Diving/Snorkeling Ko Haa

Robert dove Ko Haa and we both snorkeled Ko Haa (I did it twice) with Lanta Diver.

Ko Haa means five islands. Oddly, however, there are actually 6 islands. It is a beautiful place and only about a two hour boat ride away from Koh Lanta.

KoHaa1

Lanta Diver was fantastic. They take a big, comfortable boat out to Ko Haa. They fed us tons of food — my favorite was the fresh bread to make bacon sandwiches (oh, how I miss good bread and real bacon …..) for breakfast and the custard filled donuts on the return trip (although, oddly, we only got those on one of two trips). The guides were friendly and helpful and safety conscious.

Fabrice Dieudonne, a professional photographer, was on the boat taking pictures of everyone. Some of his macro shots were absolutely amazing, but we just purchased the three best photos of us. Check them out.

On the boat to Ko Haa.

Robert jumping into the water.

Robert diving a pass thru. Look at all those fish!

We saw some amazing sea life, including a green turtle, a black tip reef shark, and a HUGE jellyfish. Here are Robert’s best photos. These were all taken with a janky old Go Pro filming video and then converted to still images. We so need to invest in a better underwater camera one of these days….

A giant moray eel. I got to see one swimming while I was snorkeling, which is a rare treat because they normally come out of their holes only at night.

A pair of banner fish. There were tons of these in the water.

A crown of thorns starfish. These things are beautiful, but they are apparently very bad for the reefs as they eat tons of coral.

Can you spot the turtle? It is pretty close to the middle of the photo.

A seahorse. This was Robert’s first sighting of a seahorse and I am beyond jealous.

A sea snake (technically, a banded sea krait) swimming by starfish. Apparently, one of these snakes came within inches of my face while I was snorkeling without Robert as it was coming up to the surface for a breath of air. Thank the maker I didn’t see it or I probably would have died from fright. On our second trip, we saw about 8 of these guys. Don’t believe anyone who says they can’t open their jaw to bite people. If you don’t believe me, google sea snake eats moray eel…..

A pair of batfish.

A parrot fish. These are one of my favorite fish to see and there were plenty of them near Koh Haa.

I’m pretty sure this is a sergeant major fish, and they were everywhere. They swim near the surface and are quite curious. They will swim right up to your face and are often in large schools.

Seal faced puffer fish. I think these guys look like puppies when you see them up close. Another one of my favorite fish.

A common porcupine fish. Crazy how well camouflaged it is. This guy was pretty big and we spent so long watching it we almost lost our snorkeling group.