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From Siem Reap

There are a few options to get to our Island From Siem Reap, depending on your budget and time available. Please plan good time to travel,  and if you want us to arrange a private car for you. let us know good time in advance.

The budget friendly way:
Take a regular bus to Phnom Penh, there are many bus companies operating the route Siem Reap-Phnom Penh, so find the one that suits you best.

From Phnom Penh It is now super easy to get to us with Virak Buntham Express, you can even book your tickets online.

The ticket cost $11.50 pr person. you get your own designated seat in a VIP 11 seater van. the trip takes about 5 hours with a food stop
Departue point from Phnom Penh is the Virak Buntham station by Wat Phnom (Japan hospital branch)

There are 2 departures every day 8.00 and 14.00

We higly recommend the early bus at 8.00. you will arrive in good time before dark. With the afternoon bus you will arrive after dark, and then getting a boat across to the island is tricky.

The comfortable way:

Private car all the way from your hotel in Siem Reap to the mainland opposite our Island Koh Sdach. from $180. Change of car and or driver in Phnom Penh

(Holidays, requesting a larger van and gas prices may change the price)
The taxi will pick you up from your hotel or airport

The speedy way:
Take a plane to Phnom Penh and from there go for the Virak Buntham bus or we can arrange with a private car to pick you up at the airport.

Click here for map.

Prices at a glance

Come explore the underwater splendors of Cambodia with us.
We arrange diving and snorkeling trips for the experienced diver and the novice

Fun Diving


PADI DSD (Discover Scuba Diving) $105

Have you ever wanted to explore the wonders of the underwater world?
This introduction to scuba diving gives you a small taste of what diving is all about.
Dive theory introduction, a confined water session and one fun dive.
Equipment rental, lunch, coffee, tea and water on board is included in the price.

One day local diving 2 dives $ 95
Come join us exploring the archipelago. There are many small islands with beaches and
wonderful dive sites. Only for certified divers.
Equipment rental, lunch, tea, coffee and water on board is included in the price.

House reef diving without guide $ 40
We have a beautiful house reef just outside our bungalow. Here you can spend hours watching the clownfishes, anemones and our juvenile batfishes that hang around the pier.
For the experienced and certified diver, you and your buddy can enjoy our house reef on your own. (After you had a check out dive)

Remote island diving Shark Island and Condor reef $ 130 (min. 2 pers)
A few hours away we have the beautiful and famous dive sites Shark Island and Condor reef.
Come with us for 2 dives on either Shark Island, or Condor reef. Only for certified divers.
Equipment rental, lunch, tea, coffee and water on board is included in the price.

Night Dive 70 $/ House reef $55
Enjoy the magic of diving in the dark.
Equipment rental, tea, coffee, water and a snack on board is included in the price.

Diving courses

PADI Open Water $ 440
Do you want to take the step and become a certified PADI diver?
You get 4 days with diving and theory, 5 confined dives, 4 open water dives, final exam and the PADI certification fee. Equipment rental, lunch, coffee and water on board is included in the price.

PADI Advanced Open Water $ 395
Evolve as a diver. 5 dives in 2 days. The Deep dive, navigation and night dive are the core dives of the course. The 2 other dives you chose with your instructor. PADI certification fee,
equipment rental, lunch, coffee and water on board is included in the price.

PADI Rescue Diver $ 410
Scuba divers describe the PADI Rescue Diver course as the most challenging, yet most rewarding course they have ever taken. Why? Because you learn to prevent and manage problems in the water, and become more confident in your skills as a diver, knowing that you can help others if needed.

PADI Divemaster $ 1625
Go pro! Become a Divemaster!
Including equipment rental, staff lodging and all meals for 1 month.
Including Divemaster crew pack. PADI fee are not included.

Extra day of the course $ 50
Need an extra day on your course? No problem
Adventure dives and other PADI programs are also available upon request!

Bed & Breakfast

Shared Bungalow $15 per person per night. You can also reserve the whole bungalow for you and your friends, $60 pr night.
In our new building, on stilts in the sea. Here we can sleep up too eight people.

Tree house $45 for 2 persons
Does houses have to stand on the ground? and do they need to be square?
No. of course not.
Since our coastline is quite steep and difficult to build on we decided to build a cabin up in the trees.

And we are building, so new alternatives never seen by man will soon arise.

