Khao Lak offers you the opportunity to discover a beautiful province of southern Thailand located a hundred kilometers north of the well known Phuket Island, in the Phang Nga province. Khao Lak area is still un-spoilt and far from the overcrowded holiday destinations of Thailand. It is the right place to relax and enjoy a natural environment where the Andaman Sea meets the primary forest.
Khao Lak Marine National Park is a palm fringed coastline with newly discovered reefs. The area is home to a plentitude of marine life and even a couple of wrecks.
Depth: 12 - 18 m.
Visibility: 2 - 15 m.
Currents: Moderate
Surface Conditions: Can be rough
Water Temperature: 26 - 30 °C
Experience Level: Intermediate
Distance: ~ 12 km west of Khao Lak (20 mins), 90 km north of Phuket (2½ hours)
Boonsung Wreck started her days with her sinking in 1984. The wreck is an old tin ore processor that is 60 metres in length, 12 metres wide and 6 metres high, and lies positioned in a north to south direction, in open sea but quite close to shore.
Descending from the surface, you'll soon be surrounded by clouds of juvenile yellowtail barracuda and bluefin trevally, and schools of Ehrenberg's snapper and blue-striped snapper, that all use Boonsung as a congregation point.
There are dozens of masked porcupinefish and common porcupinefish, parading up and down on top of the wreck. They seem to be waiting in line for a clean from the remora's in attendance. There's are also some loose groups of longfin batfish.
Diving along the sides of the wreck, look closely and you'll see many types of moray eel, such as zebra morays, white-eyed morays, spotted morays, and leopard morays. Spotfin lionfish and bearded scorpionfish lie in wait too.
During the 2004 tsunami, Khao Lak was badly damaged by big waves. The wreck too suffered a lot of structural damage and now lies, still easily recognisable but broken into 5 major sections. It is probably the best local site for scuba diving in Khao Lak.