Dive Koh Bida

The twin islands of Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Nai lie to the south of Koh Phi Phi, and together with Hin Bida, they form The Bida Islands dive sites.

Diving Koh Bida Nok

Koh Bida Nok is furthest south island in the Phi Phi archipelago, a favourite dive and snorkeling spot for many visiting Koh Phi Phi.

The northern part of this limestone island drops down to around 32m - 35m, offering great wall diving on both sides of the island as you move further south, where the reef becomes more shallow, eventually finishing in the small lagoon at the southern tip of Koh Bida Nok.

The eastern side of Koh Bida Nok is often bathed in sunlight, and as you move south, the wall become less steep and the corals more abundant.

Giant moray eels, turtles, lionfish, schools of snapper, hunting jackfish, nudibranchs, sweetlips, barracuda and sea snakes are often spotted on the north eastern part of this dive site.

As you come between Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Nai, the coral bommies stretch out into the blue, almost connecting the 2 islands, and it is here that zebra sharks and stingrays are often found in the sand.

The west wall of the island runs deeper than the east side, with fantastic walls, and large coral outcrops lying just a 10 - 15m from the wall in deeper water down to 30m where you can sometimes spot nurse sharks and bamboo sharks hiding under the corals.

When the visibility is good, the deeper, west side Koh Bida Nok is easily the best dive site around the Phi Phi islands and has some world-class reef and marine life areas.

It's not unheard of to spot manta rays and whale sharks cruising past on the western wall of Koh Bida Nok, and the shallows are home to blacktip reef sharks and octopus.

The colourful lagoon rises from 14m into the shallows, where juvenile black-tip reef sharks are often found in the shallows, together with soldier and damselfish, parrot fish, butterfly fish, colourful wrasse and crocodile needlefish patrolling the shallows.

There is also a cave on the northern part of Koh Bida Nok, however we strongly recommend that you do not enter this narrow passage without the proper training in cave diving techniques, accompanied by experienced professionals.

Koh Bida Nok is often combined with diving or snorkleing at Koh Bida Nai or Hin Bida.

Koh Bida Nok Map

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Diving Koh Bida Nai

Lying just to the north of Koh Bida Nok is the little sister, Koh Bida Nai. Another favourite of divers visiting the area, Ko Bida Nai is a limestone cliff islet with similar topography to it's larger neighbour and hosting equally diverse marine life.

Divers often descend into the shallow bay to the east of the island onto the sloping reef and coral encrusted boulder formations which lead past many coral bommies covered with anemones to the first of several swim-throughs.

Created by a huge slice of fallen cliff-face many thousands of years ago, this large gap in the rock is not immediately obvious unless you knew it was there.

Often filled with thousands of tiny glass fish that disperse as you begin your swim-through, keep a close eye on the rock walls for colourful nudibranchs and take care with your buoyancy as scorpion fish may also be found on the bottom.

Exiting the swim though and heading towards the left brings divers to Fantasy Reef, covered in barrel sponges, whip corals, gorgonian sea fans and a huge variety of marine life. Schools of jackfish and trevally are often found hunting on bait balls of younger fish above the reef.

After Fantasy Reef, further back up on the shallower parts of the reef to the north are found several very large rocks with the second swim-through and a long sloping reef which continues to the north west of Bida Nai where it becomes a wall around the top of the island, connecting back with the original entry point.

The dive site of Koh Bida Nai is often combined with Koh Bida Nok or Hin Bida.

Koh Bida Nai Map

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Diving Hin Bida

Hin Bida is a large submerged rocky outcrop around 8km south east of Koh Bida Nok and Koh Bida Nai, rising from the sandy bottom around 18m to break the surface at low tide, this superb reef is a perfect place for both divers and snorkelers.

Hin Bida is covered in a huge variety of hard and soft corals, with a large part of the reef being just 3 - 8m deep, making it a great snorkeling spot. The fringes of the reef drop down deeper, with 3 large coral covered fingers running to the south providing shelter for the many zebra sharks which are often spotted here.

Hin Bida (or Phi Phi Shark Point as it's also known) is a very colourful reef, home to large schools of snapper, cuttle fish, zebra sharks, octopus, turtles, harlequin shrimp, lionfish, moray eels, sea snakes, box fish, puffer and porcupine fish. Underwater photographers will find no end of subjects here.

Of course, you'll also find all the regular reef dwellers here, butterfly and parrot fish, scorpion fish, damsel and cardinal fish, clown fish, wrasse, groupers, shrimp, lobster, the list goes on...

It's not unknown for whale sharks to visit Hin Bida on their way south to Koh Haa or Hin Daeng & Hin Muang.

Hin Bida is less dived than many other sites which is evident in the quality of the corals and abundant marine life, however it is sensitive to currents and care should be taken here just after full and new moon periods.

Hin Bida offers great diving for all levels and is often combined with Koh Bida Nok or Koh Bida Nai which creates a great opportunity to spot blacktip reef sharks or zebra sharks on these fabulous coral reefs.

Hin Bida Map

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