But first things first: what are the definitions of scuba diving and snorkeling? If you have never done any of these before, it’s time to learn. According to the professional dive master Saffron Kiddy and dive instructor Darrel Inman of Narima Diving (Tel: 075-607-700) one of the best dive centers on Koh Lanta, snorkelling is for everyone. Absolutely anybody can go snorkelling. If you’ve never tried it before, that is no problem—just jump in and off you go. You will wear a mask and have a snorkel, which is a tube that you breathe from, so basically you can put your face into the water, and you can look at everything that is going on underneath you. You can do it with a life jacket on if you’re not a confident swimmer. It’s very easy. If you can swim a little bit, then you can snorkel.

Scuba diving is more to do with going underneath the water. You have an air-tank on your back—it’s the same air that you normally breathe—it’s just put into a tank. If you haven’t scuba dived before, you can learn in about two hours. You watch a video for about 30 minutes, which tells you about diving, about your body and the things you can expect to see. Then you are taken to the swimming pool to learn a few skills, just to make sure that you are confident under water. The lesson teaches you to take the regulator out and put it back in again, just in case if it comes out when you are diving you’ll know what to do. Almost everybody can scuba dive. The main reason you might not be able to is that you have problems with your ears or your sinuses. The nice thing about diving is you can just float in the water. It’s like being in space like an astronaut—you can just hang around and look at something for as long as you like. Nobody does scuba diving fast—everything is very slow, relaxing and pleasant. You feel much more part of the water—the fish aren’t scared of you, they can swim right next to you—you’re the same as the fish. Scuba diving will make you feel much less scared of the sea—those scary feelings of jelly fish and sharks will go away. When you go scuba diving you can almost see how everything lives, how all the fish react to each other. A lot of people find that after they go scuba diving they are not so scared of the sea anymore.

For the skeptical types, scuba diving is a safer sport than tennis or ten-pin bowling. Of course, there are things that can go wrong if you are under the water; there is a chance you can drown. But scuba diving is about theories and techniques. Diving isn’t the kind of sport that you can just go off on your own and try without knowing anything. There are safety measures that you must learn. As long as you follow all the safety procedures then it’s very safe. This is where the swimming pool comes in handy so people can be one hundred percent self-assured in the water. The dive master will give you as much time as you want to be confident—it can be two hours or up to one week—it depends on how you feel.
The best time to dive in Koh Lanta is between the first of November and the end of April. After that it depends on the weather. In-fact people have the wrong perception of the ‘low season’ and the ‘high season.’ Despite the fact that the low season is equivalent to the rainy season, it doesn’t mean it rains everyday. And unlike what people think, you can actually go scuba diving here during the low season as well. If there is not too much rain and wind, the dive center will take you on a diving trip. The only limit during the low season is the wind. But when the weather is great, the visibility in Koh Haa, for example, is up to 20 to 25 meters. Trustworthy dive centers check the weather two or three times everyday with the Thai Meteorological Department, CNN and BBC. But the final word depends on the captain, who tend to be long-time fishermen around here. They decide whether or not you should get out there in the open water.

THE MAIN SITES
Hin Daeng and Hin Muang (Red and Purple Rock)
It takes two hours and 40 minutes from Koh Lanta. Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are twin submerged rock formations that lie one kilometer apart from each other. It’s the dive site where you can see the biggest varieties of marine life. A lot of photographers like to go because it’s very exciting to take pictures.
Hin Daeng comes out from the water a little bit so you can see the rock above the water. It is a pinnacle that comes up to a point at the top and then it has ridges that come out to the sides. Hin Daeng is a stunning reef that has the deepest drop off in Thailand—it goes down to 70 meters. Hin Daeng is one of the most beautiful reefs in Thailand—it’s also considered to be the second best reef after the Richelieu rock in the Similan Islands, which is number one in Thailand, and also one of the top 10 dive sites in the world as well. It is called Hin Daeng (Red Rock—‘hin’ is rock and ‘daeng’ is red) because it has many soft red corals on it. You can find tiny creatures such as sea horses, ghost pipe fish, and small rare beautiful things. But you can also find the large things such as manta rays who come to visit between November and February. Some lucky divers can see up to 20 manta rays in one day. And also whale sharks like to visit Hin Daeng.

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