A trip out to the nearby islands in the Ko Lanta National Marine Park, offers you the chance to experience superb snorkelling with stunning visibility and absolutely masses of marine life to observe. You can swim with sea turtles and there are so many brightly coloured tropical reef fish that it truly feels as though you’re swimming in a giant aquarium.

Snorkelling is a great way to observe Ko Lanta’s beautiful coral reefs and stunning underwater life in a natural setting without the equipment and training required for scuba diving. Snorkelling is great introduction the underwater world and can be enjoyed by kids and adults alike. Pretty much anyone can snorkel as it requires no special training, only the ability to swim and to breathe through a snorkel.

The best sites to snorkel at:
In terms of marine life, water clarity and abundance of coral, Ko Haa and Ko Rok offer the very best snorkelling around Ko Lanta. But there’s a whole lot more to snorkelling that just the fish! The stunning Emerald Cave at Ko Mook – hidden right inside the island, used to be a pirates treasure trove and Ko Kradan (the southern-most island in our area) boasts some of the prettiest beaches in Thailand.

• Ko Haa offers spectacular visibility (20-30m), pristine corals and boasts crystal clear waters and a huge variety of marine life. Swim with Turtles, relax in the famous Lagoon and swim to the picture perfect beach (as long as it's not high tide, when the beach disappears!).
• Ko Rok has beautiful, powder white-sandy, twin beaches, which are home to some inquisitive Giant Monitor Lizards (1-1.5m). Enjoy snorkelling in a coral garden amongst an abundance of anemone and reef fish. A great place to look for Hawksbill turtles and Batfish.
• Southern Islands / The 4-Island Tour tend to have less good visibility and a more limited variety of marine life than can be found at Ko Haa and Ko Rok, however, the Emerald Cave is usually the highlight of this trip. Hidden inside the island of Ko Mook, the only way in to this secret lagoon is to swim 85m through an underwater tunnel that opens out into the secret bay with limestone cliffs soaring high above you on all sides!

The underwater tunnel turns through about 90 degrees, so you descend into total darkness for a few minutes. Once you complete the turn, you can start to make out the emerald-green light coming from deep within the island. As you exit the tunnel and enter the lagoon, the water glows a deep emerald green and it’s rather like being inside a big, green volcano. There’s a large sandy beach to relax on, that’s open to the sky inside the cave.

It's a truly amazing experience to emerge from a dark tunnel into a stunningly green tropical paradise, complete with large white-sandy beach. You can’t help but imagine what it felt like to discover this, almost film-set like place, for the first time. The cave used to be a smugglers resting place and is reputed to have been used by pirates as a secret and secluded place to stash their treasure. It retains an air of mystery and romance and it’s easy to imagine smugglers hiding out with their loot inside the cave.

Waterproof bags (Dry Bags) are a really good idea, so that you can take your camera etc. with you, as you swim inside the cave.

We recommend guided snorkelling trips with Scubafish PADI 5 Star Dive Centre. Scubafish head office is located in Kantiang Village. We can also book you onto snorkelling tours via local longtail boat or speedboat.