Ko Bon Pinnacle: it's Manta time again!
Ko Bon Pinnacle is a spectacular dive site lying roughly 500m North-West of the West Ridge and takes the form of a a submerged pinnacle. You will see Ko Bon Pinnacle is not marked with a mooring line, however it can easily be found with a depth finder.
The dive site at Ko Bon Pinnacle is fairly small and consists of 2 pinnacles covered in Hard and Soft Corals resembling underwater mountains. The shallowest part is ~18m dropping off to more than 45m on the Northern side. Therefore, because of the depth, Ko Bon Pinnacle would usually be your 1st dive of the day. The Southern Pinnacle is the shallowest, while the shallowest part of the Northern Pinnacle is around 28m. If you are not used to diving in currents you might want to dive Phuket just to get back in the water before your Similans and Surin Liveaboard. We can easily arrange a Phuket Diving Day Trip for you to get you back into Dive-Mode!
Currents can be strong at Ko Bon Pinnacle, and around full and new moon the site is can be challenging. But that’s why we get all the Mantas here ...
Diving Ko Bon Pinnacle
We start a dive at by a giant stride off the dive platform and then descending using the pinnacle as a reference. Once you have descended you will be rewarded with beautiful topography and a wide variety of marine life.
The Western side of the shallow pinnacle has a wall that drops off to at least 40m. As such make sure you pay particular attention to your depth as it’s easy to go to deep with the awesome visibility. In addition, there is a good chance to see Leopard Sharks sleeping in the sandy areas. There are Whitetip Reef Sharks too which lie in the deeper waters.
If you head North towards the deeper pinnacle, swim in the mid water as there is always allot of mid-water activity here. You can expect some very large Rainbow Runners, Barracuda, Trevallies and schools of hunting Fusiliers. Once you have spent a few minutes on the deeper pinnacle head back to the shallow pinnacle.
The Eastern side of Ko Bon Pinnacle is far shallower gradually dropping to around 32m. Here you can find some very large Giant Moray Eels, along with Octopus and Peacock Mantis Shrimps. There are also Sweetlips, (look out for Juvenile Oriental Sweetlips), Angel Fish and Butterfly Fish. Along with all the usual Reef Fish you would expect in The Andaman Sea.
Be careful of your depth and time at Ko Bon Pinnacle
Due to the depth you can normally expect a maximum dive time of around 35 minutes. At the same time, it is not so large a dive site and can be swum around 20 minutes. You also have the option of then “hanging” in the mid water on top of the shallow pinnacle or making the swim back to the West Ridge. If the current is zero or running North to South, then the swim takes around 10 minutes at a normal relaxed pace. Just set your compass to South East and you will hit the West Ridge on its Northern side. From there swim in mid-water as the bottom is 30+m, until you are back at the West Ridge.
Ko Bon Pinnacle is a long-time favorite with Rebreather Divers. Not because the depths are “Rebreather Friendly”, but also for the sheer amount of Marine Life there is to see. And with up to 3 hours to spend on the dive site, you can pretty much guarantee an AWESOME 3 hours.
If you remain on the Pinnacle you may be rewarded with a Manta Fly-By or Eagle Ray. Moreover, if you make the swim back to the West Ridge, look out for Leopard Sharks sleeping on the sand below you. Or a Manta / Eagle Ray passing by...
Ko Bon Pinnacle: a perfect way to spend the day ...
