Is wreck diving on Koh Tao the most exciting type of diving there is on the island? It just might be!
A wreck can tell many stories. Many of the ocean’s best dive sites have artificial reefs or wrecks that have sunk through the ages. It is an amazing feeling to follow in the footsteps of the past and to be able to look at a piece of history underwater.
The HTMS Prab wreck was scuttled (purposely sunk) just south of Ko Ngam Noi in 2011. The vessel was commissioned in 1945 and was designed by the US Navy for Pacific island-hopping campaigns in World War II.
It was eventually gifted to the Thai Navy and was used as a training vessel, before finally being decommissioned and gifted to Chumphon Province for use as an artificial reef. The HTMS Prab is the sister ship to the HTMS Sattakut, which is another scuttled wreck just off Sairee Beach on Koh Tao. The two ships are almost identical, though the Prab now lies at a shallower depth than its sister ship, making it far more accessible to less experienced divers.
The warm waters of the Thai Gulf have proven to be an excellent coral nursery, coating the wreck in healthy corals, sea urchins, and molluscs. This, in turn, has attracted a variety of marine life, including large schools of one-spot snapper, fusiliers, and even the occasional hawksbill turtle or whale shark. The Prab is an excellent choice for scuba divers of all experience levels, but particularly for those learning the art of wreck diving or wreck penetration.
The HTMS Prab lies east of Chumphon and is a short journey from Chumphon City. A very popular dive site, this wreck is visited often by local dive centres and even by clubs of divers travelling down from Bangkok to stay in the area for a few days. This area of the Gulf is visited by certified recreational scuba divers and freedivers alike. The season for visiting Chumphon Province is from March to July.
We are planning a 2-day trip with Big Blue Tech in just over a week to go visit the HTMS Prab, so we’re packing our regs and checking our gear twice. It has been a while since we’ve made this trip so it’s going to be a new dive site for most of our divers. Fancy coming yourself and doing some wreck diving on Koh Tao? Get in touch with us and we’ll give you all the juicy details.
