Chumphon Pinnacle diving

Located 10km north west of Koh Tao, Chumphon Pinnacle is the Gulf of Thailand’s premier dive site and is a must do dive for anyone in that area. Dive centres on Koh Tao run trips there every day.

Chumphon Pinnacle has the best visibility in the area, sometimes over 30m and it gets regular whale shark visits. On the negative site it can get very busy with dive boats and divers and currents can be strong at times.

The main pinnacle rises up from a depth of 35m to it’s shallowest point at 15m below the surface. Other smaller pinnacles surround the main pinnacle. The rocks form various plateaus and ledges covered in hard and soft coral, sea whips, gorgonian sea fans and barrel sponges. There are also large beds of anemones with their resident pink anemone fish on the south east side of the dive site.

Large grouper can be found under ledges. Moray eels like the crevices in the rocks. Titan trigger fish can be very territorial here. Parrot fish, puffer fish, trumpet fish and butterfly fish are numerous. Leopard sharks can occasionally be seen on the sandy bottom. Curious bat fish like to watch divers.

Whale sharks are a common visitor here and they arrive with an entourage of hanger-ons like remoras and other smaller fish. Manta rays also pass by on occasions. Giant trevally hunt bait fish around the pinnacles. Great barracuda, mackerel and tuna are some of the other big visitors.