Ko Doc Mai is a spectacular steep wall famous for its muck diving and creatures such as seahorse and ghost pipefish.

Name Dive Site:	Ko Doc Mai
Depth:	2-35m (6-114ft)
Visibility:	5-25m (16-82ft)
Accessibility:	Boat
Inserted/Added by:	lars, © Author: Lars Hemel
Rated:	Rated 3.5, 2 votes
Specifications:

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Ko Doc Mai or Island of Flowers is a beautiful limestone island right in the center of Ao Phang-Nga just twenty kilometres southeast of Phuket. Its towering steep green topped cliffs create an amazing sight when you first approach this paradise. Despite its name there aren't any flowers on the islands; people think the name is coming from all the 'flowers' living underwater in the form of hard and soft coral. There are several dive sites around its shore, some suitable during the monsoon season, others perfect in strong currents and some are best during the dry season from November to April. Ko Doc Mai is most often dived by day tours from Phuket as a late afternoon dive coming from Anemone Reef, Shark Point or the King Cruiser.

Its steep cliffs above water will give you the idea that some spectacular steep walls might be available under water. And that is exactly what has made Ko Doc Mai famous. There are wall dives to be done going down from the surface to thirty meters deep, most on its western side. In the east you will find a sloping hard coral reef with coral patches, canyons, rocks and some nice caverns suitable for trained cave divers as they enter the island for fifteen meters.

The walls are decorated in anemones, sponges and huge gorgonians. On the walls you will spot some lost yellow tiger tail seahorse, motionless floating ornate ghost pipefish, white eyed moray eels, nudibranchs, crocodile needlefish and frog fish. It is a fantastic muck dive site for finding interesting macroscopic creatures in all its cracks and crevices. You will find invertebrates such as painted lobsters, banded boxer shrimps, sea urchins, crabs and zig-zag oysters. Out in the blue is the place for pelagic such as tuna, barracuda and jacks. Snappers, leopard sharks and even whale sharks have been reported in the last years, a sign that health is improving.

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