For those people who love wreck diving there is a collection of wrecks now around the eastside of Racha Yai to the south but these have all been put here for the scuba divers. When diving in Phuket there is one wreck that far out does all the others. The wreck of the King Cruiser car ferry. There is just so much to see here. There are literally tens of thousands of fish covering the wreck. Phuket scuba diving as mentioned in other blogs is not difficult but this is the only real advanced dive and thats due to the depth.

The King Cruiser wreck is the wreck of the car ferry of the same name that sank off the West Coast of Southern Thailand on 4 May 1997. The ferry was operating between Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands in southern Thailand when she hit a submerged collection of rocky pinnacles at Anemone Reef 10 miles off Phi Phi Island. The impact split the reef in two and also tore a large hole in the hull limiting its seaworthiness to a further thousand meters. The vessel sank within 2.5 hours. 561 passengers were rescued included Thai and foreign tourists. They were safely taken to two police patrol boats and 4-5 fishing boats, which had raced to the rescue in response to an emergency call. Causes Of The Sinking The ferry was on a regular crossing in normal conditions and the Anemone Reef was charted and well known by captains in the area. This has led to various unproven theories as to why the accident occurred. Theories include insurance fraud due to the owners experiencing financial difficulties on the unprofitable route and also that local dive companies paid the captain to sink the vessel as, up until that time, there were no wreck dives around Phuket. The captain was found to be negligent. While the debris and rubbish has since been cleared by co-operative activities by locals, divers and aid organisations, you will still see the scattered rocks nearer to the shore. At depths of 4 meters, you will see coral reefs, extending from the shore, mostly consisting of brain corals and pore corals, streaching to a depth of about 12 meters.

The vessel is now a popular recreational dive site for many divers who come scuba diving in Phuket and acts as an artificial reef to compliment the Anemone Reef. The vessel sits upright on a sandy bottom in around 30m of water rising to ~10m at the top of the wreck. The wreck remains in one piece although the foreword upper deck has collapsed. The simplest and safest point of entry is through the vessels stern where divers can explore the once active car decks.

Machinery still sits on the deck. Inside the car deck are a couple of vehicle tires and an engine trolley. Rows of passenger seats and low coffee tables fill the inner recesses. The collapsed foredeck is at 16 meters where there is a stack of plastic picnic tables and chairs often surrounded by a cloud of Snappers. The upper deck is split from front to back.