Dive Community Phuket, Thailand. Meet Friends - Dive Dreams.

About Phuket

Phuket is Thailand's largest island which is located 900 km south of Bangkok in the Andaman Sea.

You will receive a 30 day tourist visa when you enter the country. It is easy to extend your visa for an additional thirty days if you feel you really cant leave us :) Your passport has to be valid for a minimum of six months on the day of entering Thailand.  If you want to stay longer you need to apply for a 60 days non immigrant visa at a Thay embassy. Around Phuket, you'll find some of the most outstanding dive sites that Thailand has to offer. Often ranked within the top 10 Dive locations in the world, there is something her for everyone from wrecks to wall dives and massive varieties of  huge reefs Excellent opportunities await to spot Manta Rays and Whale sharks, Black tips as well as Leopard Sharks amidst a kaleidoscope of marine life. Leopard sharks often grace us with their presence as well as sea horses and ghost pipefish around them all lies an abundance of colourful soft corals, sea fans and anemones. 220v, 50 Hz. The wall electrical outlets are usually of the round, two pole type or two flat type. Some outlets accept both. What I've seen Thais mostly use the flat type and in hotels there are often the type that accept both. It's easy to find adapters in electronic shops for any international plug shape.

Clothes are relative inexpensive and take the opportunity to get tailor made clothes at modest prices, but avoid the cheapest ones and those who offer 24 hours service. Indeed you can actually leave most of your clothes at home and buy your travelling wardrobe here.

Thailand's time zone is GMT+7, seven hours ahead of GMT / UTC (London).
  Thailand's country code is 66. For international calls it's cheapest to call abroad from CAT (Communications Authority of Thailand) offices, often attached to the main post office. Although there are many internet/email shops that offer telephone/fax services too.

As always the most expensive way to call home is from your hotel. There are two kind of public pay phones in Thailand, the red one is used for local city calls and the blue one for both local and long-distance calls within Thailand. At Bangkok airport you can use your credit card at card phones to make international calls, . European GSM cellular phones works fine in Thailand. Local cellular phone numbers begin with area code 01. If you make local calls from your cellular phone, don't forget to put 076 before the number, which is the area code for Phuket. It is very cheap to buy a Thai SIM card from local shops which may work out cheaper for you if intent staying and making local calls.

Internet and email shops are increasing all the time, you can find it in every corner. However, in Phuket they often use dial-up connections and the traffic can be slow. (The internet connection from Phuket to Bangkok has a limited bandwidth too). These shops often offer other services like printing, scanning and telephone services. As a customer of Dive community you will benefit from free high speed, wireless ADSL Internet Access

Your bank Switch card as well as your VISA and MasterCard all work fine here in the ATM machines you'll find everywhere in Patong and Karon beach. You can also get money from the exchange booths but why should you when you have such a number of ATMs? The rates at exchange booths of major banks are pretty good but avoid the exchange booths at the hotels or airports, their rates are not always the most competitive. You will get the best rates if you withdraw cash from ATM machines ,don't forget you may be charged for this (£5 is typical) , so it may be advisable to withdraw larger amounts rather than small amounts if you intend using ATM card withdrawals.