February is the best month at Phi Phi. The Andaman is calm, visibility is at its annual peak, and the whale shark window at Bida Nok and Bida Nai is open. It is also the busiest month, so the difference between a good day and a poor one is almost entirely about being in the water before the day boats arrive.
This page covers what the guide records for Phi Phi specifically, with the sites and the odds.
Highlights
Blacktip Reef Shark
The neat little reef shark of the shallows, its black-tipped fins often cutting the surface over sun-lit sand flats. Where: Shallow reef flats at Maya Bay and around Koh Phi Phi Ley. Best: Nov-Apr, early morning.
Whale Shark
The biggest fish in the ocean, a spotted, bus sized filter feeder and the undisputed holy grail of tropical diving. Where: Bida Nok and Bida Nai, and the outer walls. Best: Feb-Apr.
Hawksbill Turtle
The reef's sponge specialist, its beautiful shell also the reason it was hunted to the edge. Where: Coral bommies at Bida Nok. Best: Nov-Apr.
Harlequin Sweetlips
The juvenile is a brown and white blob that tumbles around the reef pretending to be a toxic flatworm. Where: Under overhangs at Bida Nai. Best: Nov-Apr.
Giant Clam
The largest shellfish on Earth, a metre-wide clam that farms algae in its own rippling, jewel-coloured flesh. Where: Shallow reef tops. Best: Nov-Apr.
At its best in February
43 species
The full Phi Phi cast with the February to April pelagic window open.
Giant Clam Occasional Critically Endangered
Tridacna gigas
The largest shellfish on Earth, a metre-wide clam that farms algae in its own rippling, jewel-coloured flesh.
Where: Shallow reef tops. Best: Nov-Apr.
Hawksbill Turtle Occasional Critically Endangered
Eretmochelys imbricata
The reef's sponge specialist, its beautiful shell also the reason it was hunted to the edge.
Where: Coral bommies at Bida Nok. Best: Nov-Apr.
Whale Shark Rare Endangered
Rhincodon typus
The biggest fish in the ocean, a spotted, bus sized filter feeder and the undisputed holy grail of tropical diving.
Where: Bida Nok and Bida Nai, and the outer walls. Best: Feb-Apr.
Whitespotted Bamboo Shark Occasional Endangered
Chiloscyllium plagiosum
A small, slow shark that walks along the bottom on its fins and can survive hours in a tide pool with almost no oxygen.
Where: Under ledges at night. Best: Nov-Apr, night.
Green Sea Turtle Regular Endangered
Chelonia mydas
The great grazing turtle of the tropics, the only sea turtle that turns vegetarian as an adult.
Where: Shallow reef and seagrass around Phi Phi Don. Best: Nov-Apr.
Anchor Coral Occasional Vulnerable
Euphyllia ancora
Every tentacle ends in a fat hammer-shaped tip, so the whole colony looks like a field of tiny anchors.
Where: Sheltered slopes. Best: Nov-Apr.
Blacktip Reef Shark Common Vulnerable
Carcharhinus melanopterus
The neat little reef shark of the shallows, its black-tipped fins often cutting the surface over sun-lit sand flats.
Where: Shallow reef flats at Maya Bay and around Koh Phi Phi Ley. Best: Nov-Apr, early morning. Maya Bay's shark nursery is the most reliable shark snorkel in Thailand. Go at opening time.
Leopard Coralgrouper Regular
Plectropomus leopardus
A blue-spotted red grouper that hunts in partnership with moray eels and octopus.
Where: Reef ledges at the Bidas. Best: Nov-Apr.
Mandarinfish Rare
Synchiropus splendidus
Its colours are not pigment but structural blue, a pigment cell type known from only one other genus of fish on earth.
Where: Rubble shallows at dusk. Best: Nov-Apr, dusk.
Blackspotted Puffer Occasional
Arothron nigropunctatus
A comically dog-faced puffer, its colour ranging from grey to sunny yellow, carrying a potent toxin in its flesh.
Where: Reef ledges. Best: Nov-Apr.
Day Octopus Occasional
Octopus cyanea
A shape-shifting reef genius that can change colour and texture in a blink and pour its boneless body through a coin-sized gap.
Where: Reef and rubble by day. Best: Nov-Apr.
Painted Spiny Lobster Occasional
Panulirus versicolor
Has no crushing claws at all, and defends itself instead by rasping out a screech you can hear underwater.
Where: Crevices under ledges. Best: Nov-Apr, night.
Porcupinefish Occasional
Diodon hystrix
A comical big-eyed fish that gulps water to swell into a spiny ball far too large and prickly to swallow.
Where: Under ledges by day. Best: Nov-Apr.
Zebra Lionfish Occasional
Dendrochirus zebra
A pocket lionfish that herds shrimp into a corner with fanned pectoral fins before swallowing them whole.
Where: Overhangs and swim-throughs. Best: Nov-Apr.
Banded Sea Krait Regular
Laticauda colubrina
A sea snake that hunts eels underwater but must come ashore to rest, drink fresh water and lay its eggs.
Where: Shallow reef and rubble. Best: Nov-Apr.
Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray Regular
Taeniura lymma
A small, brilliantly marked ray, olive gold studded with electric blue spots, tucked under coral ledges.
