Sharks, Sharks, Sharks – That is what Palong Wall delivers
Palong Wall is located on the west side of Koh Phi Phi Ley and is a popular day trip dive
site from Phuket. The island offers an impressive sight with its massive limestone cliffs,
and is also famous for its tropical paradise atmosphere portrayed in the movie The Beach.
The dive site is a sloping reef dropping to a sandy sea bottom. You can find big and small
things there – sea turtles, cuttlefishes, various species of fish, nudibranches and much
more. There are numerous open sandy areas in the shallows near the limestone wall.
This is where most divers go on the look out for sharks. Palong Wall is the dive site of
choice in Phuket to see the Blacktip reef sharks, and you can also encounter leopard
sharks if you’re very lucky.
Black Tip Reef Shark at Palong Wall Phi Phi Islands dive tour
Are They Dangerous?
Nota at all! Although they can get up to 2m in length, the blacktip reef sharks are very timid with divers, so no need to
worry. They usually don’t come very close and it may require a trained eye to spot them
when they keep their distance. Very often your dive guide can see the sharks but if you’re a couple of meters behind you won’t be able to. The best practice is to swim alongside your guide in the shallow areas to give yourself the best chance of a clear sighting.
It’s not a dive site we regularly visit. Simply because we have a great chance of seeing sharks at Koh Bida Nok. So if we spot sharks there the second dive will be at Turtle Rock to give divers a chance to see, yep you’ve guessed it – turtles!
Oh, and snorkelers can have a great time with the sharks as well, they swim shallow
enough to be visible from the surface. What an experience!
Posted in Amazing Local Dives on .
