Thailand

[DirtFish]

I agree with GDMP above, Koh Lanta and Lanta Divers. We spent a week on the island this past March after 2 weeks diving in Raja Ampat. Koh Lanta was relaxing and not too crowded with pretty good food and a few good dive sites.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I agree with GDMP above, Koh Lanta and Lanta Divers. We spent a week on the island this past March after 2 weeks diving in Raja Ampat. Koh Lanta was relaxing and not too crowded with pretty good food and a few good dive sites.

Out of all of the dives you did at Lanta, were they all the "few good dives"? Or out of X number of Lanta dives you had Y number of good dives?

 

[noserider]

Out of all of the dives you did at Lanta, were they all the "few good dives"? Or out of X number of Lanta dives you had Y number of good dives?

Define good, almost all dives are good in my book

 

[Edward3c]

Define good, almost all dives are good in my book

That’s the clincher, what’s a great dive for me might be a rubbish dive for others.

 

[Blackreef]

Koh Lanta is pretty average imo. There are some swim throughs which can be interesting for you. The corals are not comparable to other dive sites like Hin Muang Hin Daeng or Liphe Island(highly recommend going to Stone Henge and 8 mile Rock).

 

[chillyinCanada]

Define good, almost all dives are good in my book

That's a question for DirtFish to answer.

 

[Centrals]

Koh Lanta is pretty average imo. There are some swim throughs which can be interesting for you. The corals are not comparable to other dive sites like Hin Muang Hin Daeng or Liphe Island(highly recommend going to Stone Henge and 8 mile Rock).

AFAIAC, Koh Lanta is better than Lipe based on my few trips to those places over last few years.
As for those 'swim through'? Nothing to write home about.
The main issue for Koh Lipe is the crowd!!! The island is tiny and most tourists are conjugated along the "Walking Street" and the two beaches. But Koh Lanta has far more beaches and space to explore/relax.
Hin Daeng/Muang are more accessible from Lanta than Lipe.

I will be visiting both places in Nov for two weeks and if I only has one week than Lanta is the place.

 

[DirtFish]

Koh Bida Nai, Koh Bida Knock, Koh Haa, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang were all nice dives for us. Good viz and a good amount of sea life, (sea horses, cuttlefish, squid etc.). After just retuning from Raja Ampat we knew that everything else was going to be just so so, but as others have stated, any time underwater is time well spent.
We spread our dives out so that we could relax and enjoy the island on mopeds. It was not crowded, (late March), and the food was good, (not as good as Bangkok), and pretty diverse, (Southern Thai, great pizza etc.). The beaches were nice with plenty of places to stop for a cold beverage.
Overall a good relaxing week for us.

 

[GDMP]

Re Lanta diving, the big draws for me are Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. In my book, they're both world class reef diving sites. I think they're pretty much as good as they get — I like them more than most (not all) of the sites in Alor and Raja. Nice topography, stunning coral, very fishy, excellent biodiversity, good chance of oceanic mantas, small chance of a whale shark, and fun currents. Awesome.

I also really like Ko Haa. I know some people say "just nice swimthroughs", but I think that does it a disservice. It's a very beautiful dive site. Great vis, gorgeous topography, very colourful, good biodiversity, clouds of glass fish everywhere (so, so pretty), and it's one of those sites that gets illuminated in a very striking way. I don't know about this season, but there was a bull shark or two around last year just off the main site. We saw one from afar. This video wasn't uploaded at a high resolution and looks rubbish on IG, but it gives an idea of it at least:
Koh Bida diving is nice enough. Leopard sharks are the main draw. It's not as nice as the others, IMO, but it's still a good dive site and is worth visiting.

Lanta is also a lovely place. Honestly, I find Thailand really frustrating at times. Naturally, it's so beautiful, and the people are very warm. But some of it has been spoiled by tourism. Within it, Lanta is a little bastion where tourism coexists nicely. It has a lovely, laid back vibe. Very friendly people — both locals and tourists. Beautiful beaches. Good places to eat. It's just great.

 

[passeparici]

The main issue for Koh Lipe is the crowd!!! The island is tiny and most tourists are conjugated along the "Walking Street"

Crowd on the island but not in the water. So good for scuba diving.