Koh Surin Dive Sites - Koh Tachai Plateau
This is the most famous dive site at Koh Tachai, and lies southeast of the island, about 1 kilometre offshore. The plateau is a submerged crowned reef of hard sheet corals, and scattered boulders. These boulders provide great swim-throughs and cut-through opportunities. They also provide refuge for tired scuba divers caught unawares by the sometimes-hectic currents! Always be prepared for a strong current here and do not hesitate to stay close to the mooring as this very often has the best fish life on the reef.
The dive site is marked with a buoy line, which descends down to 16 meters to reach the top of the plateau.
Going north takes you over the plateau to the beautiful coral garden at around 22 meters to 26 meters with some of the best soft corals and sea fans in the area. South takes you down over the large boulders to between 36 meters and 40 meters to reach the sandy bottom looking for the docile leopard shark and large stingrays.
Above you in the blue water look for schooling great barracudas with tunas and trevally’s darting down to catch the baitfish hanging around the reef. A school of batfish often hang around the mooring line and are curious of the divers so will get pretty close.
This site is renowned for its currents and is not for beginners as it is not always easy, but it is worthwhile because, as any diver knows, where there are currents there are big fish. Chief among these are manta rays who make regular appearances and effortlessly glide over the boulders.
If currents allow there is a second pinnacle to the north of the first one, with the shallowest point being 18m. This is a smaller area of rock clusters with gorgonian sea fans and soft corals similar to the ones found on the other pinnacle.
If you do this as an early morning or sunset dive then you will see large blue fin trevally hunting around the top of the plateau.
