Discovering Koh Lipe: A New Side of the Andaman Sea
Koh Lipe is one of those places that can surprise you underwater. While the island is famous for its beautiful beaches and crystal-clear waters, there is a completely different world beneath the surface.
During one of our trips to Koh Lipe, we explored several of the area’s dive sites and discovered an incredible combination of colourful reefs, large schools of fish and an impressive variety of macro life.
Some of the sites reminded us strongly of the Mergui Archipelago: strong currents, isolated rocky pinnacles, abundant marine life and plenty of small creatures hiding in the reef. Koh Lipe is smaller in scale, but underwater it certainly has plenty to offer.
Stonehenge
Our first dives took us to Stonehenge, one of the best-known dive sites around Koh Lipe.
The site takes its name from the huge granite blocks that rise from the seabed. These rocks are covered in colourful soft corals and create a spectacular underwater landscape.
Yellowback snappers and trevallies moved around the rocks, while barracudas could sometimes be seen schooling above the reef.
The site was also full of smaller surprises, including seahorses, bent stick pipefish, moray eels and countless damselfish.
In the sandy areas around Stonehenge, we found spearing mantis shrimps and flounders. And if you look closely enough, there is always something else moving among the coral.
Two seamoths were another particularly memorable find. These unusual little fish are easily overlooked as they slowly walk across the sandy bottom.
Whale sharks are also possible in this area, although we did not encounter one on these dives.
Taru
Another beautiful dive took us to Taru, where a sloping coral garden stretches down towards the sand.
The reef was covered with colourful corals and large barrel sponges, creating plenty of places for fish and smaller creatures to hide.
The highlight here was undoubtedly the Rhinopias. These highly camouflaged scorpionfish are always exciting to find, and Koh Lipe is one of the places where you can occasionally encounter them.
We also found tigertail seahorses around the reef, making this a particularly rewarding site for macro lovers.
8 Miles Rock
Further offshore, 8 Miles Rock offered a completely different experience.
This exposed pinnacle rises from around 15 metres down to more than 40 metres and attracts huge quantities of marine life. The current can be strong here, but that is part of what makes the site so exciting.
The rock was covered in marine life. Thousands of silversides and glassfish formed huge bait balls, attracting giant trevallies that were constantly hunting through the school. Red snappers and marble rays added to the action, while the rock itself was covered with soft corals, anemones and huge barrel sponges.
The large schools made 8 Miles Rock an excellent site for wide-angle photography. Giant trevallies repeatedly charged through the bait balls, creating constant movement in the blue.
But 8 Miles Rock is not only about big schools of fish. Looking carefully around the rocks revealed plenty of smaller subjects, including frogfish hiding among the corals.
Whale sharks are also known to pass through this area, although once again we did not encounter one during this particular trip.
Honeycomb Bay
After the action of 8 Miles Rock, Honeycomb Bay offered a much more relaxed dive.
The site starts in relatively shallow water close to the beach and descends beyond 20 metres, although much of the diving is done around 15 metres. It is a fantastic place to slow down and search carefully through the reef.
Nudibranchs and shrimps were everywhere if you took the time to look. We also found several frogfish, with as many as six individuals reported around the site, as well as three Indian Walkmans.
For macro photographers, dives like this are a reminder that some of the best encounters happen when you stop looking for the big animals and start examining the reef in detail.
Waterfall
Waterfall is another excellent muck-style dive site around Koh Lipe. Rather than looking for large schools of fish, this is a place to slow down and search the reef carefully for unusual small creatures.
We found several nudibranchs, including the famous little “Shaun the Sheep”, as well as ornate stiliger nudibranchs. The reef also produced a candy crab hiding among the soft coral.
Steps
Steps was another particularly productive site for macro life.
Frogfish, seahorses, catsharks, catfish, nudibranchs and moray eels can all be found around the site. The combination of reef, sand and small cracks provides an incredible number of hiding places for marine life.
Among the highlights was a tiny baby tigertail seahorse, as well as crocodile flathead fish and several small shrimps.
We also spent some time experimenting with motion-blur photography as schools of snappers moved through the water.
More Macro Life Around Koh Lipe
One of the things that really stood out during these dives was just how much small marine life could be found around Koh Lipe.
For photographers, every dive seemed to produce another subject: tiny shrimps, filefish, nudibranchs, snake eels, frogfish, seahorses and unusual scorpionfish.
The variety was particularly impressive considering how different each dive site felt. Some dives were all about large schools of fish and dramatic pinnacles, while others rewarded patience and careful observation.
A New Side of the Andaman Sea
After several days of diving around Koh Lipe, we came away with the feeling that this area deserves much more attention from divers.
The combination of colourful coral reefs, rocky pinnacles, strong currents and exceptional macro life creates a very different experience from many of Thailand’s better-known dive destinations.
In many ways, Koh Lipe reminded us of the Mergui Archipelago. The currents can bring plenty of life to the reefs, the underwater terrain is varied and there is always something interesting to search for.
Of course, Koh Lipe has its own character. The sites are generally smaller and we did not encounter the giant oceanic mantas that can sometimes be seen further north. But for divers who enjoy discovering unusual creatures and spending time looking closely at the reef, there is an incredible amount to see.
And that is perhaps what made this trip so enjoyable. One dive could be about giant trevallies hunting through a bait ball, while the next could be spent photographing a tiny shrimp or nudibranch hiding among the coral.
Koh Lipe is a destination where slowing down and looking carefully can be just as rewarding as searching for the biggest animals.
Discover More
Want to discover more of Thailand and the Andaman Sea with us?
- Explore our Thailand liveaboard cruises
- Discover the Mergui Archipelago
- Experience Blackwater Diving
- Discover the MV Smiling Seahorse
Whether you are looking for big schools of fish, colourful reefs or tiny macro subjects, the Andaman Sea has plenty of underwater adventures waiting to be discovered.
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