Fortunately Koh Lipe was NOT! affected by the killer wave that swept through South West Asia and Andaman Sea at 10:45 on 26th December 2004. All our guests and residents were safe, with no reported damage to boats or bungalows. Koh Lipe remains a beautiful and peaceful holiday destination. Bungalows are still incredibly cheap, starting at just 200 baht. cell phone access and several internet cafes, means communication with the outside world is always available.

Koh Lipe is the only inhabited island in the Butang group of islands. Koh Lipe is located in the center of an isolated ring of 10 or so islands, part of the Koh Tarutao National Marine Park and is 45 km offshore from the Thai mainland, where the sand and sea is clean and pure. The islands are noted for the excellent underwater visibility and the remarkable amount and diversity of marine life found on the coral reefs nearby. The many beaches in the area are perfect because they are located on the fringe between the rainforest and the reef and often have freshwater springs and waterfalls from the mountains. The soft sand is very white in color and cool on the feet.

At last count there were about 700 bungalows on the island and 1 Sea Gypsy village with a school for the kids, 5 small shops and an internet cafe. You can walk around most of the island in 2 or 3 hours or it can take all day. The good news is that there are neither speed boats nor jet skis around and no cars. No one to sell ice cream or souvenirs on the beach, no one to hassle you at all. The local people who are all fishing families, see to it that this remains a peaceful island, devoted to nature.

Visitors to the island are likely to stay awake overnight during the moonlit nights to witness monthly god-offering ceremony dances performed by the islanders. The dance, performed along with the rhythm of the one-sided drum called Ramana, is organized for three nights during the new moon. It is believed that the god-offering dance will dispel all illnesses and evils from the island. In addition, on the May and November full moon nights, the Chao Lae's Longplang (Singing) and float ceremonies can also be observed.

Scuba daytrips from our shop at Koh Lipe are great fun! Most days a group of 4 to 8 divers gather on our boat around
9 am. and it normally takes less than 1 hour to travel to the divesites at Ko Rawi or 1 1/2 hours to Koh Butang at the outer edge of the park. After our first dive we eat a hot lunch and relax for a while and go ashore the nearest island and explore the beach and forest. Our second dive is usually both shallower and longer until finally we leave bottom and return to the boat for a shower and a snack before starting the engine and heading back to our beach bungalows in late afternoon.

If you are planning to visit Koh Lipe on your own you can easily book a 1 or 2 dive daytrip at our shop on "Pattaya" beach at Lipe resort. Also each afternoon at about 3 o'clock we dive the house reef in front of our diveshop in search of the larger fish and turtles which come close to shore. These dives are a bargain at only 1,000 baht including all equipment and divemaster / guide.

Night dives are usually on the house reef, the fish are asleep inside the coral, the huge hermit crabs are out hunting and in the full moon we turn off our divelights. The sea is so clear we can see very well. These are dives you will always remember!

As the western world gets more complicated and stressful many people find it necessary to get away to a tropical island paradise for a week or two each year in order to relax and chill out on a beach somewhere. These sorts of islands are increasingly hard to find nowadays.

In the 1980's Phuket was a great place. Beach bungalows used to cost about $2 per day, people were friendly and interested to talk to you and the environment was healthy and clean. Those days are now gone forever.

In the 90's Koh Samui was the place to go. Diving was good, food was cheap and living was easy. Then the airport came and mass tourism followed, Suddenly McDonalds and Burger King appeared, the reef suffered and the beach became a public restroom.

Now it is Koh Lipe's turn to attract people who want to get away from it all. On Koh Lipe there is no organized entertainment, and there will be no mass development because the island is part of the Marine Naitonal Park. In the evening people sit around tables on the beach and enjoy conversation by candlelight. As the island is seldom visited between the month of June to October, the environment and inhabitants have a chance to return to their natural state. What Koh Lipe doesn't have: Crime, Police, Cars, Pollution, Beach hawkers and fast food.