For those of you who want to enjoy diving in Koh Lipe, read here. I’ll tell you where you can dive and recommend some dive shops, so you can choose quickly when you go there.
Dive Site Introduction
Stonehenge
Koh Lipe’s most popular dive site, I’ve been there twice. The first time I went, because of the strong current, we waited on the boat for half an hour before they arranged for us to go into the water. We had to dive down holding onto the descent rope. This dive site has strong currents, so you need to dive close to the seabed to avoid some of the currents. The dive site features pink and white soft corals growing on large reefs.
Long beach
This dive site is relatively shallow, so the seawater is not as green, and the photos you take look much better. The dive site features a large coral reef, although it’s all gray, it’s a bit monotonous, but it’s rich in species and well-preserved. Ignoring the color, it’s still quite beautiful.
Koh Yang
There are two dive sites, one east and one west, the scenery should be about the same. I went to the east side, and it’s my favorite dive site. There are large coral reefs, there are also pink, white and purple soft corals, and the current is not very strong. Halfway through the trip, the return point was between a few huge rocks, just enough for one person to fit through. I carefully followed the dive guide through the rocks, and I was lucky enough to see a huge panda nudibranch.
Dive Shop Introduction
Most of the dive guides on the island are Westerners, there are very few Chinese and Thai people. I had a chat with a British dive guide about this, he said many local Thai people don’t like to go into the sea, so there are few people who work as dive guides. It’s not like Malaysia and Indonesia where there are many local dive guides. Personally, I prefer local dive guides, I think they know the waters better, and because they’ve been working here all year round, they need this job to make a living, so they provide good service. This time I changed dive guides three times, they were all Westerners, frankly, they weren’t very good at taking care of people, and their eyes weren’t very good. I had to find a lot of things myself.
Recommended Dive Shop: Ko Lipe diving. They have a 10-dive package that costs 200 yuan per dive, including equipment, it’s very good value for money. The most important thing is that they have the largest boat on the island, with three floors, very comfortable. Many dive shops don’t have big boats, they only have longtail boats. Just imagine going diving on a longtail boat, it would be a misery. I saw another shop that also has a big boat, but only two floors, and the seats are long benches. I saw a lot of Chinese people go to forra, mainly because they have Chinese dive guides. I think if you can communicate in English, there’s no need to specifically find a Chinese dive guide. In addition, Ko Lipe Diving has a Japanese dive guide who can also speak Chinese. She lived in Taiwan before she was eleven years old, so there’s no problem communicating. But she’s only on the island during peak season, so of course don’t go to Koh Lipe during the off-season. There are very few boats going there every day, and many dive sites are closed, and most of the dive guides on the island have left.
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