Koh Tao Weather & Best Month to Visit Thailand
Lots of guidebooks contain incorrect information about Gulf of Thailand weather and Koh Tao's diving seasons.
Here we set things straight, so you can choose the best month to visit Thailand:
Koh Tao Scuba Diving Season
Koh Tao, Thailand offers year round diving.
The diving season starts in January with a lot of sun, calm seas and visibility of about 10-15 meters average. Then throughout February the visibility will increase to around 20 meters on average with nice calm seas.
During March and April we go into Koh Tao's Whale shark season. This is generally the best month to visit Thailand for diving Koh Tao - lots of great diving all around the island.
May and June the wind gets a little stronger and the weather a little cooler - still great diving conditions but depending on the wind speed may have to be a little selective about which Koh Tao dive sites we visit.
During July , August and especially September the visibility can hit 30 meters plus. Plenty of big pelagic species out at Chumphon pinnacles and South west, with Whale sharks spotted fairly often. Again this period is arguably the best month to visit Thailand, as the Koh Tao weather is fine.
October is normally very quiet on Koh Tao but the diving is still good at most of our dive sites.
During November the Gulf of Thailand weather degrades and Koh Tao gets our monsoon season that lasts about three to four weeks. But it's not as bad as it sounds. It will normally rain once a day for an hour or so then clear up. The visibility will drop to around 8-12 meters during this period, sometimes less on the shallow dive sites, so although this isn't the best month to visit Thailand, our dive sites are a lot quieter so you will still have some enjoyable dives.
Late November / early December is the low season where many Koh Tao dive resorts close down for a couple of weeks. Simple Life Diving Koh Tao stays open and running at least one dive trip per day.
The island will start to get busy around the 20th December as people arrive to celebrate Christmas and the new year so make sure you have booked you stay as Sairee Beach Koh Tao accommodation will be hard to come by.
For a decent forecast for the Gulf of Thailand weather, check out the Windguru website [type windguru Koh Tao into google] or visit the Thai Meteorological Department website.
Monthly Full Moon Party Rush | Ko Phangan, Thailand
After the world famous FULL MOON PARTIES that run once a month on neighboring Koh Phangan, accommodation on Koh Tao does fill up very quickly. This is especially true for Sairee Beach, which is the most popular area of the island.
We recommend to anyone that's heading to the Full moon party to contact us prior to traveling to Koh Tao and arrange any diving or accommodation bookings in advance. This will save you a lot of hassle, and will allow you to avoid paying heavily inflated room rates as Sairee Beach accommodation becomes full!
Even if you aren't going to the party, its worth checking out the Koh Phangan Full Moon Party dates as the movement of lots of people at these times will have implications for booking accommodation, especially on Koh Tao's popular Sairee Beach.