Other Excursions

Snorkel trip $ 30 half day w/guide (min. 2 persons or together with other fun divers)
Equipment rental, lunch, tea, coffee and water on board are included in the price

Spend a night at a deserted island $ 55/pax
We will provide you with what you need to stay the night at one of the beautiful deserted
islands around Koh Sdach.
We pack you a nice food basket and supply you with cooking utensils. We drop you off on the beach, and pick you up the next day.
A small “off island mini bar” with wine and beer will be available.

Jungle trips and other excursions with or without boat are available on request!
For booking call +855 (0)86 41 33 80/+855(0) 86 41 24 32 or mail@octopuscambodia.com

The Family House and Dorm

Early December 2020, our new dorm/family house was finished. And it is pretty nice (you might have guessed it, I build both web sites and physical houses).

The house is large and spacious with beds for up to 8 people.

The price is $15/nt. pr. person included breakfast

If you’re a group, you can rent the whole house for $60 a night without breakfast. Breakfast from $3.

For all of our guests drinking water, basic tea and khmer coffee is included throughout your stay (fancy hipster-coffee is also available, but costs extra)

Toilet and shower is outside 10 meters away.

Price for bed & breakfast: $15 pr. person

Or rent the whole house for up to 8 people for $60 excl. breakfast

Please read our booking and cancellation policy here.

Staying at Octopuses Garden

In 2020 we made major changes to Octopuses Garden with new houses and common areas. And in 2021 there will be even more.

We strive to give you the best.

The best Diving, for every level of experience.

Diving Courses                                           Dive trips

The most comfortable accommodation. For groups and the independent traveler.

Our Family room and Dorm                    The TreeHouse

The best food. In our well equipped kitchen we can wip up almost anything. Tell us what you want and we can probably make it. Enjoy our home made bread, our delicious pizzas, a simple, but tasty Khmer dish or if you let us know, a copy of your favorite dish in the whole world….

Koh Totang

Koh Totang is one of our local dive sites, the closest of our neighbouring islands and is also one of the only inhabited Islands in the Koh Sdach Archipelago. We have a few main sites around the island that we visit frequently. These sites are good for beginners and people wishing to refresh their dive skills as well as those interested in macro, flower and muck dives. Around the island there are a range of different sites some are great for those interested in macro photography due to the abundance of Nudibranchs, Octopuses hiding in shells, strange poisonous Flower Urchins, lots of juveniles hiding out and the possibility of encountering a Seahorse or two.

On the east tip there is a little wooden wreck where huge schools of fish, big Groupers and Trevally’s have found their home. A small shallow reef runs along the island and the bottom is scattered with Shrimp Gobies, with a good chance of seeing a Blue Spotted Sting Ray, Cuttlefish and Lionfish hiding in the shallows. There is a lovely area around the island with an abundance of brightly colored Sea fans and if you’re lucky the chance to see a Reef Cat Shark.

Points of Interest

  • Sea Fans
  • Nudibranchs
  • Coral Reef Cat Shark
  • Wooden Wreck
  • Muck Diving
  • Seahorses

Departure: 8 am
Return: around 13 pm
Meals included: Lunch, snack and soft drinks
Minimum number of divers: 1
Maximum number of divers: 8
Price: $85 for 2 local dives, $25 for snorkelers

Dive Depths Generally Between : 2-  14 m

For booking, please send us an email or call us

Koh Chan

Koh Chan is one of our local dive sites and is an uninhabited island approximately. We have three key sites around the island, the ‘North East Corner’, ‘Koh Chan North’ and the ‘South West Corner’ of Koh Chan. The Island generally consists of boulders and sloping reefs down to a sandy bottom at an approximate depth of 14-16m. Each site provides a significantly different dive. There are a large variety of corals around the island including Soft and Hard corals, Bubble corals, Harp corals, and Fan corals, as well as an ever growing patch of Staghorn coral which provides a habitat for an abundance of reef fish. There are a number of Anemone patches, and large Barrels Sponges as well as fields of Whip corals that create an otherworldly feel.

Diving on the sandy bottom you will encounter a range of critters including Octopuses, the somewhat playful Saddleback Clown Fish, Blue Spotted Sting Rays, Shrimp Gobies, and Heart Sea Urchins. We often see larger pelagic fish including the impressive African Pompano Trevally and there are a couple of resident Tusk Wrasses, one of the only fish known to use tools. If you’re lucky a Yellow Banded Sea Krait or White Eyed Moray Eel may pop out to say hi. However as always you never know until you jump in what you will see.

