The Racha or Raya islands are located about 25 km south of Phuket and know as an excellent diving and snorkeling daytrip destinations.
However, there are some differences between them. Racha Yai is quickly developing into a place to stay on for few days with some bungalow and resort operations springing up in recent years, it is a relative small island 24 km southeast of Chalong pier on the east coast of Phuket that has always been famous for its crystal clear sea, white powder sand, snorkeling, diving and big fishing.

Racha Yai offers some of the best dive sites in the region to explore throughout the year, and generally has the best visibility year around of the daytrip destinations from Phuket. At the northern tip of the island, two pretty little bays are known for their deep, clear waters and colorful corals, they have a gently sloping sandy which also provides a good opportunity for snorkeling and diving. But the best area is considered to be on the east coast where the currents allow a gentle drift dive along a rocky slope covered with an incredible display of corals, which, in addition to the wealth of water, nutrient attracts large schools of tropical fish.

Batok Bay is clear and perfect for snorkeling, though the bay gets quite busy with visiting boats in the afternoons.

The island’s pristine beaches continue underwater as a white, sandy seabed, interspersed with hard-coral gardens and boulders. With your first experience into the clear turquoise water you’ll know you made a good choice coming here for your scuba diving. One of the best places of Racha Yai is also, Siam bay, a large bay without boat and few people which is a pretty place to isolate and enjoy the surrounding beauty of the island. Around 8 years ago a new dive site was made in this bay featuring life size concrete elephants, a temple, giant clam and other structures, this was created as an artificial reef to attract more marine life.

Besides, this place is a great place for experienced divers; it will be a good location to make a first open-water course training scuba diving. There are four points to practice diving in Racha Yai depends to season. Generally it’s sandy, gently and visibility is good in this area. You can found so many fishes, ad example schools of barracuda.

Racha Noi or Raja Noi is the more isolated of the two islands, its located 5 Km south of Racha Yai Island and about 15 km south of Phuket. But it is also a popular dive site for experienced divers. Indeed, the depth is greater and the currents generally stronger than its sister to the North Island. Racha Noi is uninhabited and has no services or accommodation, but there’s some great diving in the area.

The visibility is one of the best of the scuba dive sites day trip from Phuket due to a extra depths and proximity with the lands. Like Racha Yai there are two bays with a sandy bottom but with few people and you can make your first open water scuba diving in this area.

You will encounter huge rocks that cause the presence of Manta rays and whale sharks. The South tip of the island offers the opportunity for a dive on a large pinnacle which rises up to 12 m where you can found larger fish like Manta ray and sharks. Currents here can be quite strong, but you are rewarded by so many fishes like schools of blackfin barracuda, octopus, sea snakes and blue-spotted stingrays. Furthermore, you may be seen turtles too at Marita’s Rock which is formed by huge granite boulders.

Racha Noi offers many wonderful opportunities for deep dives.

While scuba diving does require a certain level of health and fitness, your age doesn’t prevent people from becoming Scuba Divers.  YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO LEARN TO SCUBA DIVE!

People are no longer sitting home on the sofa during retirement. This generation is not only the largest, in the world’s history but it has also been one the most active. Needless to say they are not going quietly into the good night!

You may have read over the years about Scuba Kittens where Scuba Cat Diving has introduced diving to many of the younger generation through Bubblemaker, Sealteam  and Junior Open Water courses. Recently we went the opposite way.

The oldest newly certified open water diver from Scuba Cat has completed his Open Water Course with Scuba Cat Diving.

Larry Boersma is a repeat customer of Scuba Cat for over 4 years. Originally from Holland he now lives in the US and still works as a professor in one of the universities over there. He enjoys regular holidays in the Far East and has visited Thailand and Indonesia.

He had completed 18 Discover Scuba Diving experiences with us, and more in Bali and Borneo, for a long time he was happy with this and enjoyed taking photographs at the beautiful Racha Islands.

Earlier this year we made a special exception and Larry went with a private instructor the sites of Shark Point, Koh Doc Mai and Anemone reef. Usually these are reserved for divers who can go to 18m or deeper. But with more than 50 dives already we felt Larry could cope with these new sites.

This must have made him want more as when he came back to see us after 3 month he had decided to take the open water course with us and then join our liveaboard MV Scuba Adventure for a 4 day 4 night trip to Similan, Koh Bon, Koh Tachai and Richelieu Rock.

With Kath as the tour leader on the boat and Francois as his private guide Larry enjoyed  every one of the 14 dives on offer during the trip.

We are not sure if at 82 Larry is the oldest newly certified open water diver but everyone at Scuba Cat is very happy to see him finally move on from being a habitual Discover Scuba Diver to a fully certified one.

Congratulations Larry!!

Trying to decide if Scuba Diving is for you?

Listen to your Body. 

You can’t expect your body to be as agile when you were 21. It is normal to tire easily or succumb to illness more often. An illness is simply your body’s way of telling you to slow down a bit. Listen to your body and don’t push it too hard. Do what you feel comfortable with, why not take a leaf out of Larry’s book and start with Discover Scuba Diving?

Don’t overestimate  your health. 

If you are the type of person who runs everyday and goes to the gym regularly then perhaps, you won’t have to worry so much about the encounter of health problems underwater. Nevertheless, be sure to visit your Doctor before you start this challenge. If your doctor gives you a thumbs-up, well then go dive! If not, ask how you could get dive fit.

Know your limits.

If you’ve been physically active for much of your whole life, then nothing should stop you from trying Scuba Diving. Unless your Doctor says otherwise, you could still go diving, but only do what you feel comfortable with, don’t succumb to pressure from the others on the Dive trips, if you don’t want to go deep or dive in strong currents, then don’t!

So you have decided to come out and dive with us, fantastic news, here are a couple of pointers before you take the course

More than likely your Instructor will be younger than you. As a mature student, you will have to deal with this. No matter what your position is in the “real world” in the pool or on the boat, the instructor is the boss. Learn to be flexible.

Learning

Expect a learning curve. At Scuba Cat Diving all our Instructors take diving courses very seriously. People who are settled into careers or retirement often forget just how hard learning new things can be sometimes. So go easy on yourself.

Yourself

Be open-minded. You might think you have “been there” “done that” and “survived near everything”, being underwater, breathing through scuba gear and being dependant on a dive buddy, can take some getting used to. Some more mature students can become resistant to being told what to do and when to do it. It’s understandable. It’s hard giving over control to someone who may be half your age, but our instructor’s want you to experience all the joy of diving while remaining safe.

If you have always wanted to go scuba diving but have never found the time, learn why it is never too late to start scuba diving, no matter what your age!