Koh Haa/Koh Bidha

With a splash back into the waters after nearly 2 years, SCUBA diving this past weekend was refreshing! Just off the coast from Krabi Town in the Andaman Sea is a large island called Koh Lanta which has many dive shops scattered about. The majority of the dives shops will take customers to similar dive sites, some of which are ranked in the top 25 sites in the world! Two of the local islands for diving are Koh Haa and Koh Bidha, both of which offer spectacular sites.

Swim through entrance to cave

Koh Haa Archipelago is a collection of 5 islands ranging from large to small, each with multiple dive sites. Depending on weather conditions the boat master decides what two sites to dive for that day and it seems unlikely that they could choose a bad one. The first site we dove had a cave that you could swim up into and actually surface in the air pocket inside. Hanging from the roof were massive stalactites creating an inverted crown around us. Koh Haa typically has great visibility but with a strong current it went from 10 meters to 0 in less than 2 seconds. Imagine just floating along being able to see all of the stunning coral around you and then all of a sudden, dirty darkness where you cannot even see your own hand! With no option but to keep swimming forward (slowly!) we emerged from this turbid current to see more underwater life.

Lion Fish

Koh Bidha is located north-west of Krabi town (closer to Koh Phi Phi rather than Koh Lanta) and offers a blissful dive spot. Both Koh Bidha Nok and Nai offer extensive coral walls along which you can slowly crawl along and spot a variety of sea life as well as deep caverns which you can cruise above and see what lies at the bottom of the sea! With massive schools of snapper fish, lion fish, moray eels and nudibranches, Koh Bidha offered a great variety of sights to see as well as clear, warm water perfect for diving.

School of Yellow Snapper

There are many different dive shops located at each beach in Koh Lanta but in terms of Ban Saladan I would recommend Go-Dive Lanta. (http://www.godive-lanta.com)  They had great, knowledgeable instructors who were always willing to share information to not only make your dives better, but to make you a better diver. If diving in Thailand sparks any interest, make sure to check out these two islands for some spectacular diving!

**Note** Pictures were taken by Max from Go-Dive Lanta. Thanks Max!

What do you see in the anenome?!