Koh Lipe Full Day Snorkel Trip

Snorkel Review

Koh Pung

A short 15 minute journey and we reached Koh Pung, which is off the shores of Koh Tong/Monkey Bay. We stopped for about 40 minutes to snorkel in the water. There was little wave as shown in the image below, however we were told not to go past the rock foramtion shown on the left of the image as there is a current that passes through on the right hand side.

There wasn’t any other boats while we were snorkeling meaning that we were the only ones in the water (6-8 people). The water depth was about 2-3 meters, and then there was a drop off which went down to 5-6 metres. The drop off area was cloudy due to the current and there wasn’t much to see, so I’d stick to the coral reef.

As you get into the water the first thing you’ll see is the many anemone’s spread over the coral reef. Most of them weren’t occupied with Nosestripe Anemonefish or Clownfish, but were swaying in the current. The coral here was in good condition, It was a small area and there were Black Sea Urchins, so be careful.

There are 4x Clark’s Anemonefish that are known to be in this area, they’re large and can be seen on the small anemone or sometimes above in the water. But if you spot one, you know the anemone is going to be near by. I manage to spot these two below, not the typical clownfish you think of, but they had stunning colors.

I also Blackspotted Pufferfish, small Wrasse, and some stunning Brain Coral. The coral formation was mainly boulder coral, with some filled with Christmas Tree Worms as seen below. All in all, this was a pretty good snorkeling spot before lunch.

Monkey Beach, Koh Tong

We stopped at Monkey Beach for lunch which was a 5-minute boat journey from Koh Tong. There was a small sandy patch and trees over head, which then led onto a long sandy beach. We sat down under the trees to have our Lunch, which we very quickly realised was a mistake.

After witnessing a tourists lunch get taken by a monkey when she wasn’t looking. There was a ranger walking along trying to keep them in order, but I’d recommend having you lunch on the beach, away from the trees. You will see many monkeys here as they live in the jungle on the island, and are often seen in the trees above.

Koh Hing Nam

After Monkey Beach we made out way to Koh Hing Nam which was a large rectangular stretch with ropes marking the snorkel area and subsequently coral reef. It is a bit awkward for the longtail boats to dock to the ropes around the coral reef, stay seated as I almost got taken out by another boat when taking a photo.

I then got prepared and jumped into the water off the drop off. This area was pretty busy with about 8-10 longboats docked, but the area is very large, the size of a football pitch so I didn’t bump into anyone the time I was swimming around. There was a very small wave, but very little current on the coral reef, and the visibility was excellent as it’s only 1-1.5metres down to the coral when swimming. This was a coral jungle, with numerous different types of coral on show, including Lettuce, Boulder, Boulder Star, Blue Jagged, and Anemone and Brain coral scattered throughout the reef. It was an incredibly healthy coral reef.

The middle of the reef was probably the best, there was so much going on as shown in the photos below. On some of the beige massive corals you will see Christmas Tree Worms which have vibrant coloured feathers which poke out of the coral in a tree like shape. They use these feathers to catch plankton and can add some reds, blues, yellows to the coral. Some corals can have tens to hundreds of these worms which are burrowed into the coral.

If you get too close to these worms they will retract the feathers into their burrow. I saw a couple of clownfish throughout the reef, but they were hard to find as they’re only 3 inches big and are often within the anemone.A school of black parrot fish swam past me in formation munching on coral. If you have your ears underwater you can actually hear the noise of the fish crunching on the coral with their beak-like mouth.

Jabang

“Candyfloss pink coral like you’ve never seen” – Luke

Our final stop on the full day Koh Lipe snorkel trip was Jabang, and what a Jabang it was! Jabang is probably the most famous snorkel attraction at Koh Lipe because of its very unique pink coral, and often seen on advertisements throughout the island. The pink coral which does look like candyfloss is found literally in the middle of the ocean, which is very unusual for a snorkel spot.

When you arrive all you can see are maybe other boats docked and a roped out section. As you get into the water you work your way along the ropes viewing the coral as the currents were extremely strong! I’m a strong swimmer and did have flippers on and found it challenging. If I held onto the rope and the current would push my legs up behind me and I’d be in a Superman styled position.

However, on the half day snorkel trip I also stopped at Jabang and the conditioned were still and much easier to swim. It is a relatively small snorkel area so the ropes can get a bit crowded. There’s two main mounds of rock under the water covered with the pink, purple, and red soft coral and also many other diverse species.

Tour Guide Options