Questions about diving Koh Lipe

[BatfishCrazy]

Hi there

I had posted my questions on another thread, but thought maybe it was the wrong one as I didn’t get any responses, so trying on this one instead!

I’m planning a trip with friends for a major birthday next April. As they are non-divers and I was born in Malaysia, I‘m looking at Langkawi for that. However, I’d like to tack on a few days in Koh Lipe before hand. I will be diving with my husband and 10 yr old son. I’d be grateful for your thoughts on:

1 Whether there is much diving at Koh Lipe that can be done at 12m? My son is a competent diver considering his experience - fine with a bit of current - but is limited to a depth of 12m.

2. I know April is the very back end of the season for Lipe, but is it still worth going?

3. Any recommendations for dive outfits? Looking for friendly, personalised service - definitely no cattle boats. We all have our own gear, so quality of hire equipment not a consideration.

I’d be grateful for any advice you could give!

 

[AnotherDiverHere]

I was is Koh Lipe in February. I am not sure of the dive conditions in April but I found the dives to be very good with minimal to no current. There are some shallow sites with great things to see. I recall I went to about 5 different dive sites. The two outfits I would recommend would be Adang Sea Divers or Castaway.

Adang has speed boats. They would return after each dive so a person could choose to do one or multiple dives. Nice if you want to just do one in the morning or if you want to catch a later dive to a different site. The boat might be filled with more divers but they keep there groups small.

Castaway is diving off of a long tail boat. I believe max 6 divers to a boat. Most of the time I was with one 1-2 other divers. A little longer to get to sites but nice with the small crowds. Castaway was super friendly and I had a great time diving with them. Diving also comes with lunch and the food at Castaway was super good.

There is multiple shops who I am sure are great. I went diving with these two and I would highly recommend them to anyone. Hopefully this helps and best wishes.

 

[Edward3c]

You’ll have no trouble finding an operator. There is diving year round.

I’ve used Keirita, DJL and Ko Lipe Diving School. The last when I was there last December with the Penang Dive Club (BSAC 225).

 

[BatfishCrazy]

Thank you all! Sounds like it’s a goer!

 

[BnNSpirit]

I dived with Ko Lipe Diving School, liked their 10 dives package and the huge dive boat where you have plenty of space to rest during surface interval.

 

[Barmaglot]

1 Whether there is much diving at Koh Lipe that can be done at 12m? My son is a competent diver considering his experience - fine with a bit of current - but is limited to a depth of 12m.

Stonehenge is a magnificent site, one of the best in Thailand that I've seen, and it's all about 5-12m deep. You can go deeper if you go off the main reef, but all the pretty stuff is in the shallows.

 

[Centrals]

@Sib_sid
Koh Lanta is only a ferry away from Lipe.
Three completely different islands.

 

[scubadojo]

Hi there

I had posted my questions on another thread, but thought maybe it was the wrong one as I didn’t get any responses, so trying on this one instead!

I’m planning a trip with friends for a major birthday next April. As they are non-divers and I was born in Malaysia, I‘m looking at Langkawi for that. However, I’d like to tack on a few days in Koh Lipe before hand. I will be diving with my husband and 10 yr old son. I’d be grateful for your thoughts on:

1 Whether there is much diving at Koh Lipe that can be done at 12m? My son is a competent diver considering his experience - fine with a bit of current - but is limited to a depth of 12m.

2. I know April is the very back end of the season for Lipe, but is it still worth going?

3. Any recommendations for dive outfits? Looking for friendly, personalised service - definitely no cattle boats. We all have our own gear, so quality of hire equipment not a consideration.

I’d be grateful for any advice you could give!

1. There's plenty of dive sites nearby, but stonehenge (goes by local name Ta-lung) is a must go dive site
2. Lipe can visit during low season as well, although some winds are to be expected. Definitely worth a visit.
3. The water is around 29c all year. so a shorty or full suit 3mm will do the job just fine. Try DJL Lipe or Cast Away Lipe for their services.

 

[Tippytoes12]

We had a great week in Ko Lipe at Christmas 2019. We walked around and checked out the dive shops, the owner of Castaways couldn’t have been more miserable and grumpy so we took our business elsewhere. I dived almost every day with them and loved it. My husband had got a bit sick of diving then, but he came up to meet me for lunch every day after diving, he was made very very welcome. The diving from Ko Lipe was brilliant, healthy corals, masses of fish and Stonehenge was an absolutely fantastic site. We will go back at some point on the future. Especially now that my husband is diving again and loving it !

 

[Centrals]

We had a great week in Ko Lipe at Christmas 2019. We walked around and checked out the dive shops, the owner of Castaways couldn’t have been more miserable and grumpy so we took our business elsewhere. I dived almost every day with them and loved it. My husband had got a bit sick of diving then, but he came up to meet me for lunch every day after diving, he was made very very welcome. The diving from Ko Lipe was brilliant, healthy corals, masses of fish and Stonehenge was an absolutely fantastic site. We will go back at some point on the future. Especially now that my husband is diving again and loving it !

Which dive operator did you use?