Dive sites
Kata Beach Scuba – When, Where and How ?
Kata Beach Scuba diving is for divers who prefer to see a greater 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 want 1 or 2 dives, then Kata Beach diving is for you. It’s available between the months of November and 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 can’t be found anywhere else in Phuket. Beach diving can be accessed from 7am to 8 pm virtually any day in high season.
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 depends on the weather, and often after it’s been raining, the visibility can be affected.
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 a short walking distance; it’s a great alternative to spending hours in a transfer vehicle and then 2/ 3 hours on a boat to get to the dive site.
Kata 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 it’s a muck dive, Kata Beach offers more species of fish, seahorses, nudis, pipefish, 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 afternoon is 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 on some days due to weather conditions
- Dive Today Kata Beach Meeting Point for Scuba Divers
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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 overcrowded dive sites. Kata Beach diving is perfect for families who have both divers and snorkelers wanting an inexpensive half day at the beach.
Beach diving is a common choice for families and backpackers as this allows 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.
Kata Beach Diving Courses – learn to scuba dive
Beach diving courses are logistically easy courses and offer shorter turnaround, 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 you’re 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
Beach Dives for Certified Licensed 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 late 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
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 6:00 pm with a safety briefing and setting up equipment; the dive will start at sunset at around 6:45 pm. 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 in the 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 attached or new coral growing on it. Plastic is the main item, with bottles and bags being the number one item recovered.
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 to the dive shop later in the evening.