- Water temperature
- 27–31°C
Updated July 2026
Good to know
Good to Know
- Phu Quoc diving is genuinely day-boat based — you go out and come back the same day, typically 30–45 minutes each way; you do not need to book a liveaboard to dive here.
- Don't expect a big-animal destination: there are no mantas or whale sharks, and reef sharks are rare small blacktips — the draw is coral variety, nudibranchs, and macro life rather than dramatic megafauna encounters.
- Visibility reports vary a lot between sources — some describe 15–20m in peak dry season, others describe visibility as consistently poor (as low as 4–6m) — so it's worth setting realistic expectations and asking your dive shop about recent conditions before booking.
- The dry season (roughly November–April, with December–March best) is by far the most reliable window; from May–October the southern An Thoi sites can get too rough, and operators often shift trips to the more sheltered northern sites instead.
- The An Thoi Archipelago (south) has by far the greater number and variety of named dive sites; the north (Turtle Island, Ganh Dau, Dry Island) is smaller in scale but more sheltered and useful as a backup when southern seas are too choppy.
- Typical Open Water course pricing (roughly 11-11.6 million VND / ~400-440 USD) generally includes PADI eLearning, all equipment, and boat transport - always confirm exactly what's included (e.g. certification card fee, marine park fee) before booking.
- Courses run daily at several shops with small student-to-instructor ratios (commonly max 3-4 students per instructor), so last-minute bookings are usually possible outside peak season.
- Diving season (dry season) runs October to May, with the best visibility and calmest conditions from October to April - factor this into timing a certification course.
- If you specifically want a freediving course rather than scuba, confirm directly with the shop first - it appears to be offered by at least one operator (Vietnam Active) rather than being standard across all Phu Quoc dive centers.
- Remember the standard no-fly rule after diving (commonly cited locally as at least 18-24 hours after your last dive) when booking flights right after finishing a course.
Named Sites
Turtle Island (Doi Moi / Hon Doi Moi)
- Site Type
- Shallow fringing reef with rock/canyon topography
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Reef starts as shallow as 0.5m and extends to about 12m; ideal scuba depth cited around 5m
- Location Zone
- North-west, a few km off Bai Dai Beach
- Marine Life Highlights
- Hard coral formations, tropical fish, stonefish, damselfish, anemone and anemonefish (notably at a spot nicknamed "Trystan's Trench" on the south-east side), barrel sponges covered in sea worms, and nudibranchs/macro life to the north of the island.
Fingernail Island (Hon Mong Tay)
- Site Type
- Rocky/sandy-bottom reef, good for training
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Around 10–12m
- Location Zone
- North (one site) and also a separate islet of the same name within the An Thoi Archipelago to the south
- Marine Life Highlights
- Barracudas, giant pufferfish, octopuses, mantis shrimps, toadfish, plus hard and soft coral. Note: part of the reef has been damaged by pier construction, so it's used mainly for easier "fun dives" and beginner training rather than as a showcase site.
Dry Island
- Site Type
- Rocky reef system around a vegetation-free islet
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Moderate, easy-to-moderate difficulty
- Location Zone
- North
- Marine Life Highlights
- Moorish idols, butterflyfish, bamboo sharks, mitre shells, rays, catfish, nudibranchs, scorpionfish, cuttlefish, octopus among boulders, and sea turtles/moray eels.
Dragon Rock
- Site Type
- Boulder/rock reef
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Maximum about 15m depending on tide
- Location Zone
- Southern Phu Quoc/An Thoi area
- Marine Life Highlights
- Large house-sized boulders forming canyons, multiple angelfish species, reef fish, crustaceans, and both soft and hard coral.
Ganh Dau Cape
- Site Type
- Rocky coastline reef
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Not specifically documented
- Location Zone
- North-west
- Marine Life Highlights
- Colorful coral formations and schools of fish along a rocky coastline.
Rach Vem
- Site Type
- Coral reef/sandy shore area
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Shallow, snorkel/beginner-friendly
- Location Zone
- North
- Marine Life Highlights
- Varied coral shapes and colors; locally nicknamed the "Kingdom of Starfish" for the large numbers of sea stars visible on the sandy shore.
