King Cruiser

On 4 May 1997 the King Cruiser, a Japanese-built car ferry on the daily Phuket to Phi Phi run, steamed in flat-calm weather onto Anemone Reef — a well-charted pinnacle rising from the Andaman Sea between the two islands, and a marked dive site to boot. How a routine crossing found the one rock on the route has never been convincingly settled, and the enduring local explanations are not flattering to the bridge crew. The ferry flooded slowly enough for every one of the several hundred people aboard to be taken off by dive boats and fishing vessels that converged on the scene; nobody died, which is why divers can enjoy her with a clear conscience. She settled upright on sand in the low thirties of meters, a broad, boxy catamaran hull that instantly became the Phuket area's principal wreck dive. Two decades of monsoons have caved in her upper car decks, so she is now dived as a haze of fish around a slowly folding structure.

How she sank: Struck the submerged pinnacle of Anemone Reef in calm conditions on 4 May 1997 and sank.

Condition: Deteriorating visibly — superstructure and vehicle decks have pancaked, and further collapse is expected; give the structure standoff distance.

Penetration: None. The collapsing decks have closed what were once swim-throughs; competent operators treat her strictly as an exterior dive.

Recommended certification: Advanced Open Water

Current: Strong · Visibility: 5–15 m

Marine life: Immense schools of snapper and fusiliers, lionfish on every ledge, great barracuda in midwater, and occasionally a leopard shark on the sand.

Hazards: Current on the mooring line, low visibility periods, unstable steel, and fishing nets snagged across sections of the hull.

The wreck lies in open water between Phuket and Ko Phi Phi; it is dived by day boats from both, conditions permitting.

Souvenir hunting stripped her long ago; take nothing from what remains.