Koh Doc Mai

Koh Doc Mai — Thai for "Flower Island" — is a small limestone island located approximately 16 km from Phuket, Thailand. The name is said to refer not to flowers on the land, which is simply green vegetation, but to the colourful marine life flourishing on its underwater walls. The island offers two distinct dives: a vertical wall on the eastern side that drops straight from the surface to a sandy bottom ranging from 16 m to 30 m, and a sloping coral reef on the western side that begins at around 3 m and descends to 25 m and beyond. Caves and caverns run along the base of the wall and a torch is recommended for exploring them, though entering these features requires proper training.

The eastern wall is the more popular dive and is densely covered with colourful soft corals, giant sponges, and Gorgonian sea fans that can reach up to 2 m across. The western reef holds a variety of hard coral formations including mature table corals, while deeper boulders are draped in soft corals in pink, yellow, and white. Yellow tube corals also appear along the wall.

The site holds a strong variety of marine life. Critters to search for along the wall include seahorses, ghost pipefish, scorpionfish, shrimps of many species, nudibranchs, and moray eels. Bamboo sharks rest under ledges at the base of the wall, and hawksbill turtles are regularly encountered. Looking out into open water from the wall, barracuda, tuna, jacks, and squid are also seen.