Hon Mot
- Site Type
- Small-island reef
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Not specifically documented
- Location Zone
- North-east
- Marine Life Highlights
- Lesser-known, quieter site with coral reef and colorful reef fish.
Nudibranch Garden
- Site Type
- Shallow reef with rock formations
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Maximum around 12m
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south)
- Marine Life Highlights
- Named for its variety of nudibranch species (including a purple-toned "Godiva" nudibranch mentioned by some operators); also has bamboo sharks hiding in deeper rock crevices.
Hon Thom (Pineapple Island) – Pineapple Point (North Side)
- Site Type
- Coral reef
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Moderate
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south) — largest island in the archipelago
- Marine Life Highlights
- Extensive coral reefs with whip corals; a favored spot for observing cuttlefish.
Hon Thom – South Pineapple Point
- Site Type
- Deep drift-influenced site
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April; strong currents present regardless of season
- Depth Range
- One of the deepest sites in the area, down to about 35m
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south)
- Marine Life Highlights
- Larger pelagic species, schools of barracuda; washed by strong currents, recommended for experienced divers only.
Gam Ghi Island (Dam Ngang)
- Site Type
- Shallow coral garden
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Averaging under 2m
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south), about 14km from An Thoi Port
- Marine Life Highlights
- Exceptional coral diversity — brain, table, tube, cabbage, mushroom, branching and massive coral varieties. Some sources note this reef faces pressure from overfishing and tourism traffic.
May Rut Islands (May Rut Trong & May Rut Ngoai)
- Site Type
- Coral park / fringing reef
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Various shallow depths
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south), about 20-minute speedboat ride from An Thoi Port
- Marine Life Highlights
- May Rut Ngoai hosts a coral park reportedly home to over 250 species of hard and soft coral and diverse marine life; May Rut Trong offers quieter, less crowded snorkeling along a long beach.
Roi East Island (Hon Roi)
- Site Type
- Boulder/coral reef
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Maximum about 10m
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south), between the island shore and an offshore pearl farm
- Marine Life Highlights
- Moray eels, sweetlips, groupers, hermit crabs, cuttlefish, glass shrimp, and a wide range of coral.
Robinson Island
- Site Type
- Rocky coral reef
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Not specifically documented
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south)
- Marine Life Highlights
- Sea anemones, sea cucumbers, and a variety of colorful reef fish; uninhabited except for a single rustic homestay.
Mong Tay Island
- Site Type
- Coral reef
- Best Season
- Best visited November–April
- Depth Range
- Not specifically documented
- Location Zone
- An Thoi Archipelago (south)
- Marine Life Highlights
- Vibrant, colorful coral reef beneath the surface; low tourism development means less crowded conditions.
Namaste Coral Park
- Site Type
- Managed coral park (primarily sea-walking oriented)
- Best Season
- Dry season, November–April
- Depth Range
- Shallow, sea-walker depths
- Location Zone
- Southern An Thoi Archipelago
- Marine Life Highlights
- Curated coral park experience, more geared toward helmet sea-walking than traditional scuba, but coral and reef fish visible along the walk.
Certifying Bodies And Levels
- Primary Body
- PADI
- Secondary Body
- SSI (offered alongside PADI by at least one operator, Seacoral/Vietnam Diving And Training Center)
- Notes
- Flipper Diving Club advertises itself as a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Dive Resort offering everything from Scuba Diver courses up through IDC Staff Instructor courses, and Ecodive Phu Quoc lists the full range from Open Water through Divemaster and Instructor Development (IDC).
Levels Commonly Offered
- Discover Scuba Diving (try-dive, non-certified)
- PADI Open Water Diver
- PADI Advanced Open Water Diver
- PADI Scuba Diver
- PADI Rescue Diver
- PADI Divemaster
- PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) / Staff Instructor
- Specialty courses (e.g. Nitrox, Navigation)
- EFR (Emergency First Response) first aid course
Typical Open Water Course Cost
- Course
- PADI Open Water Diver (3-4 days, includes PADI eLearning, equipment, and typically 4 open-water dives)
- Summary
- Open Water certification typically runs roughly 11-11.6 million VND (about 400-440 USD), generally including e-learning materials, gear rental, and boat transport to dive sites.
