King Cruiser Wreck

The King Cruiser is a 130-metre car ferry that struck Anemone Reef and sank in 1997. In the nearly three decades since, it has been progressively transformed into one of Thailand’s finest artificial reefs — so thoroughly colonised that it’s now difficult to distinguish the metal structure from a natural reef at first glance.

The Wreck

The King Cruiser lies on a slight tilt, with the bow at 13 metres and the stern at 32 metres. The shallowest sections are accessible to Open Water divers; the deeper sections require Advanced OW. For penetration dives into the main hold, car deck, and bridge, a wreck specialty is recommended.

The exterior is draped in hard and soft corals, sponges, and sea fans that have grown to impressive size. Schools of batfish — extraordinarily beautiful flat fish that seem to exist primarily to be photographed — orbit the entire wreck. Lionfish hover near every overhang, their venomous spines an important reminder to maintain neutral buoyancy.

Life Inside

Inside the wreck, giant moray eels have claimed the darker recesses — encounters with 1.5–2 metre specimens are routine. Scorpionfish are almost impossible to distinguish from the coral-covered metalwork until they move. In the car deck, the ghostly outlines of vehicles that went down with the ferry are still visible beneath the coral growth.

Combining Sites

The King Cruiser is almost always dived as part of a triple-site day trip with Shark Point and Anemone Reef — three contrasting Phuket sites that provide a comprehensive overview of the region’s diving.