Points of Interest

  • Large patch of Staghorn Coral
  • Possible drift dive depending on currents
  • Saddleback Clown Fish
  • Tusk Wrasse
  • Blue Spotted Stingray

Departure: 8 am
Return: around 13 pm
Meals included: Lunch, snack and soft drinks
Minimum number of divers: 1
Maximum number of divers: 8

Dive Depths Generally Between: 5 – 18 m

For booking, please send us an email or call us

Turtle Island – Koh Andech

Turtle Island is one of our local dive sites and is a small uninhabited island shaped like a turtle, hence its name.  It has sloping reefs made up of soft and hard corals and large boulders going down to approximately 14 m-16 m. We generally dive around the entire Island and choose the best site depending on the diving conditions. We have four key dive sites the ‘Turtle Head’; which is made up of large sloping boulders, ‘Turtle Bum’ which is a large reef the extent of which is still unknown and the ‘Northern’ and ‘Southern’ sides of the island which consists of shallow reefs sloping down to a sandy bottom.

Every dive is different, however generally you can see a large range of soft and hard coral species, large Anemone fields and Barrel Sponges.  A variety of reef fish species including Butterfly and Angelfish, Damsels, Bat-fish/Spade fish, Wrasses, Snappers, Emperors, Sweet lips and Groupers. Large schools of Fusiliers, Silver Monos, Darts and schooling Yellow tail Barracudas. We also encounter larger fish species such as Giant Barracudas, Cobias and pelagic fish such as Trevallys, and Rainbow Runners. Large Star and Map Puffers, Box Fishes, a variety of Nudibranchs, Blue Spotted sting rays and White Eyed Moray Eels among a large array of other ocean critters.

Points of Interest

  • The ‘Bat Cave’ where we are almost guaranteed to see Batfish every dive.
  • Anemone Fields
  • Cobias
  • Giant Barracuda
  • Schooling reef fish

Departure: 8 am
Return: around 13 pm
Meals included: Lunch, snack and soft drinks
Minimum number of divers: 1
Maximum number of divers: 8
Price: $85 for 2 local dives, $25 for snorkelers

Dive Depths between: 5 – 16 m

For booking, please send us an email or call us

Condor Reef

Condor Reef is by many considered one of the absolutely best dive sites in Cambodia. This of shore reef is situated about 30 kilometers south of Koh Sdach and offers excellent visibility, a fantastic underwater scenery and on the right day reef sharks, turtles and hopefully a whale shark will swim by.

The holy wall
Giants kettles

The unusual natural architecture is amazing. You will find huge rectangle rocks which seem to have been man made (or is it the aliens again?).  Some forms terraces, others mini walls with giants kettles and at least one arch can be seen. Even though it might just be a geological phenomenon it will make you wonder. Was this Atlantis?


Departure: 7 am (the sailing time is approximately 2 and a half hour each way)
Return: We’ll try to be back before dark, so around 6 pm
Meals included: Breakfast (on board), lunch, snack and softdrinks
Number of guided dives: 2
Minimum number of divers: 2 (or one that pay double)
Maximum number of divers: 8
Price: $130 for divers, $65 for snorkelers

A reef that just pop out of the sea in the middle of nowhere, will of 15_04_30_condor_reef_alejandro_edit_DSC_9250course get a few shipwrecks, and so also on Condor Reef. Many Chinese junks sailed these waters the last thousands of years, and some of them ended their journey on Condor. Loaded with valuable porcelain and gold the value of the cargos must have been significant and this has attracted many treasure hunters to the area. Much has been salvaged and even some has ended up in the national museum in Phnom Penh. Even though most has been removed, you will still find porcelain, probably dating as far back as 1660, and you can still see the remains of an old junk on the east side of the reef. Please take a good look at what you might find, take a photo and leave it there. The remains of the Condor wrecks belongs where they are or in a museum.

Condor reef
Condor reef

In a country with such a long modern war history you will find evidence of it. On Condor you might find bomb shells, quite a few undetonated. Our rule on how to behave around these are easy: No touchy touchy or it go boom boom and that might bring ouch ouch.

So we’ve got alien architecture and 350 year old wrecks, and that’s before we mention the marine life. Corals and anemones are spread all over the area. And loads of fish. The usual reef fishes and, because of the location, many pelagic big fishes, even whale sharks can be seen. Reef sharks and turtles are frequently seen. And all of it in year around great visibility.

