Top 5 Koh Lipe Dive Sites
Koh Lipe boasts an impressive array of dive sites that cater to all levels of divers, making it a must-visit destination for scuba enthusiasts. With such diverse underwater landscapes, you’re sure to have an unforgettable experience exploring the depths of this tropical paradise. If you’re a diving enthusiast, you’ll be thrilled to know that Koh Lipe boasts an array of dive sites that cater to divers of all levels. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, you’re sure to be mesmerized by the stunning underwater world that awaits you. With so much to explore, Koh Lipe is a must-visit destination for any diver looking for an unforgettable experience. Get ready to explore the underwater world of Koh Lipe with our top 5 Koh Lipe dive sites! These sites are sure to leave you in awe with their stunning marine life and breathtaking views. So, without further ado, let’s dive in and discover the beauty of Koh Lipe’s underwater world!
Pattaya Corner
First on our list of top 5 Koh Lipe Dive sites is Pattaya Corner. This dive site is generally quite peaceful, with very little to no currents as it is located in a bay off Pattaya Beach. This site has ghost pipe fish, moray eels and many nudibranch. You can likewise see the odd cuttle fish as well as a few cornet and trumpet fish. Pattaya Corner has big stoney corals in addition to huge boulders – covered in soft coral where lion fish typically hang out.
Other examples of marine life that can be seen at Pattaya Corner include; sea fan, sea anemone, and a variety of fish; such as, butterflyfish, pufferfish, snapper, huge clam, feather star, and seahorse.
Stone Henge
Stone Henge is an unique dive site around Koh Talang, which is located to the West of Koh Lipe and has an average depth of 5-25 metres. The topography includes several granite peaks covered by soft corals of various colours; from white, pink and yellow. Diving much deeper enables divers to find gardens of purple soft corals, sea fans, and sea polyps inhabiting the flooring in between the rock formations.
Stone henge is a lovely reef – drifting through the coral garden is amazing. The sea life abounds with schools of snapper, barracuda and trevally. Stone fish camouflage themselves in open sight on the hard coral, while huge moray eels and dancing shrimps make homes in the crevices.
Other fascinating marine life include; tiger cowrie, nudibranch, plume star, shrimp, clownfish, ghost pipefish, lion fish, barracuda, frogfish, moray eel, along with yellow, black, and white with grey stripes seahorses. whale shark, leopard shark, and rays.
The dive site likewise allows for amazing muck diving where each dive becomes a hunt for fascinating creatures. Stone Henge dive site often has strong currents and diving at this site is best done when slack tide lasts a minimum of a couple of hours. Therefore this site can just be dived and enjoyed a few days each month.
Koh Yang
Koh Yang dive site is an island found further from Koh Lipe – about a 45 minute trip with a longtail boat. It has large pinnacles where eels, sea horses and sometimes, lobsters can be found. Turtles that can frequently be seen on this site along with stone fish and many lion fish. Mushroom corals start at around 2 meters on this site while the pinnacles go down much deeper.
Granite rock formations head up from the depths and form sheltered bays with an abundant of marine life.
Shallow bays with healthy hard corals are the home of lots of reef fish including various types porcupine fish, puffer fish and butterfly fish. Steep walls are covered with soft coral – hiding numerous shrimps and pipefish. Deeper down, large boulders provide shelter for juvenile angel fish and spiny lobsters. There’s also plenty of macro life here. Koh Yang dive site has moderate currents with average depths of 5m – 30m.
Koh Talan
The island is directly off Sunrise Beach and offers great diving for novices and more the more experienced scuba divers alike. Hard corals starts at around 2 meters. If you fin a little further away from the island you’ll find groupings of hard corals spread among the sand. Upon closer investigation of these you may discover white eyed eels and clouded eels. Lion fish can also be seen finding shelter in these corals.
Rays hide themselves under the sand at this dive site, frequently leaving only their eyes and stingers exposed. There are file fish cruising along in the much deeper waters with pipe fish and flounders often seen bravely exposed in sandy parts.
Banded sea snakes are frequently seen here and if you are lucky you could find a couple of flabellina nudibranch. There are also yellow sea horse hiding among some stag horn corral in shallower waters.
If you continue to the East of this dive site the typography changes and more hard corals can be seen where stone fish, eels and moorish idols can be discovered.
Drop Off
And finally the last on our list of top 5 Koh Lipe dive sites is The Drop Off. It is only about 500 meters off Sunset Beach. The dive site lives up to its name, coral starting at around one and a half meters and after that sloping down to around 15 meters. Deeper then that you will discover large sandy areas spread with hard coral – perfect for muck diving. Towards the North of this site you could find a frog fish or two hiding in some hard coral.
This site usually has a medium to strong currents that makes it perfect for drift diving. Here you can likewise see many puffer fish, porcupine fish, nudibranch and stunning orange fan coral.
Have Your Say About Our Top 5 Koh Lipe Dive Sites
Have you dived any of our top 5 Koh Lipe dive sites? Did they make for great dives? Would you recommend any of the above top 5 Koh Lipe dives sites to other divers? Do you know of other dives sites around Koh Lipe worth mentioning? Leave your thoughts and comments below.