Koh Rin Island Pattaya Dive Site
Pattaya Far Islands Dive Site Name: Koh Rin
Location: The large islet at the bottom of the Far Island chain
Conditions: Nov / March very good
Visibility of 5m (16ft) to 20m (65ft)
Average depth: 7m (23ft)
Maximum depth: 18m (60ft)
Koh Rin Is One of The Best Pattaya Dive Spots In The Pattaya Far Islands Chain.
One of the best Pattaya Island dive sites.
The Island of Koh Rin takes approx 50min to travel to on Pattaya Dive Center’s Boat Lady Go Diver II. Setting off early on her can see you submerge onto the coral reef long before the other dive boats reach the dive site after their 1.5 to 2hr journey.
A Stunning Example Of Pattaya Diving
Koh Rin in fact has three dive areas, each of which can easily support more than one dive. Hin Ton Mai, also known as South Rock, is a very popular dive spot rarely visited which makes for larger fish stocks and diversity in sea life. You may spot Sharks, Moray Eels and Barracuda quite a bit on this dive. There are many hard and soft corals, coral whips as well as very good invertebrate life such as nudibranchs, brittle stars and feather stars. This site has very good coral life down to 16 meters.
The North Rock
Over to the north side of Koh Rin’s main island body lays Hin Khao. Also known as North Rock does not have as much coral reef area as South Rock but has lots of rocky outcrop encrusted with hard corals that home many baby sharks and eels. This is an excellent site for searching around for the more unusual nudibranchs, pipefish, razorfish and others that like to hide away. The site has good diving down to around 14 meters with some deep coral reef extending to around 22m.
This is an excellent drift dive site on the right tides also. Perfect for divers with Drift Specialty or Advanced open water Students taking the drift adventure dive. You can almost drift around the whole rock if you really good!
Rin Island Main Dive Site
Koh Rin Bay is, unlike the two satellite rocks mentioned previously, The bay is the main part of Koh Rin island. This site only goes down to a maximum depth of 18 meters and is well protected from currents, is therefore a nice relaxing dive when compared to both South and North Rock.
A steadily sloping reef falls more dramatically as it heads south; it consists of fallen rocks covered with a few sponge corals. You find sea whips and black coral bushes as you follow this slope around to the side area of the bay. The diversity of marine life around the reef is above average for Pattaya, with many stunning fish like Harlequin Sweetlips, red snappers, squirrelfish and lion fish. Communities of Magnificent Anemones, Neptune Barrel Sponges are fixed along the crevices and ledges that inhabited moray eels and a range of invertebrates.