Spearfishing Koh Samui: a local’s guide

I live on Samui. My shop operates out of Lamai on the east coast. I have been diving these waters for years and my front door is a 10-minute walk to the post office where I ship every order that leaves this site. Here is the real local guide, not the one that copy-pastes from a Bangkok tourism blog.

The short orientation

Koh Samui is the second-largest island in Thailand. It sits in the Gulf of Thailand, east of the Ang Thong marine park cluster, south of Koh Phangan, and roughly 40 km off the Surat Thani mainland. The island has four main coasts, and not all of them are legal, diveable, or worth your time for spearfishing.

• East coast (Chaweng, Lamai, Hua Thanon): the main spearfishing zone.
• South coast (Bang Kao, Taling Ngam): quiet, legal, good for shore work.
• North coast (Bophut, Maenam): mixed, some good patches, some tourist chaos.
• West coast (Nathon side): avoid. This is the water facing Ang Thong marine park. Patrol boats transit here. Visibility is typically worse and the good reefs are inside park boundaries you cannot legally spear.

What to avoid: Ang Thong

Before we go further: the Ang Thong archipelago, the pretty limestone-island cluster you see in every Samui tourism photo, is a national marine park. Spearfishing is illegal inside Ang Thong park boundaries. Full stop. Rangers patrol. Boat tour operators know the rules. If someone offers to take you spearfishing in Ang Thong, they are either lying, misinformed, or happy to get your gear confiscated and let you deal with the fine.

Stay east of the park boundary. The legality page has the current map.

East coast: Lamai, Hua Thanon, the headlands

This is my home water. A lot of the east coast has workable reef structure between 3 and 15 metres, depending on the headland.

Conditions

• Visibility: 5 to 12 metres on a typical good day. Best visibility runs late January through April. Worst is November and December during the northeast monsoon, when you can get sub-2-metre days and full washout.
• Currents: generally light to moderate along the coast. Can pick up at headlands on the outgoing tide.
• Water temp: 28 to 31 degrees most of the year. Drops to 27 in January. A 2mm wetsuit is usually overkill. 1.5mm or a rashguard plus shorts works.

Target species

• Trevally (several species, bluefin and giant most common on headlands)
• Spanish mackerel (seasonal, occasional pass-throughs, typically November to March)
• Snapper (small to mid, reef-associated)
• Grouper (patchy, in structure)
• Barracuda (common, not always legal-size, often schools)
• Parrotfish (present but avoid, reef-important species)

Where to dive

The headlands between Lamai and Hua Thanon have the best mix of depth and structure. Public beach access exists but parking and launch spots are informal. If you do not know the island, dive with someone who does on your first few trips. The reef layout is not obvious from the surface.

Shore diving is doable from the less-touristy bays on the east coast, but the best work happens from a boat. A boat gets you to the points and the offshore pinnacles where the fish actually are.

South coast: Bang Kao and Taling Ngam

Quieter, fewer boats, less traffic. Visibility is typically a metre or two less than the east coast peaks but more consistent. The south coast has some good shore diving options around the rocky sections between beaches. You can walk in, work a headland, and be back at the car in 90 minutes.

Target species lean more toward reef fish and smaller trevally. Less pelagic pass-through than the east coast.

North coast: mixed

Bophut and Maenam have pockets of good diving but the water is busy. Jet skis, tourist boats, swimmers. Spearfishing in the main beach zones is legally fine but socially and practically dumb. If you are diving the north coast, dive the areas away from the tourist strips: early morning, away from dive boats, off the headland sections rather than the beach frontage.

Seasons, in real terms

February to May: peak spearfishing season

Flat water, clear visibility, settled weather, best pelagic pass-throughs. If you visit Samui for spearfishing, come in this window. March and April are the single best months of the year for east-coast work.

June to September: mixed

Gulf monsoon is lighter than the Andaman equivalent, but you get more rain and more wind. Some days are superb. Some are washed out. Flexibility matters. Still a lot of good water available.

October to December: hard

Northeast monsoon. Heavy rain, rough seas, washed-out visibility on the east coast. This is the hardest part of the year for spearfishing Samui. Dive the south and west-sheltered sections only, and be ready to cancel half your trips. January starts clearing up mid-month usually.

Getting on the water

Chartering a boat

Local fishermen in Lamai, Hua Thanon, and around the south coast will charter their boats for a half-day or full-day at rates that are still reasonable by Thai tourism standards. Expect roughly 3,000 to 5,000 THB for a half-day local charter with a longtail or small boat, more for a proper dive boat with fuel and crew. Bring your own gear.

Spearo-specific operators on Samui are basically just me, running limited trips on a case-by-case basis. I am not a charter business. I take out small groups of serious spearos where the logistics and legality are already handled. Trips page here.

Shore diving

Possible but not always productive. The best shore-dive access points are informal, requiring local knowledge of parking, tide windows, and reef approach. If you are on the island for a while, build a relationship with the guys at one of the freediving schools (there are a couple on Samui now) and they will point you to the legit access spots.

Renting a boat on your own

You can rent longtails and small boats by the day from several Lamai and Hua Thanon operators. If you are not a confident boat handler, this is a bad idea. The tidal currents around the headlands are not severe but they are enough to put you in trouble if you anchor wrong. Go with someone local the first few times.

Practical things to bring if you are visiting

Assuming you are flying in:

• Your speargun (transported in checked luggage, stock removed, shaft separately packed). Most Thai airport customs is fine with this as long as it is obviously recreational sport gear and not commercial.
• Fins (take up half a checked bag, worth it).
• Your mask (never borrow a mask, they never fit right).
• 1.5mm wetsuit or rashguard.
• Weight belt (buy weights on arrival, airlines will hate you).

If you are visiting and do not want to fly with the gun, I can set you up with a rental out of the Lamai shop for a week or longer. Depends on stock at the time. WhatsApp to ask.

What I recommend for Samui diving

• Speargun: Rob Allen Snapper 90 (RGSNP09) or 100 (RGSNP10). The 90 handles everything on a typical reef day. The 100 gives you a bit more reach for headland work. Full comparison here.
• Float line: 15 to 20 metre poly line. Enough for most Samui reef depths, not so long that it tangles.
• Float: medium hardfloat, enough buoyancy for a legal-size trevally.
• Wetsuit: 1.5mm two-piece. You will overheat in anything thicker.

Everything in that list is in stock on the shop. Orders ship the same or next business day from Lamai, and if you are in Samui it is usually faster to pick up from me directly than wait for Thai post.

The unromantic summary

Samui spearfishing is good, not great. If you come expecting Similan-level bluewater, you will be disappointed. If you come expecting solid mid-depth reef work with clean visibility most of the year and an honest chance at decent trevally and the occasional Spanish mackerel, you will have a great time. That is what this water is.

For trip planning, questions about access, or to set up a guided day, WhatsApp me directly. +66 (0) 80 535 2528.