Ko Lanta

On Ko Lanta, we had a super beautiful accommodation with several pools, beach access, and two cats that always sat in front of our little hut. The weather was great despite the rainy season, and it was nice to enjoy the sunsets from the pool with a cocktail.

The planned 1-2 diving days we wanted to have with the Flip Flop Divers quickly turned into two days where we completed the Advanced Open Water course at the dive spot Ko Haa. We worked on our buoyancy, practiced setting buoys, navigating underwater, identified fish, and, of course, made a deep dive to 30m. Each dive included some exercises, and the rest was a fun dive.

Besides all the corals, huge schools of fish, and their predators, as well as more exotic fish like a pregnant pufferfish, a family of lionfish, and a turtle that was eating anemones and corals, the highlight was the so-called Cathedral. This is a cave that you dive into. Once inside, you ascend a bit and dive through a hole into another chamber of the cave. It was really impressive! Our instructor Lee had made a video of us diving through the Cathedral, but unfortunately, it was so dark that nothing can be seen in the video.

On the second diving day, Markus and I went snorkeling during the break between the first two out of a total of three dives, and we also did a bit of free diving. Our dive computers then required a 7-minute decompression stop with a subsequent 3-minute safety stop at 5m at the end of the second dive. Luckily, we still had plenty of air, but before the last dive, Lee prohibited us from free diving. Lesson learned.

On the last day, we rented a scooter and went to the lighthouse in Mu Ko Lanta National Park. From there, we had a great view, and the beach invited us to swim. We also visited the town of Ko Lanta, which has a lovely old town and a small harbor. From there, we will continue our journey tomorrow.