Koh Chang is located on the eastern side of Thailand close to the Cambodian border. It is reached by a short ferry crossing from Trat. Thailands second largest island after Phuket is surpisingly undeveloped and retains a very tropical feel with dense jungle in the interior and beautiful beaches along the coasts. Smaller islands south of Koh Chang such as Koh Muk and Ko Kut are even more remote. The Koh Chang Marine National Park is actually made up of 52 islands and 85% of the park land area is jungle. Most tourist accommodation on Koh Chang is small bungalow resorts although more deveopment is coming.

There are around 10 dive sites regularly dived by Koh Chang dive centres and surely more yet to be discovered in the archipelago. All diving is by boat. Daytrips run all year round although June to September is the off season when waves may make some dive sites inaccessible and lower visibility. The best months to dive Koh Chang are November to April.

Hin Luk Bat is a popular site close to Koh Chang with healthy corals on a pinnacle down to 20m deep. Currents are usually weak and visibility averages about 10m. Fish life includes schools of barracuda and snapper plus angel fish and butterfly fish.

Hin Rap, located off Koh Klum just south of Hin Luk Bat, is another pinnacle with a rocky reef that incldes soft corals and hard staghorn corals plus barrel sponges and gorgonian sea fans. Maximum depth is 16m. Continued >>