Phuket Dive Guide : Koh Haa The Cathedrale
About the location and site
Nestled within the Koh Lanta National Park is one of the jewels of the Andaman Sea. It is a collection of six islands – one large island Koh Haa Yai and its five smaller islands.
Ko Haa, Thai for “five islands” lies between Phi Phi and Hin Daeng, close to Ko Lanta.
The 12+ dive sites at Ko Haa offer beautiful scuba diving and snorkelling with spectacular 25 m+ visibility, underwater pinnacles, drop-offs, walls, boulders and other caverns, inter-connected chambers and swim-throughs to explore. Ko Haa’s scuba diving highlights include the Lagoon, the Cathedrale and the Chimney.
Koh Haa Island No. 5 offers a series of caverns and swim-throughs along with the huge varieties of marine life. The largest cavern, known as the cathedrale, has three chambers. They are only accessable from under the water and have large openings from about low tide level down to 14 metres. Light filtering through the water from the entrance creates a bright blue glow in the chambers. There is no need for a torch and there are amazing views out.
Nestled within the Koh Lanta National Park is one of the jewels of the Andaman Sea. It is a collection of six islands – one large island Koh Haa Yai and its five smaller islands.
Ko Haa, Thai for “five islands” lies between Phi Phi and Hin Daeng, close to Ko Lanta.
The 12+ dive sites at Ko Haa offer beautiful scuba diving and snorkelling with spectacular 25 m+ visibility, underwater pinnacles, drop-offs, walls, boulders and other caverns, inter-connected chambers and swim-throughs to explore. Ko Haa’s scuba diving highlights include the Lagoon, the Cathedrale and the Chimney.
Koh Haa Island No. 5 offers a series of caverns and swim-throughs along with the huge varieties of marine life. The largest cavern, known as the cathedrale, has three chambers. They are only accessable from under the water and have large openings from about low tide level down to 14 metres. Light filtering through the water from the entrance creates a bright blue glow in the chambers. There is no need for a torch and there are amazing views out.
The first two chambers are connected by a shallow swim-through at about 9 metres. It is possible to surface inside the Cathedral and see the limestone stalactites hanging from the ceiling over 30 metres above. Especially sunrise is a magical time to dive here as the sunlight creates a gorgeous emerald colour.
Outside of the cathedral are many interesting pinnacles, walls, and canyons to explore. On the bottom outside the caverns, many types of nudibranchs can be found and usually a large hermit crab or two are crawling around. A couple of great swim-throughs are in this area as well. There are also squat shrimp and porcelain crabs in anemones and giant puffers, triggerfish and sometimes a turtle swimming by. We often see an octopus moving around the reef and large groups of squid swimming in formation off in the blue!
Outside of the cathedral are many interesting pinnacles, walls, and canyons to explore. On the bottom outside the caverns, many types of nudibranchs can be found and usually a large hermit crab or two are crawling around. A couple of great swim-throughs are in this area as well. There are also squat shrimp and porcelain crabs in anemones and giant puffers, triggerfish and sometimes a turtle swimming by. We often see an octopus moving around the reef and large groups of squid swimming in formation off in the blue!
Phuket Dive Guide dive maps : Koh Haa The Cathedrale
