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Pattaya, Rayong and Koh Chang

 The major east coast trio
Since Thailand's recreational diving industry was born in Pattaya, dive centers there have set valuable examples to other more recently opened diving businesses in other parts of Southeast Asia.

Their main activities are teaching introductory courses and open water certification courses to new divers. In addition, they specialize in advanced training programs for divers, offering scheduling that is especially suited to residents working in Bangkok-both foreign and Thai. Many of the shops-in Pattaya and other areas of Thailand-have now set up Nitrox facilities, the new technical wave in diving.

One day trips to nearby islands provide access to wreck dives
All dive centers in Pattaya conduct one day diving trips and some are now diving regularly at Koh Chang near the Thai-Cambodian border.

Visitors to the area will be happy to discover that some of the best wreck diving in Thailand is found here. Although there are several wrecks scattered around, the two best sites in the area are the Bremen and the Hardeep. The Hardeep is considered to be the best wreck dive and stores offer one-day and two-day trips to the site. Located between Koh Samaesan and Koh Chuang, the Hardeep is a 42 meter-long Indonesian freighter that sank in 1942 and now rests on her side in 21-27 meters of water.

Today, the wreck is still and tranquil-except for the masses of tropical fish who have made this disaster their home. It is also home to colonies of fan corals and large barrel sponges. Although visibility is not dependably clear here-averaging about the same as the rest of the Gulf of Thailand-the prolific marine life and the possibility of making a safe penetration into the wreck makes the dive one of the most inviting around. 

An excellent deep dive, thewreck rests at about 25 meters and visibility ranges from around 7-10 meters. For those divers interested in more than shipwrecks, coral diving in Pattaya can be fulfilling as well. Often dive centers will offer a coral dive during their trip to the Hardeep an Koh Chuang and Koh Samaesan have healthy coral down to as deep as 30 meters. Although larger animals such as sharks and rays are occasionally seen, the big attractions here are the abundance of soft and hard corals and beautiful, colorful anemones. More

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