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Scuba Diving in Cambodia,
More Fish & Less Divers! by Fred Tittle
 If
there is a saying that would speak the loudest for Cambodia diving it would
be More Fish & Less Divers. If you look at a map of South East Asia,
Cambodia is surrounded by great scuba diving. You have Vietnam known for
its Nudibranch and soft corals, and Thailand known for diving in two different
bodies of water, the Adman Sea, famous for its leopard sharks and lion
fish, and the Gulf of Thailand with its warm water where whale sharks can
be seen, as well as a large assortment of reef fish like wrasses, parrots
and angel fish.
In Cambodia you have 2 PADI
Dive Centers and a few smaller dive shops with instructors from SSI, CMAS,
and NAUI. Go to Koh Toa in Thailand and you have on just one small island
35 dive shops. Koh Chiang has over 20 dive shops and is less than 100 miles
away as the crow flies from Sihanoukville, where all the diving takes place
in Cambodia. The only difference between Koh Chiang in Thailand and Cambodia
is a political border, fish as you can guess don't need visas, and can
cross the border anytime that they want without going through passport
control.
 Cambodia
reefs are relatively shallow and close to islands, with a couple of notable
exceptions being Condor Reef, 6 hours out from Sihanoukville, and Sponge
Factory, which is between Koh Rung Samleom and Koh Rung. Their use to be
wrecks, but they have been salvaged for the scrap metal. The US Army is
still seeking "MIA's" believed to be on a helicopter off the Northwest
side of Koh Tang, that is still missing, but local fisherman and dive operators
figure that it to have been salvaged for the very expensive metals in a
helicopter, namely aluminum, titanium and magnesium. Recently an ancient
Chinese junk wreck was found, but it is under the control of the government,
and you need special permission to dive it.
The islands in the Koh Rung
Group is where the majority of the day diving takes place in Cambodia and
can be reached in under 2 hours. Most the dive operators leave around 8
am and get back around 4 pm after doing 2 or 3 dives. At these islands,
you can find very large schools of snappers and fusiliers. Schools of orbital
batfish often times following the divers around the dive sites. As the
sites are not so deep, many dives will last over 1 hour for the divers
that are better with air consumption.
The Koh Tang Group is located
about 4 to 5 hours out depending on the tide and the dives tend to be deeper
and the visibility is almost always double what you will find at the day
dive sites with 40 meter visibility a possibility every time you go there,
with the average being 20 - 25 meters. Even when there is a lot of rain
fall, the diving is good at Koh Tang, where you can see large pelage's
like sail fish, tuna's & cobias that get to be 2 meters long. Dolphins
and white bellied sea eagles are seen here as well.
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For accommodation in Asia,
visit All World
Vacation Station
About the Author: Fred Tittle
has lived in holiday vacation resorts his entire life, from Lake Geneva's
Playboy Club, as a rock jock for KSPN FM in Aspen Colorado, Hawaii Scuba
Diving in Waikiki and EcoSea Dive in Sihanoukville Cambodia where he teaches
PADI & SSI Scuba Diving and runs liveaboards & adventure tours,
http://www.ecosea.com
Fred's new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com
where he reviews Asia cheap hotels, budget guesthouses & discount..
Travel
Articles / Asia
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