SCUBA DIVING IN SIHANOUK VILLE CAMBODIA
The waters off of Sihanouk Ville (Kompongsom) and the nearby islands offer some wonderful scuba diving opportunities. Coral encrusted rocky reefs surround many of the local islands, supporting abundant hard and soft corals, sponges, anemones and an assortment of fish life including sing rays, moray eels, dolphins and even whales. Experienced divers report that the variety and concentration of marine life along the reefs is some of the best they've seen.
Top notch dive sites can be found around the islands such as Koh Rung Samloem and Koh Kon within a two hour boat trip of town, making for an easy day trip, but the very best sites around Koh Tang, Koh Prins, Condor Reef are 4-6 hours out. To help arrange your diving excursion, there are now a several dive centers in Sihanoukville, including authorized PADI dive centers. Most can organize, outfit and lead almost any sort of diving excursion from snorkeling trips and introductory scuba dives for beginners to fully outfitted multi-day scuba expeditions for experienced divers. Sihanoukville dive centers offer many services including daily dive trips and specialized trips, introductory dives, PADI dive courses, advanced dive courses, scuba equipment and more.
The waters off Sihanouk Ville are warm (consistently between 27-31C) and though visibility can be quite variable during the height of the monsoon season due to weather and runoff, in the diving season from October to June it ranges from 10-25 meters even at nearby islands such as Koh Rung Samloem - better at more distant sites like Koh Tang. Most of the dive sites are comparatively shallow (around 15 meters) and gentle currents around the islands allow drift diving over the reefs and outcroppings. Though a guide can take you to some of the best diving spots there is a lot to be discovered as much of the area has yet to be thoroughly explored. Most of the islands have uninhabited sandy beaches where divers can picnic, swim and relax between dives. The follow are some of the more popular diving islands.