Koh Rin Place guide

Koh Rin, as well as the areas surrounding it is one of the sites that Trip Guru highly recommends visiting throughout the Pattaya area for coral diving. There are eight main dive areas that can support more than one dive. If you’re the type of tourist who can’t resist diving and viewing corals and various invertebrates in their natural habitat, then you’re in luck. All of the dive sites have a wide variety of aquatic life and no two dive spots are identical—there is always something new to see.

Hin Ton Mai, or the South Rock, is known as an extremely popular dive spot as there are moray eels and barracuda. There have also been rare sightings of marble rays, and plenty of soft and hard coral to go around. South Rock has brittle stars, parrotfish, feather stars and coral whips available and is very good for up to 22 meters. Meanwhile, Hin Khao, or the North rock is famous for the various rocky outcrops, which serve as a home for different species. As such, it is a good place to start searching for fish such as pipefish. The North Rock has a wall fifteen meters high, and there have been sightings of turtles, moray eels, batfish, barracuda, nurse sharks and coral.

There is a special dive site named Koh Rin Bay near the main island. It’s shallow, so great care and luck is involved, as it is not well-protected from currents and relies on good weather to fully enjoy its 16 meter depths of magic. On the western side, there is a protected dive site perfect for training newbies and is an acceptable challenge for qualified divers, especially when the waves are strong. This site is quite special because the diversity of marine life is excellent, with fish such as harlequin sweetlips, snappers, squirrelfish and lionfish just waiting to be discovered. For someone who is interested in marine science and diving, a spectacular sight of untouched corals teeming with marine life awaits you.

Koh Rin is a 3 hour boat ride from mainland Pattaya and remains fairly isolated of the Far Islands. To maximize your time, getting there early is a must. It doesn’t have a dedicated public ferry service, nor does it have resort accommodations. As it remains untouched by human hands, this remains a beautiful snorkeling and dive site.