{"id":1135,"date":"2026-04-23T15:42:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/?page_id=1135"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:04:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T09:04:43","slug":"chumphon-pinnacle","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/chumphon-pinnacle\/","title":{"rendered":"Chumphon Pinnacle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-regular-font-size\">Chumphon Pinnacle<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b62e2a9c230de6ce328f270fa16ac32e\">is widely considered the &#8220;King&#8221; of Koh Tao\u2019s dive sites. Located about 11km northwest of the island, this massive offshore granite seamount is where you go for deep-water drama, huge schools of fish, and the highest probability of encountering the ocean&#8217;s giants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-ff8e7e35329cb07e7f7d78fcf345ced9\"><strong>Key Details<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-5107e9ac0662a5e6838d18a2a983dc2d\"><strong>Depth:<\/strong> 14 to 40 meters. The top of the main pinnacle sits at 14m, while the sandy bottom reaches 36\u201340m.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-9639b6b667104910c0cdc70bb9633142\"><strong>Skill Level:<\/strong> <strong>Advanced Open Water<\/strong> (due to the depth and potential for surface swells and currents).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6ab1f93364debf15502b3b4d25d2d12c\"><strong>Visibility:<\/strong> 10 to 30+ meters. Being far offshore, it often enjoys the clearest water in the Gulf of Thailand.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3e1c85dc23b97a42d17d8fe083fb10c9\"><strong>Topography:<\/strong> One enormous central pinnacle surrounded by several smaller clusters of rocks (satellites). The rocks are covered in a carpet of sea anemones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-2b400712a552e2d55f0105781124e00d\"><strong>Marine Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-366ee65abf10171597bb4735c9651577\">\n<li><strong>The &#8220;Whale Shark Magnet&#8221;:<\/strong> This is arguably the most famous spot in Thailand for Whale Shark sightings. It is common for these gentle giants to hang around the pinnacle for days at a time.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Schools of Pelagics:<\/strong> Expect to be surrounded by massive, swirling &#8220;tornadoes&#8221; of <strong>Chevron Barracuda<\/strong>, <strong>Big-eye Trevally<\/strong>, and <strong>Queenfish<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Predators:<\/strong> Large <strong>Giant Groupers<\/strong> (some the size of a small car) lurk in the deeper crevices. You may also see hunting <strong>King Mackerel<\/strong> and <strong>Rainbow Runners<\/strong> darting through the baitfish.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Barracuda Rock:<\/strong> To the southwest of the main pinnacle lies a smaller cluster where you can almost always find a resident school of <strong>Great Barracuda<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-8edf02e0e17aad70686755030609e583\"><strong>Anemone City:<\/strong> The upper plateaus of the pinnacle are entirely covered in thousands of pink and purple magnificent sea anemones, home to countless <strong>Pink Skunk Clownfish<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-abea29526829aa3d4bbb51b02576dee0\"><strong>Barracuda Rock &amp; Beyond<\/strong> For those with good air consumption, a short navigation off the main pinnacle leads to <strong>Barracuda Rock<\/strong>. It is a slightly deeper patch that acts as a haven for larger predators and offers a break from the main crowd if the site is busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-b76798f6293ab1cf1dc1f4d8d130fafd\"><strong>Location<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-foreground-color has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-7399c6622c6bdbc73e265d54635afbc0\">10\u00b010&#8217;17.8&#8243;N 99\u00b046&#8217;48.8&#8243;E, 5QCH+XF, Ko Tao, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/maps.app.goo.gl\/Ajaw4SBkCrJdxRUN8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Get Directions<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d3927.111273372952!2d99.77764507503348!3d10.171609989942747!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x305599b020666021%3A0xef3ae9277e937c6f!2sChumphon%20Pinnacle!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sth!4v1776933644903!5m2!1sen!2sth\" width=\"100%\" height=\"200\" style=\"border:0;\" allowfullscreen=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full has-custom-border\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"512\" height=\"279\" src=\"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Southwest.png\" alt=\"Chuphon pinnacle dive site\" class=\"wp-image-1137\" style=\"border-top-left-radius:20px;border-top-right-radius:20px;border-bottom-left-radius:20px;border-bottom-right-radius:20px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Southwest.png 512w, https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Southwest-300x163.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chumphon Pinnacle is widely considered the &#8220;King&#8221; of Koh Tao\u2019s dive sites. Located about 11km northwest of the island, this massive offshore granite seamount is where you go for deep-water drama, huge schools of fish, and the highest probability of encountering the ocean&#8217;s giants. Key Details Marine Life Barracuda Rock &amp; Beyond For those with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"dive-site-sail-rock","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1135","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1135"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1135\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bophutdiving.com\/en\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}