Things of interest:

  • Shipwrecks and its cargo
  • Geological formations (or alien architecture, you choose)
  • Sharks and big pelagic fish
  • Amazing visibility

Diving depths: 10 – 40 meter (average 16 – 20meter)

The site is suitable for beginners as well as the experienced diver, but a stomach that can tolerate some sea is preferred. Excellent snorkeling.

In periods with big waves and wind, Condor reef can’t be reached.
Can be reached on daytrip or as part of our Shark Island and Condor Reef overnight trip.
Departure on demand. Minimum number of paying divers for departure: 2.

For booking, please send us an email or call us.

please read our booking and cancellation policy here.

 

Welcome to Octopuses Garden

Hello!

You are about to visit Koh Sdach and our little dive center, Octopuses Garden
Here we have gathered a some information for you, with links to our webpage and the answer to many FAQ

Please do not hesitate to ask us if you have further questions!

koh_kong_areas_cityGetting here
Koh Sdach is a bit off the grid, thats how we like it, and probably why you also chose to visit our Island.
There is basically two ways of getting here, either by private car which is comfortable and fast. Or by local shared car, a budget friendly adventure.
On our website we have added useful information, phone numbers and contacts so you can get to us the easiest way.

Note that in most cases there are no bus terminals, tickets or route tables.  The local food on the food stops is very good and safe.
Let us know if you need a private car, we will often get you the best price.

Also, the bigger organized bus companies do not go to Koh Sdach,  they only travel between the bigger cities.
And no matter what is listed on other web pages: Sorry, there are NO ferries from Koh Kong, Sihanukville or Koh Rong/Koh Rong Samloem
If you are not totally sure where our island is: We have a overview map for you here

The DivingHege Shark Island
If you have signed up for a diving course, you should have received a PADI medical statement. You can also find it here.
Please read it and if you must answer yes to any of the questions, you must see a doctor and bring the doctors statement with you, in order to be cleared for diving.
If you have signed up for fun diving, we have all the equipment you need. If you bring your own equipment; our tanks are ready for joke and DIN regulators.

bungalow_base_kate_west_watermarkwebStaying with us
We have cool, special bungalows and a mezzanine available for Bed & Breakfast.
Our accomodation is mainly recerved for divers, so be prepared for lots of dive stories around the kitchen table.
Our rooms have mosqito nets, linens, towels and fans and we can host up to 11 people.

Food and Drink Drinks
Please let us know if you have any dietarian requests, allergies, dislikes or favorites.
We have communal breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. We like good food and cook western, fusion and Khmer.
We also have a nice selection of wine, proper coffee, beer, lemonades and fruit shakes.
There are a few restaurants in the village and we buy most of our food, fruit, vegetables, fish and meat from the local marked on the island.

riel and dollarMoney
Cash is king here in Cambodia. We accept both Dollars and Riel. The going exchange rate in most markets, shops and cafés are fixed $1 to 4000 Riel. In the bigger shops and exchange offices, they mostly follow the official exchange rate. (Tip: Save the small 100 riel bills for the first beggar you meet every day)
Note there are  NO Atm’s on the Island, actually finding a cash machine outside the bigger cities as Koh Kong, Sihanoukville, Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kep and Kampot is close to impossible.
So bring enough cash for your rural travels. We can in some cases accept bank transfers for an additional Island fee.
The smallest local shops might have a problem to split your $100 bill so bring small money.
But when you change, make sure that the dollar bills you get are not torn or discolored, some shops refuse to take damaged dollar bills. The Riels are no problem, they can be torn, crumbled and taped.
In house altars it is normal to put stacks of $100 dollar bills, these are of course fake copies, but sometimes they do end up in circulation, and you will see the locals check very closely for fakes, so should you.

Wifi and Phonesmart phone
To get the best connection on the island you get a Smart or Metfone simcard $1/2 (available everywhere) and you refill your balance as needed.
(The others phone companies do not really work on our tip of the island)

In the end, Cambodia is in general a very safe and fun place to travel. Be polite, say a friendly no to tuktuks, haggle with a smile and enjoy your stay!

Phew.. that was a lot… hopefully it was a bit of useful information.

We are looking forward to see you here!
Now enjoy your travels, don’t panic and always travel with a towel!

Best Regards
Octopuses Garden

+855(0)86 41 33 80 or +855(0)86 41 24 32