Koh Surin Dive Sites - Koh Bon
Koh Bon island lies 14 nautical miles north east of the Similans and has two dive sites, the west ridge and the pinnacle.
The west ridge is the most popular and is one of the best places to see manta rays in Thailand, especially from Jan to May.
From the south of the ridge is a bay which leads to a wall which descends to around 24m, the wall has large sweetlips, many banded pipefish, flabalina’s and the chance to see napoleon wrasse.
The wall then continues out to the west ridge, which is a long submerged rock descending to 40m+.
The ridge is covered in soft corals, with hard coral features and whip corals over it. Look up and around here, this is a popular cleaning station for manta rays and a resting place for leopard and other sharks.
If mantas are spotted keep a little distance from the rays and the chances are good that they'll circle and swoop around, feeding on the plankton. If the manta feels threatened by rapid or aggressive movements it will just glide off into the distance and find somewhere else to feed.
Leaving the ridge you head up the reef part of the dive, this slopes down to 25m and is mainly hard corals and rock formations. Look out for octopus and devil scorpion fish. Sea snakes that are often feeding in this area and Egg cowries have been here for many years.
Still keep looking around as mantas are often spotted here if they are not around the ridge area.
