Dive site · West coast
White Rock
Koh Tao's biggest site, and its best night dive.
Dive site · West coast
Koh Tao's biggest site, and its best night dive.
White Rock sits about two kilometres off Koh Tao's west coast, a short boat ride from Mae Haad and Sairee. It's the biggest dive site around the island: two large granite formations running roughly north to south, with a shallow coral garden and a sandy patch between them. Depths run from just below the surface down to 22 metres, which is why every level of diver ends up here sooner or later.
By day it's a relaxed wander through boulders, red fan corals and Christmas tree worms, with green turtles showing up often enough that White Rock is one of the island's better bets for meeting one. Blue-spotted ribbontail rays rest on the sand, white-eyed morays peer out of cracks, angelfish and butterflyfish work the coral, and titan triggerfish patrol their patches.
After dark it becomes something else entirely. White Rock is Koh Tao's classic night dive: great barracuda hunting in your torch beam, cuttlefish and squid flashing colours, octopus and shrimp everywhere the light lands. If you only do one night dive on the island, dive schools will almost certainly bring you here.
About 2 km off the west coast of Koh Tao, between the island and Koh Nang Yuan. Every dive school on the island runs regular boats here; see our guide to diving in Koh Tao to pick one.