Banana Bay

Banana Bay is a large, banana-shaped bay on the east side of Koh Racha Noi in the Racha Islands, Thailand, taking its name directly from its distinctive curved outline that extends more than a kilometre from north to south. The bay is characterised by a shallow sandy area close to shore dotted with healthy hard coral bommies, while the southern corner features impressive rock formations that drop beyond 30 metres. The main reef begins at around 3–5 metres and slopes at roughly 45 degrees down to a sandy bottom at 25 metres; the bay is extensive enough to support four or five separate dives without fully covering it.

The bay is sheltered from current and waves, with current described as none to mild inside the bay, making it well suited to beginner divers and first-time divers; conditions are generally calm when prevailing winds come from the west, which corresponds to the low season. Visibility runs 20–40-plus metres, and water temperature sits between 28–30°C. Outside the bay the reef slopes to around 25 metres and beyond, where stronger and sometimes downward currents can be encountered, making those outer areas more appropriate for advanced divers.

Reef life in the bay is varied: puffer fish, porcupine fish, boxfish, fusiliers, bannerfish, scorpion fish, moray eels, cuttlefish and octopus are regularly present. Schools of snappers and small barracudas are also seen, along with parrotfish, lionfish and trumpetfish. Eagle rays show up at times, leopard sharks and manta rays are occasionally spotted, and during the right season the southern corner can produce frogfish and ghost pipefish hidden among the hard corals.