Koh Lanta Marine National Park
There are dozens of islands off the Krabi coast, many of them only just beginning to open up to adventurous backpackers searching for the quintessential bamboo hut on the perfect beach. Fifteen of these islands make up the Koh Lanta National Park, which covers about 135 squire kilometers across four main island groups – Koh Lanta Yai and Koh Lanta Noi, Koh Ngai, Koh Rok Nok and Koh Rok Nai, and the Koh Ha group of islands.
The island with the most facilities – including about a dozen bungalow 'resorts' and a few dive operators – is Koh Lanta Yai, which is some 25 kilometer long, with a hilly central section and a string of superb sandy beaches. The main settlement is Amphoe Koh Lanta, on the east coast, a small township with limited amenities – a few grocery stores and a couple of noodle shops and little else. On the northern side of the island. Saladan is ostensibly a fishing port, but has a post office, a foreign currency exchange (banks), grocery shops and restaurants.
Diving around Koh Lanta
The diving around Koh Lanta and the adjacent islands is exceptionally good, and this is definitely regarded as one of the best dive areas in Thailand. There is a good variety of diving, with reef-walls, fringing reefs, caves and a wreck to explore around the offshore islands, islets and rocks.
Marine life is abundant, with a healthy cross-section of reef species as well as pelagics. Visibility is a respectable 20 meters on the dive sites furthest from from the mainland, sometimes reaching 30 meters.
Only a few local operators and a few visiting
live-aboards from Koh Phuket currently utilize these sites, so they are uncrowded and show few signs of damage: some deterioration is evident on areas nearer to the mainland, due to bottom trawling and dynamite fishing, but enforcement of National Park regulations is now helping curb these practices.
Two sites, Hin Mouang and Hin Daeng are among the top handful of Thailand's dive sites, largely thanks to the presence of Manta Rays, Whale Sharks, oceanic sharks and other pelagic visitors; Hin Daeng is distinguished also by having one of the most spectacular reef-walls in the country, dropping down some 70 meters.
AS an added bonus, the Koh Lanta Marine National Park is one of the few places in the world which still has substantial numbers of
Dugongs in the coastal waters.
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