Kata Beach Phuket - scuba diving
Dive sites

DIVING AT KATA BEACH – When, Where and How ?

Kata Beach diving is for divers who prefer to see more variety of fish, nudibranchs, stingrays and macro life than other scuba dive sites around Phuket, If you don’t fancy a full day on a dive boat, or only are wanting 1 or 2 dives then Kata Beach diving is for you. Its available between the months of November to May at either end of the beach local reefs are not to deep. Both dive sites at the beach are perfect for beginners to advanced levels. Beach diving is often overlooked by scuba divers visiting Phuket, but beach diving offers huge advantages for divers with a diverse array of small marine life that cant be found any where else in Phuket. Beach diving can be accessed from 7am to 8pm virtually any day in high season.

In August 2018 we commenced development with the extension at our Kata Beach location creating a unique dive resort & instructor training center with a purpose built private dive pool, this is due to open in late October 2018. If you are looking to become an SSI dive pro, then this is the ideal location for your internship, we also offer affordable accommodation, onsite restaurant, massage with the advantage of being 150m from the main local beach at Kata and local nightlife.

Diving started early this year with beach diving in September 2018 from our new much larger shop, which is a short 150m away from the beach

Kata beach diving started earlier this year in October due to great beach conditions
Kata Beach diving started earlier this year in September due to great beach conditions

Where and When to Scuba Dive at Kata Beach ?

As the monsoon arrives Kata beach diving can be restricted (may be unavailable May to September) on most days due to the westerly winds making the dive sites unsuitable. This is depending on weather, and often after its been raining the visibility can be effected.

The best diving here is between late October to late April when the sea is flat and calm, and the waters are clear, with easy access and short walking distance its a great alternative to spending hours in a transfer vehicle and then 2/ 3 hours on a boat to get to the dive site.

Beach Diving Marine Life & What You Will See:

If you want to dive a reef and see more fish than scuba divers then this is the dive spot for You. Dont think for one moment that this is one of those beach dives that may end up where you dont get to see that many fish or marine variation.

For those who may think its a muck dive, Kata Beach offer more species of fish, sea horses, nudis, pipe fish, mimic octopus, barracuda, 4 species of clown & anemone fish, so there is no need to take a full day trip if you only want to do 1 or 2 dives in  2- 4 hrs either morning or afternoons are available

Kata Beach Facts

  • Rating: 3-5 stars
  • Depth: 2-12m
  • Visibility: 3-12m
  • Current: Slow moving water
  • Experience level: Beginner, Advanced Certification and Rescue Diver
  • Topography: Shallow water, hard coral with sandy bottom
  • Marine Life – Stingrays, schooling fish, macro
  • Highlights:  Seahorse, pipefish, morays, nudibranch
  • Night Dives: Available
  • Closed off some days due to weather conditions

 

Kata Beach Scuba Diving Options:

Beach diving is sometimes a smarter option and is favored by some of our customers doing Open Water Courses who want to enjoy their holidays, and not spend hours commuting to distant dive locations on over crowded dive sites. Kata Beach diving is perfect for families who have both divers and snorkelers wanting an inexpensive half day at the beach.

Kata Beach Diving with student divers
Students in the water at Kata Beach Phuket

Beach diving is a common choice for families and backpackers as this allow access from a beach to the diving points, without the need for long transfer times its often less expensive than diving from boats.

Beach Diving for Beginners: Prices Start at 1900 THB

Beginners can access the local dive sites and reef with one of our Scuba Diving for Beginners Courses then relax after the dives on the beach, or have lunch at many of the local restaurants.

You can meet at the dive shop fill in the paper work and listen to the instructor safety briefing, after that we take you to the beach to complete some safety skills, then when ready take you out on the local reef for a dive. After the dive we return back to the shop where you can clean off and have a coffee and talk over the options available if you want to learn to dive.
The whole session takes 2-3 hours max  – We can run this at 8am – 11am and 1pm – 3pm  each day, as long as conditions are good at the beach.
Its better that you check with the shop first: call +66870225356 or email godivephuket@gmail.com
Beginners learning to scuba dive at Kata Beach
Scuba Diving at Kata Beach takes 2 to 3 hours

Kata Beach Diving Courses –  learn to scuba dive

Beach diving courses are logistically easy courses and offer shorter turn around meaning less time travelling to distant dive sites, you can find more information here for Open Water Diver Course, Advanced Open Water Diver and Basic Diver courses, all can be completed between 2 to 3 days.  We can mix the courses so one day can be Beach diving sites and the next day boat diving day trips to many other locations if you wish. If you thinking of doing a dive course and your short on time then think about staying close to Kata Beach  –  This beach is outstanding and you just need to read the reviews about Kata Beach itself and why more people vote this beach as one of the better beaches in Phuket.

Prices start at 1,900 THB for Try Dive/Basic Diver. Phone the Kata Beach office to arrange on +66870225356 or godivephuket@gmail.com

Kata Beach Scuba diving course with Phuket Dive Tours
Kata Beach diving course starting Daily

Beach Dives for Certified Licenced Divers

Beach diving tends to be more relaxed at kata beach than most boat diving day trips as there is simply no rush to get into the water or get back out as dive time tends to be longer due to the shallow reefs. So we are not limited to 50 minute dive times, we can stay up to an hour and 10 minutes if you are good on air. This way you can do a dive any time during the day as long as this is pre-booked and conditions allow. The best times to dive at the beach reefs are early morning and later afternoon  –  Tide times will also need to be checked for the best time to dive the diving sites.

Prices start at 1500 THB. Phone the Kata Beach office to arrange on +66870225356 or godivephuket@gmail.com

Kata Beach diving for certified licensed divers
Kata Beach Diving for a Fun Dive.

Night Diving for Certified Divers

Night Dives are available every night of the week at Kata Beach between November to April.

All equipment is available for anyone who needs it. We provide torches and equipment from our dive shop for those who don’t have their own dive gear. Night dives start at 6:00pm with a safety briefing and setting up equipment, the dive will start at sunset at around 6:45pm each night dive can be around 1 hour or more. Prices start at 1900 THB

Reef Clean up and Conservation

As one of the main dive shops at Kata Beach area we are duty bound to preserve living coral reefs and this often entails us working with customers to help collect debris, basically anything that shouldn’t be in the ocean,as long as there is no living creatures attache or new coral growing on it. Plastic is the main item, bottles and bags being the number one item recovered.

Kata Beach Phuket - scuba diving
Kata Beach Phuket – Scuba Diving

Free Diving or Snorkeling.

If you are staying close to the beach and not really into scuba diving but do like free diving or snorkeling we also have equipment for rent from our dive shop, the price starts at 250THB for snorkeling equipment (Mask Snorkel & Fins) and a full day hire where you can pick this up in the morning and return it back to the dive shop later in the evening.