Widely considered Koh Tao’s best dive site, Chumphon Pinnacle, located 10km North West of Koh Tao, ranges from depths of 15 meters to 45 meters and should be top of your list when ticking off the dive sites around Koh Tao!
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.
The site consists of a group of massive rocks or pinnacles arranged in a rough oval and running north to south. Visibility is superb in season, often over 30 meters, and the site plays host to a wide variety of pelagic creatures as well as reef fish. Giant trevally hunt bait fish around the pinnacles while the great barracuda, king mackerel, grouper, and queen fish are also regulars to the site all year round, and whale shark sightings are common here with an average of over 100 different whalesharks visiting this site every year, often hanging out for days at a time. They also arrive with an entourage of hanger-ons like remoras and other smaller fish. Mobular rays have also been known to pass by on occasions. Find out more about Koh Tao Marine Life here.
Once home to visiting reef and bull sharks, recent sightings of both suggest they may be about to come back to this excellent site in numbers; fingers crossed!
The negative side to this dive site is that it does get very busy with divers & dive boats especially in high season. Best way to avoid the crowds is heading out with us at Big Blue Diving an hour before most of the dive boats on the island arrive.
