Diving in Koh Rong Samloem: was it worth it?

Cambodia isn’t a country you’d immediately associate with diving: more with old temples and ruins. However, it’s possible to dive off Koh Rong and Koh Rong Samloem, two islands in the south.

After getting her PADI Open Water Course certification in Bali a couple of months before, my sister, Lou, wanted to try diving in Cambodia as well. It wasn’t long before her flight home so this would be her last dive for a while (possibly forever).

We were already heading to Koh Rong Samloem, which has a couple of dive centres, so we figured which not?

Organising our dive

By the time we reached Koh Rong Samloem, we’d got pretty lax in terms of organisation. We’d only booked our accommodation here the night before and, although we knew we wanted to dive, we had no idea what options there would be. Koh Rong Samloem is a very small island after all, so we figured it’d be easy to organise once we arrived.

Upon arrival, we headed straight to our hotel on Sunset Beach (an ordeal in itself) without checking out any of the main spots. We did, however, see a few signs for dive centres on the way, so we knew they existed on the island!

At our accommodation, we saw a sign for a dive shop – Dive Shop Cambodia – advertising dives from both Sunset Beach and Saracen Bay. We figured this would be perfect to avoid us having to walk back across the island to the main spots at Saracen Bay.

We asked the owner of our hotel and she called to arrange two fun dives for us the next day. They weren’t sure whether the boat would leave from Sunset Beach or Saracen Bay but would let us know in the evening.

Organising our dives this way was a new experience for us as normally we check out the reviews, pricing and what’s included in advance so we know what we’re letting ourselves in for. Not this time. All we knew is we were going diving the next day, and that it included lunch and cost $80 (£63).

Trying on our equipment

Around 4 pm, I was sitting on the beach when the dive master came towards me. (She’d been at the hotel earlier so we had briefly met her already.) She asked if we’d come to the boat – which was docked in the bay around Sunset Beach – to try on the equipment in advance of tomorrow.

I quickly woke Lou up from her nap and we got in a little boat to take us to the main boat. There, we tried on the kit, including wetsuit, flippers and BCD, to make sure they had our sizes for the next day.

The dive master also told us we would be leaving from sunset beach at 9:15 am the next morning. That meant we didn’t have to make the 40 minute walk across to Saracen Bay: result!

Joining the boat

At 9:20 am the next day, as we waited for the boat on the beach, the little boat headed to shore, a bit further along. We walked over to join a group of around 10 to 15 other people. Across two trips, we went across to the main boat.

The main boat itself was a bit small to what I’d experienced so far on previous dive trips. The front area was the dive deck. There was a sun deck on top, but otherwise there wasn’t much space for people to relax in.

After our dive trips elsewhere in South-East Asia, I got used to snacks and drinks being provided, so I was a bit disappointed to see none were present. It was also the first time since our PADI course that we put together our own equipment, rather than having other staff on the boat to do it for you.

Five or ten minutes after we got on the boat, we had a little safety demonstration and then a briefing with our dive guides. I was surprised to see our dive guide would be leading a group of 5 – it seemed quite high given she also said the visibility was 4 m. But anyway!

Dive 1

The first dive spot was super close to Sunset Beach and only took 5 mins to reach. We got on our equipment and jumped into the water.

My mask immediately fogged up. It continued to do so for the duration of the dive. I flooded and emptied my mask every couple of minutes for the entire dive, with no success.

The visibility began at around 6 m which seemed low, but just about okay. By the end it had dropped to 4 m and I could never tell whether my foggy mask or the high particle count was to blame for me not being able to see anything. (I think it was a combination of both!)

Towards the end of the dive there was also a strong current, which kept changing direction. It was okay though as we did a drift dive (meaning we went with the current).

The biggest problem for me was that there were a lot of tall corals. It’s super hard to avoid them with poor visibility AND a current.

Also, we didn’t see much. Some people saw a stingray (not me!) and we saw a big jellyfish, but that was it. Overall, it was probably my least favourite dive so far in my scuba journey!

Dive 2

After our first dive, there was a break of around 1 hour. Lou and I sat at the front of the boat for a bit, before lunch was served. This was a vegetable curry with rice – it didn’t look that appealing but did taste good. We both wished there were bigger portions though as we were still pretty hungry afterwards and there weren’t leftovers.

After lunch, we headed for the next stop, which took around 10 minutes. One of the guys in our group changed dive groups, so we became a group of four (plus dive guide). We suited up and headed in. The dive guide kindly lent me her mask, which worked perfectly and didn’t steam up.

The visibility at the second stop was similar to the start of the first and stayed that way for the duration, with no current. I much preferred this dive.

There were a lot of corals. Some of the table corals were the biggest ones I’d ever seen! There were barrel corals, massive sea anemones and sponges, giant clams and lots of fishes, including a massive shoal of blue fish with yellow stripes.

It was the first time I’d observed gobies and shrimps sharing a hole on the seafloor. When we swam across, they’d dart back into their holes, with just the gobies’ heads pointing out.

The dive guide took photos on her go pro throughout, which she said she’d send to us later. We love it so much when they do this!

Were the conditions worth it?

Having no idea what the conditions would be like at Koh Rong Samloem, I didn’t know what to expect. As such, I was a bit disappointed by the low visibility and high current conditions. Paired with the larger dive group and foggy goggles, I was the most panicked I’ve ever been in a dive.

As such, I’m not sure I would dive at Koh Rong Samloem again. It was good to do and I’m happy I did it, but I enjoyed every other dive I did in South-East Asia more. Diving is always expensive and this time the cost just didn’t seem worth it.

How to organise your own dive on Koh Rong Samloem

If you’re coming to Koh Rong Samloem, you can arrange your own dive fairly easily. There are a couple of dive centres on the island. We dove with The Dive Shop Cambodia, who are based at Saracen Bay, and you can also find Bubbles Up in M’Pai Bay.

It’s also possible to dive in Koh Rong Samloem on a day trip from Sihanoukville, the nearest city and a tourist destination in its own right. Dive centres that offer this include Scuba Nation.

How easy it is to get to the dive centre depends on where you stay on the island. However, there’s a good chance your hotel will have a connection to a dive centre, and if so they’ll be able to liaise with them on your behalf.

Conclusion

I’m glad I dove at Koh Rong Samloem, but I’m not sure I’d do it again. Although a good experience, I didn’t enjoy the low visibility and sea urchins. There wasn’t too much to look at either.

What was your favourite dive location? Let me know in the comments!