Koh Haa

Koh means island & Haa means five – so, Five Islands (although actually there are six).  The islands are 30 minutes away on a speedboat, or 2 hours on a big boat.  Only Lanta boats go here (apart from the occasional liveaboard), so this makes it the most popular dive area from Lanta.  There are at least 9 dive sites here catering for all experience levels.  Three of the islands surround a lagoon that, for the most part, is 5-6 metres deep and provides an excellent area for training and snorkelling.  To one side of the lagoon is a small, sandy beach that non-divers can use.

Whilst there is a lot of reef life here (Koh Haa is a marine park), the main draw is the topography.  Island no.1 has a chimney going through the reef starting at 18 metres and exiting at 5 metres.  There is also a tunnel that comes off the chimney that enters a cave at 8-9 metres.  No matter how many times you dive this site, it’s amazing.  This is a good place to find seahorses.  Island no. 5 has a series of large caverns, the largest of which is known as The Cathedral, that you can surface in.  Once surfaced, the only light that penetrates the cave is through the water, which makes them an unbelievable experience.  Island no. 5 is also a good place to spot octopuses hunting.
Island no.’s 2 & 4 have garden eels and huge shoals of barracuda and reef squid.  Island no. 6 has many ghost pipefish, and makes for a good ‘macro’ dive.

Whilst this is not the best place to spot them, many manta rays were seen at Koh Haa last season, as well as one or two whalesharks.