Similans Dive Sites – Anita’s Reef

Running from the southern tip of Island 5 to the western side of Island 6, Anita’s Reef is a very popular and enjoyable dive site and the perfect introduction to diving at the Similan Islands. The diving here is nice and easy and the visiblity is excellent so it is often chosen as the site for the first dive on your Similan Islands liveaboard trip. There is a huge bommie which is covered in fishlife, and highlights include the shimmering schools of glassfish, often hunted by blue-fin trevally, anemonefish and sting rays. You can also get the opportunity to see more unusual fish on this site such as the long-nose hawkfish, frogfish and rock razorfish.

You can dive this site as part of a Similan Islands liveaboard or on a 2 dive Similans day trip from Phuket.

Availability

End of October – Early May
Tuesdays and Saturdays. 2 dive trip from Phuket. Certified divers only.
As part of a 2, 3, 4 or 5 day Similan Islands liveaboard trip. Certified divers only.

Visibility

20 to 30 metres

Current

Mild

Depth

5 – 28 metres

Marine Life

Trevally, false and clown anemonefish, butterflyfish, angelfish, cornetfish, boxfish, red-toothed triggerfish, Titan triggerfish, long-nose hawkfish, moray eels, frogfish, rock razorfish, nudibranchs.

Andy’s Description

The highlight at Anita’s Reef is the huge coral bommie in the centre of the dive site. The top of it is at around 12 metres and it extends down onto the sandy bottom at around 20 metres. It is covered in soft corals and fish-life, such as tropical reef fish, shrimp, reef crabs, ghost pipe fish as well as unusual nudibranchs. Huge shoals of glassfish hang around it which often brings in larger fish such as trevallies preying on them.

You will likely begin your dive at the buoy-line south of Island 6, and swim southward to the bommie. You can expect to see lionfish, Oriental sweetlips, filefish, red-tooth triggerfish and Titan triggerfish. Occasionally you may see a clown triggerfish.

The rest of the dive is a nice reef dive consisting of hard and soft coral pinnacles, white sand areas and in the southern, deeper area there are massive granite boulders. The coral bommies are covered in soft corals and sea fans where you can look for ghost pipefish and longnose hawkfish. Out on the sand, look out for blue-spotted stingrays and groups of spotted garden eels.

Just around the corner, on the west of Island no 5 is the deep dive site Tuna Wreck. In 2003, the Similans National Park authorities sank a 30 metre long fishing boat just south west of the island to create a new dive site. The wreck is marked by a buoy-line and sits on the sandy bottom just beyond the outer edge of the reef, with the depth varying from 28m metres, down to the deepest point at 40 metres.