Kantiang Bay lies towards the southern tip of Ko Lanta and provides the last little hub of shops, restaurants, bars and cafes before entering the more sparsely populated, deep south of the island. There are just three beaches further south before you are in the protected National Marine Park.
As you enter the bay, you are greeted by a kilometre of white sand beach and crystal clear waters, set against a backdrop of tropical rainforest reaching up into the hillside. With just a handful of resorts that range from simple family-run bungalows to the five-star luxury of the Pimalai Resort, you can live the castaway island dream in whatever manner you choose.
Kantiang Bay is the best place to base yourself if you want to dive some of the top dive sites in Thailand. With spectacular reefs, unmatched marine diversity and great visibility, Kantiang Bay offers the convenience of shorter journey times so you get more chance to enjoy the relaxed and laid back atmosphere of island life.
KO LANTA HONORED AS A TOP DESTINATION IN TRIPADVISOR’S 2010 TRAVELERS’ CHOICE DESTINATION AWARDS
TripAdvisor travelers voted Ko Lanta a top destination
Ko Lanta, Thailand, was chosen as a Best Destination in 3 categories, Beach & Sun, Romance, and Relaxation & Spa by TripAdvisor® in the 2010 Travelers’ Choice® Destination Awards, with Kantiang Bay and Lanta Klong Nin Beach being given a special mention in the ‘Don’t Miss’ section of each award.
Beach & Sun: Ko Lanta – 1st Place in Thailand, 3rd Place in Asia
Romance: Ko Lanta – 1st Place in Thailand, 4th Place in Asia
Relaxation & Spa: Ko Lanta – 2nd Place in Thailand, 6th Place in Asia
The TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Destination awards and honours the world’s top destinations, earning their distinction from those who know them best – real travelers. Continue reading →
A collection of the latest underwater images taken by professional underwater photographers from Liquid Lense, PADI 5 Star IDC Centre – Scubafish’s Underwater Digital Imaging Academy.
Underwater photographs are captured from the dive sites and reefs around Ko Lanta. Stay up to date on what diving conditions are like right now. Photos are usually updated daily and are from today or yesterday’s dives.
Please visit the Liquid Lense Flickr photostream to view more of their underwater images.
Watch the latest underwater videos from Liquid Lense – Kantiang Bay’s Underwater Digital Imaging Academy. Keep up to date on what life underwater is like around Ko Lanta with the latest underwater footage from Kantiang Bay in Ko Lanta.
You want Bounty-ad beaches, see-through seas and palm trees? And you want it all for a bargain price?
Ba Kan Tiang Beach in Ko Lanta, Thailand was voted Top Beach in Thailand & No. 9 in the World in the Travel section of the The Sunday Times on October 11th, 2009.
Voted #9: Ba Kan Tiang, Thailand
As tourism marches on, the Thai idyll is getting harder to find.
Step forward Kan Tiang, the last gasp on the Ko Lanta coast road as it dwindles away into Mu Ko Lanta National Park. There’s just one resort, Pimalai, a good dive shop that offers daily snorkelling jaunts and a collection of beach-shack bars, not so much built as washed up like flotsam on the tide. Our favourite for food is Same Same but Different, but the Aqua Bar’sseafood barbie is great, too.
Trailfinders (0845 050 5871, trailfinders.com) has a week at Pimalai Resort for £899pp, B&B, a saving of £400pp. The best of the beachside guesthouses is Baan Laanta (00 66-75 665091, baanlaanta.com), which has doubles from £66, B&B. Scubafish Diving – PADI 5 Star IDC Centre (0066 75 665 095, scuba-fish.com).
Castaways should try La Laanta (75 665066, lalaanta.com), on remote Bamboo Beach; from £53 a night for two.
To read the full article and see the other Top 10 votes – please visit Times Online.
We are pleased to announce that the Kantiang Bay 2009 International Cleanup Day ‘Splash for Trash‘ was a huge success.
Collecting rubbish is fun!
Almost 2 tonnes of rubbish were collected – which surprised an amazed everyone as the beach was looking pretty clean before we started. We expanded the cleanup area to include the central area of the village around 7-Eleven, as this did look in need of a little tidying.
Smiles Galore!
After sending a letter to the local residents in Thai Language to invite them to participate in the Ko Lanta Cleanup activities, distributing leaflets and putting up posters, a 90% turnout was achieved with representatives of almost all the local businesses and services participating in the cleanup activities.
Kids cleanup too!
Volunteers included Scubafish dive staff and customers as well as some of the guests staying at the local resorts. Local kids joined in and learned what rubbish needs to be cleaned up and what is natural and can stay on the beach. Everyone thought it was a great thing to do and had a lot of fun joining in.
A cleaner Kantiang Bay!
Much fun and enjoyment was had by all and everyone felt a sense of achievement in joining together to take care of Kantiang Bay in Ko Lanta and make it a cleaner place for everyone to enjoy.
Make a world of difference this Earth Day, 22 April 2009
Earth is a water planet and the planet needs our help. Why? Climate change is a major threat with increased ocean temperatures and ocean acidification impacting fragile underwater environments. Dive for Earth Day is an extraordinary opportunity to take action and help address the underwater issues that concern you most.
How can you help?
Individual Divers and Water Enthusiasts:
Volunteer today! Sign up for the Scubafish Dive for Earth Day event in Kantiang Bay and choose to participate in the Asia Pacific Fish Survey, Coral Reef Monitoring Project or Beach and Underwater Cleanup activities.
Songkran Water Festival 2009 – Celebrate Thai New Year and get absolutely soaked in a huge water fight to wash away any bad luck from the previous year.
Songkran is a Thai word which means ‘to move’ or ‘to change place’ as it is the day when the sun changes its position in the zodiac calendar. It is also known as the ‘Water Festival’ as people believe that pouring water on their closest friends and relations, will wash away bad luck.
Last year we stayed on Koh Lanta for low season, which falls between May and October. We imagined low season would bring days and days of nonstop rain, treacherous storms and very little diving. Despite how unappealing this prospect may seem, we were intrigued to see the change in nature and culture as the island flowed through the seasons from hot, dry and busy, to hot, wet, and quiet. In addition to this, everything is cheaper during low season, and the low cost of living bought us plenty of time for relaxing and contemplating over new projects and ideas.
As we moved from April into May, the rain became more frequent, the tourists started to dwindle, and the wind changed direction to blow on-shore along the west coast. The wind direction and temperament is the main problem for most dive operations during low season. The West coast is open to the Andaman Sea and faces the tail end of two monsoon seasons coming from different parts of Thailand. The monsoons transform the millpond tranquil waters everyone enjoys during high season, into a white peaked mass of waves, making it unsafe for boats to moor in the bays, and in the main harbour of Saladan.
Liquid Lense is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 Kantiang Bay Underwater Shootout. The overall standard was very high, with many entries worthy of recognition. After intense debate & difficult decisions by the judges, the following entries have been selected as the ‘best of the best’….
There were two categories of entry; White Balance and Flash Photography. Continue reading →
