Racha Islands, Racha Noi

Racha Noi is uninhabited and the island comprises only small sandy strips and rocky cliff surroundings. It is however, a nice deserted island offering lee anchorage for diving.

Fringing reef and rocky seabed. Strong currents. Dive depth: 15 to 28 meters. Sighting of game fish in the late afternoon, sometimes the sailfish too.

Collectively, the waters of Racha Islands are clear and deep with prevailing strong currents. It is also the play ground of game fish like the magnificent sailfish, barracudas, jacks and queen fish.

Rock boulders encrusted with corals are a continuation of the cliffs.
Crevices and passages in between these rocks and corals provide natural habitats for marine life. Schools of garfish roam near the surface while rabbit fish and small yellow tail snappers are abundant and feed on plankton. Blue and yellow spine unicorn fish in small shoals keep their distance, while the parrot fish, oblivious to your presence feeds greedily on algae growth amongst dead corals.

Small coves surrounding the island provide excellent shallow and interesting exploration amongst its coral formation. It is these shallow waters where you find large numbers of exotic marine life and crustaceans inhabiting the coral garden. Occasionally silver breams will dart close to your mask by the shoal before vanishing into little avenues in the rocks. Squids and cuttlefish prefer the shallow waters and you see them more during the months of December to February.

These shallow reefs drop steeply to the reef crest and slopes where brain and boulder corals are found and continue sloping into the deep depth of sandy seabed. Coral reefs surrounding Racha Islands are found in narrow strips, unless they are at sheltered coves.

Racha Noi, compared to Racha Yai, is an uninhabited island. The waters are clear and deep with moderate to fairly strong currents. It is a good place to spot larger fish such as Barracudas, Jacks, Manta Rays and Zebra Sharks. It offers beautiful underwater formations with fringing reefs, sand rubble, rocky seabed and granite boulders encrusted with sponges, hard and soft coral. Cracks, crevices and coral provide a great habitat for all different kinds of marine life, including schools of Sergeant majors, rainbow runners and Snappers. In shallow water Squid and Cuttlefish are frequently seen along with colourful Nudibranchs and Flatworms on the steep faces of the rocks.

Contrairement a Racha Yai, Racha Noi est une ile inhabitee. Les eaux y sont generalement tres claires, les sites plus profonds qu’a Racha Yai et les courants plus puissants. C’est un tres bon endroit pour rencontrer des Baracudas, des Carangues, Raies Mantas et Requins Zebres. La topographie est spectaculaire avec un fond de sable d’ou s’elevent de grands rochers incrustes d’Eponges et de divers Coraux Durs et Mous tres colores. Ils s’y trouvent aussi une grande variete de Nudibranches et de Vers Plats.