 Koh Dok Mai, The name means "Flower Island" in Thai and this diving site must be named for its underwater beauty because above the water there are no flowers, only a few trees and bushes. As soon as you descend however, the colourful flower-like coral covering the wall makes the name understandable. Koh Dok Mai is a small limestone islet rising vertically out of the sea. The site is mainly a wall dive down to thirty meters, with a hard coral staghorn reef sloping to the west. On the east side of the island are a series of caverns and caves which are great for practicing penetration techniques, and maybe search and recovery! Koh Dok Mai is a favorite dive site for Phuket's diving pros because of the diversity of small stuff on the wall and it's famed for the resident yellow tiger-tail seahorses. Try spotting them hidden amongst the lacy gorgonian sea fans. They are in there somewhere ... honest! Whilst your dive guide is looking for them for you, he'll also be looking for ornate ghost pipefish and harlequin ghost pipefish. There's also a huge variety of invertebrates here, such as lobster, crabs, zigzag clams, pencil urchins, oysters, squid, and white-eyed moray eels. This is one of the top macro sites for scuba diving Phuket so if you're a photographer a macro lens is the best option here.
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