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Tarutao Marine Park
Koh Lipe
& around Tarutao National Marine Park
Tarutao Marine National Park is the largest nature reserve in South East Asia and is located in the Andaman Sea off the coast of South Thailand just above its border with Malaysia. Protected partly by its national park status, and mostly by its relative inaccessibility, Koh Tarutao Marine National Park is one of the most beautiful and unspoiled regions in Thailand.
Situation
Koh Lipe (also known as "Ko Lipe") is a small island in the south Andaman sea on the west coast of Thailand. It is located in Satun Province, close to Langkawi island (Malaysia), about 70 Kilometres (38 miles) from the mainland.
It is part of the Tarutao National Marine Park, a large group of over 70 islands, and also part of a smaller cluster of islands called the Butang Islands or Adang Archipelago.
It measures only 2km long and 1 km wide and is famous for some of the best dive sites in Thailand. Koh Lipe offers a rich abundance of coral reefs with an amazing variety of huge hard and soft corals as well as plentiful array of marine life such as turtles to huge rays which draws many lovers of diving to discover this beautiful underwater tropical paradise.
The season
There are basically 2 seasons that determine the weather in the area: wet and dry !
Dry season starts early November. Wet season starts at the end of May when the monsoon brings plenty of rain and rough seas.
Temperatures are between 28 and 32 degrees Celsius year around.
The start of the dry season (November and December) tends to be the mildest, with coolest temperatures, while the end of the dry season (April and May) tends to be a little bit hotter.
Getting there?
From November until April Koh Lipe can be reached by boat from Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta and several islands in the Andaman Sea with daily ferries to and from all locations From May to November.
Pak Barra is the main ferry hub for Koh Lipe, with ferries running all year. It takes 2 hours to travel by minibus from Hat Yai to Pak Barra.
