The King Cruiser wreck is the wreck of the car ferry of the same name that sank off the West Coast of Southern Thailand on 4 May 1997.

The ferry was operating between Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands in southern Thailand when she hit a submerged collection of rocky pinnacles at Anemone Reef 10 miles off Phi Phi Island. The impact split the reef in two and also tore a large hole in the hull limiting its seaworthiness to a further thousand meters. The vessel sank within 2.5 hours.

561 passengers were rescued included Thai and foreign tourists. They were safely taken to two police patrol boats and 4-5 fishing boats, which had raced to the rescue in response to an emergency call.

Causes Of The Sinking.

The ferry was on a regular crossing in normal conditions and the Anemone Reef was charted and well known by captains in the area. This has led to various unproven theories as to why the accident occurred.

Theories include insurance fraud due to the owners experiencing financial difficulties on the unprofitable route and also that local dive companies paid the captain to sink the vessel as, up until that time, there were no wreck dives around Phuket. The captain was found to be negligent.

The vessel is now a popular recreational dive site and acts as an artificial reef to compliment the Anemone Reef. The vessel sits upright on a sandy bottom in around 30m of water rising to ~10m at the top of the wreck.

The wreck remains in one piece although the foreword upper deck has collapsed. The simplest and safest point of entry is through the vessels stern where divers can explore the once active car decks. Machinery still sits on the deck.

Inside the car deck are a couple of vehicle tires and an engine trolley. Rows of passenger seats and low coffee tables fill the inner recesses. The collapsed foredeck is at 16 meters where there is a stack of plastic picnic tables and chairs often surrounded by a cloud of Snappers. The upper deck is split from front to back.

As well as the wreck there is lots of coral growth and an abundance of fish. sea fans and soft coral can be found growing along the sides and top of the wreck. Schools of big eye trevally are often spotted circling above the captain's cabin.

Large schools of snapper hang around the entrances to the car deck and along the remains of the upper deck, plus lionfish can be seen dotted around the wreck. There are also occasional encounters with leopard sharks and blacktip reef sharks, great barracuda and turtles. If you are really lucky then there have been whale sharks spotted on this dive location.