Spent a week on Phuket May 26-June 2, 2006.  It is the beginning of Monsoon Season, but appeared to be right on the cusp, as we had 2 hours of rain all week. 

Dove three days with Dive Asia, a company owned and operated by Germans.  The first diving day went to Anemone Reef and Shark Point, visibility was probably 60' with wonderful colors and varieties of fish species.  I went through the PADI digital underwater photography course that day, and took some pretty good pictures (if I do say so myself!!!)

My wife and her cousin went with us the second day.  This was the first dive my wife made without Captain D's tutelage, and her first open water ocean dive.  Our diving The second day was a three dive day to Raja Yai and Raja Noi.  The visibility was a bit better, however not as much coral and fishlife.  It didn't take long for my wife to regain her confidence, and before long, was diving comfortably, and maintaing good bouyancy control (it's amazing what happens when you don't have 12MM of wetsuit). 

The third day was the crown jewel of my diving in thailand, we trekked to the phi-phi islands.  the first dive was to Ko Doc Mai, which was a wall dive, approximately 65' of depth, with most of my diving around 30-40'.   This was my first wall dive, quite impressive, as my dive would have been completely different if I was 5' deeper or shallower. 

The second dive was to Bida Nok, a small island south of Phi Phi Don, which took a real hit during the tsunami.  I had my first shark encounter, an eight foot (or so) leopard shark.  unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.

On the third dive we went to bida nai.  Unfortunately, the visibility dropped to about 30 feet, and the experience suffered a bit.

I was able to hit most of the "tourist dive" spots (except for the King Cruiser wreck) available off of the eastern coast of Phuket, however was not able to dive in the Similan Islands, which is supposed to be incredible.  Unfortunately, the similan island trips only run november through april, as the weather allows.

The downfall of the trip, is that the closest dive spot to the harbor is about an hour boat ride, and the boats leave the harbor at 9:00 AM, so most trips are all day, returning sometimes at 7:00 at night.

I would definitely recommend Dive Asia, with Werner, Fabian or Bee as a guide.  As beginner divers, we chose to have a private guide each day.  It cost a bit more, but it was worth the peace of mind.  The dive guides typically take a maximum of four divers, so you get plenty of individual attettion, and the food was pretty good (unless you are a vegetarian, then stick to the white rice).