Price Range Examples
Established PADI 5-star dive shop (Flipper Diving Club)
- Established PADI 5 Star Dive Shop (Flipper Diving Club)
- ₫11,000,000
Independent instructor-led course
- Independent Instructor Led Course
- ₫11,572,000
Operator Density
- Assessment
- Reasonably dense for a mid-sized island destination - not a one- or two-shop market.
- Note
- At least 8 distinct named PADI-affiliated or SSI-affiliated operators were identified operating on Phu Quoc; several (e.g. Vietnam Explorer, Flipper Diving Club) have been established since the 2000s, indicating a mature local dive industry rather than just a couple of pop-up shops.
Named Operators Identified
- Vietnam Active Phu Quoc Diving Center
- Flipper Diving Club
- Vietnam Explorer (dive center, established 2004, one of the island's oldest)
- Ecodive Phu Quoc (Vietnam Diving Centre)
- Seacoral / Vietnam Diving And Training Center
- Rainbow Divers
- Phu Quoc Dive Center
- Coral Dive Center
Two Main Dive Zones
An Thoi Archipelago (south)
- Best Season
- Dry season, November to April, with December–March/December–January generally cited as peak conditions.
- Description
- The main and larger dive zone, made up of 15 islands/islets off the southern tip of Phu Quoc. Wider variety of sites, generally considered the stronger overall diving area, with depths ranging roughly 5–25m at most sites (a few spots down to 35–40m for experienced divers) and typical working depth around 6–8m.
North-west coast (Turtle Island / Ganh Dau / Bai Dai area)
- Best Season
- Year-round relative to the south, but still best November–April; considered the safer option during rainy-season swell (roughly May–October).
- Description
- Smaller in scale, fewer sites and less reef coverage than the south, but more sheltered — used as the fallback area when southern winds/swell make An Thoi crossings too rough, including in parts of the wet season.
General Conditions
- Visibility
- Variable and not the region's strongest point — sources disagree, with some dive shops reporting 15–20m+ in peak dry-season conditions (Dec–Mar) and others (including one long-running dive-guide site) describing visibility as poor, sometimes only around 4–6m even in good conditions. Expect realistically modest visibility most of the year, with the best days concentrated in December–March.
- Water Temperature
- Warm year-round, roughly 27–31°C, so no wetsuit is needed beyond a rash guard or light shorty.
- Best Overall Season
- Dry season, November to April, with December–February/March cited most often as the peak window for calm seas and best visibility. May–October (wet season) brings wind, rain and rougher seas, especially in the south; northern sites are used as a fallback during this period.
- Megafauna Reality Check
- This is macro/reef-life diving, not a big-animal destination — no mantas or whale sharks, and reef sharks (blacktip) are rare, small, and not considered dangerous. The appeal is coral diversity, nudibranchs, anemone fish, and calm, beginner-friendly conditions rather than dramatic pelagic encounters.
- Coral Health Note
- Phu Quoc's reefs are reported to have notably lower coral bleaching rates than some other Vietnamese dive destinations, though certain sites (e.g., Gam Ghi) show localized damage from overfishing and tourism pressure.
Overall Access Model
Day-boat accessible, not liveaboard-dependent. Most dive sites sit roughly 30–45 minutes by boat from An Thoi town in the south, or a shorter boat/canoe transfer from Bai Dai/Ganh Dau in the north. Dive shops run daily boat trips out of Duong Dong and An Thoi rather than multi-day live-aboard expeditions; a few operators mention liveaboard add-ons but this is not the norm for Phu Quoc diving.
Course Structure Notes
Courses commonly run 3 days if e-learning theory is completed in advance, or up to 4 days if theory is done on-site; a maximum of 3-4 students per instructor is typical, with confined-water (pool) training on day one followed by two days of boat dives to outlying islands (roughly a 60-minute boat ride each way).
Freediving Crossover
- Detail
- Vietnam Active Phu Quoc Diving Center explicitly lists PADI Freediving as one of its offered activity categories alongside PADI Scuba Diving and PADI Snorkelling, confirming at least one mainstream Phu Quoc dive shop also runs freediving courses. Broader market-wide freediving crossover across all operators was not confirmed, so treat this as shop-specific rather than an island-wide norm.
- Genuine Crossover Confirmed
- Yes
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.