snorkeling from shore ?

[altarose]

Hi, doing research for next years trip. Feb, March. We are avid snorkelers, we have been to many places in the Caribbean, but have never visited Asia, thinking about going to Thailand, but can't find much info on snorkeling. Which islands should we be looking at, we prefer places away from the big resorts, snorkeling from the beach, cheap restaraunts with local food, not into nightlife. Trip will be 6-10 weeks long.

Thanks for any help

 

[Quero]

If you don't like resorts, you might like staying at the National Park bungalows or tents in the Similans and on Tachai. You can snorkel from shore at these places, but the options for food, etc. are extremely limited since there are no villages. Also there's some shore-based snorkeling from Koh Lipe down near Malaysia. Lipe actually sounds pretty perfect for you with a local village, small places to stay, etc. There is some nightlife though with beach bars, but it's easy to stay someplace else where the noise won't bother you.

 

[Griffo]

As well as shore snorkelling on Koh Lipe, there are longtail snorkel trips that are dirt cheap. You can basically spend the day going between different sites., lunch on some remote island etc. Well worth the minumum cost.
We stayed in Serendipty - luxury enviro resort Koh Lipe Bungalows - Serendipity Resorts Luxury Bungalows for You and Your Family which is right up one end of the island away from pretty much every other place. There are also cheap bungalows.

 

[altarose]

Thanks for the replys, we are not against "night life" but it is not on our list of must haves. Shore snorkeling is highest on our needs, don't mind taking the odd boat tour, if good value. We will split the trip between several locations, a couple of places near cultural attractions

 

[Bexny]

Also chiming in about Koh Lipe - fantastic snorkeling right off the beaches and loads of day trips to choose from if you want to visit the other islands in the archipelago. As mentioned earlier, they are usually done via the traditional wooden longtail boats (noisy but "authentic"). They generally run from 9am to 3pm and take you to 4-5 snorkeling spots, either around islands or near islands. You will stop for a picnic style lunch on one of the islands. Fantastic photo opportunities. As for the marine life, you'll see more or less the same stuff everywhere you go (more colorful soft corals in certain spots) but on one of these day trips you'll get a chance to visit some absolutely stunning uninhabited islands.

Koh Lipe's got a few big resorts (Sita, Bundhaya and Varin might come up on your searches) but the rest of the accommodation tends to be smaller scale bungalows and huts. Don't be fooled by the word "resort" in their name, just about every place calls itself a resort. Not sure what your budget is but you might want to look into Castaway Resort, beautiful wood and bamboo bungalows on Sunrise Beach, which is the beach with the best snorkeling in my opinion. Many local restaurants serving great Thai food, cheap for the island but not cheap for Thailand as a whole. There is nightlife but it's laid back so if you don't look for it, you won't be bothered by it for the most part. Overall a really chilled out, gorgeous little island to spend some time on while in Thailand.

 

[dirtfarmer]

It's been a long time since then (back in 2005) but I think it's Koh Ngai (not 100% the name is right) that has some fantastic snorkeling right of the beach. Back then there were only two places on the island stay and both had bad reputations.
I visited there on a day snorkel trip from Koh Muk. The snorkeling was spectacular! Very shallow reef, large reef area, actually it's a channel between two islands. Back then it had very healthy and huge coral, good reef life, good vis. It may have suffered bleaching? a few years back it was very shallow there.