Islands, the Mergui Archipelago and Burma Banks. For divers who want to dive these remote destinations, a cruise from Phuket is the only realistic option for access. As such, the liveaboard industry in Phuket is a prosperous and competitive business, with an increasing number of operating Cruises Phuket.

Further east lie the islands of Ko Phi Phi Don and Ko Phi Phi Lae, a region characterized by topography impressive stone cliffs incredible limestone. These islands are lined with a series of hard coral gardens and some excellent examples of soft corals, sea fans in orange, sea and black coral whips.

Phuket is well deserving of its title as the "Pearl of the Andaman Islands, and indeed, the region boasts some of the best Thailand diving sites. Since environmental issues such as marine conservation work their way gradually Thailand's political agenda, the future for diving in Phuket seems sound.

About the Author:

Mark Burns is Director of Scubaworld.tv, a large scuba diving site specialising in scuba diving in Thailand and a leading provider of information on Scuba diving in Phuket.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Scuba Diving in Phuket – the Pearl of the Andaman

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