Where: Sand pockets between coral heads. Best: Nov-Apr.
Copperband Butterflyfish Regular
Chelmon rostratus
A white fish banded in copper with a long tweezer snout and a false eyespot to fool predators into striking the wrong end.
Where: Crevices and ledges. Best: Nov-Apr.
Emperor Angelfish Regular
Pomacanthus imperator
A living work of art in electric blue and yellow stripes, its young disguised in a maze of blue and white rings.
Where: Coral heads at the Bidas. Best: Nov-Apr.
Giant Moray Regular
Gymnothorax javanicus
The largest moray on the reef, its gaping, fanged mouth a fearsome look that is really just how it breathes.
Where: Crevices at the Bidas. Best: Nov-Apr.
Great Barracuda Regular
Sphyraena barracuda
A silver torpedo with a fearsome underbite, sometimes gathering in slow, glittering spiral schools over the reef.
Where: Midwater off the walls. Best: Nov-Apr.
Harlequin Sweetlips Regular
Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
The juvenile is a brown and white blob that tumbles around the reef pretending to be a toxic flatworm.
Where: Under overhangs at Bida Nai. Best: Nov-Apr. Juveniles do the rolling swim that everyone photographs.
Longfin Batfish Regular
Platax teira
A tall, disc shaped silver fish that drifts around wrecks and reefs with the calm curiosity of a friendly ghost.
Where: Around mooring lines and walls. Best: Nov-Apr.
Oriental Sweetlips Regular
Plectorhinchus vittatus
A handsome striped reef fish whose fussy juveniles wobble around in polka dots to mimic toxic flatworms.
Where: Under ledges at cleaning stations. Best: Nov-Apr.
Pyjama Cardinalfish Regular
Sphaeramia nematoptera
Looks like three different fish stitched together, and the male holds the whole clutch of eggs in his mouth for a week.
Where: Branching coral in the shallows. Best: Nov-Apr.
Skunk Anemonefish Regular
Amphiprion akallopisos
A single white stripe down the spine, and a strict queue: when the female dies, the biggest male becomes her.
Where: Anemones on sheltered reef. Best: Nov-Apr.
Bluestreak Cleaner Wrasse Common
Labroides dimidiatus
A tiny striped wrasse that runs the reef's health clinic, picking parasites from fish that queue up and even open their mouths for it.
Where: Cleaning stations throughout. Best: Nov-Apr.
Bluestripe Snapper Common
Lutjanus kasmira
A bright yellow snapper ruled with electric-blue lines, massing in dense, glowing schools around coral heads and wrecks.
Where: Schooling on the reef slopes. Best: Nov-Apr.
Common Lionfish Common
Pterois volitans
A flamboyant reef hunter fanned out in maroon and white plumes, every graceful spine tipped with venom.
Where: Overhangs throughout. Best: Nov-Apr.
False Clownfish (Clown Anemonefish) Common
Amphiprion ocellaris
The famous orange and white anemonefish, immune to the stinging tentacles that shelter it and every group ruled by a single dominant female.
Where: Anemones on the shallow reef. Best: Nov-Apr.
Moorish Idol Common
Zanclus cornutus
An unmistakable disc of black, white and gold trailing a long ribbon fin, one of the most elegant fish on any reef.
Where: Reef throughout. Best: Nov-Apr.
Raccoon Butterflyfish Common
Chaetodon lunula
A golden butterflyfish masked like a raccoon, drifting the reef in pairs by day and roaming at night.
Where: Reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.
Broadclub Cuttlefish Occasional
Sepia latimanus
A big reef cuttlefish that hypnotises prey with bands of colour pulsing down its arms.
Where: Reef edges and sand. Best: Nov-Apr.
Banded Coral Shrimp Regular
Stenopus hispidus
A candy-striped shrimp with impossibly long white antennae that it waves to advertise its parasite-cleaning service.
Where: Cleaning stations. Best: Nov-Apr.
Bigfin Reef Squid Regular
Sepioteuthis lessoniana
Talks in colour: it can run one message down its left side and a different one down its right at the same time.
Where: Midwater on night dives. Best: Nov-Apr.
Chromodoris Nudibranch Regular
Chromodoris species
A tiny sea slug in outrageous colours that borrows toxins from the sponges it eats and flaunts them as a warning.
Where: Sponges on the walls. Best: Nov-Apr.
Durban Dancing Shrimp Regular
Rhynchocinetes durbanensis
Packs into caves in the hundreds, and the whole mass sways together when a torch beam crosses them.
Where: Overhangs and crevices. Best: Nov-Apr.
Titan Triggerfish Regular
Balistoides viridescens
The reef's bad tempered bulldozer, a big triggerfish that will charge divers who stray over its nest.
Where: Reef tops, nesting in sandy craters. Best: Nov-Apr. Nesting fish will charge. Swim horizontally away, never up.
Blue Sea Star Common
Linckia laevigata
An almost unreal cobalt blue starfish scattered across the shallows, able to regrow a whole body from a single lost arm.
Where: Reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.
Bulb-tentacle Anemone Common
Entacmaea quadricolor
The tentacles only swell into bulbs when an anemonefish is living in it, and nobody is quite sure why.
Where: Reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.
Feather Star (Crinoid) Common
Comatulida species
A living bouquet of feathery arms that clings to high points on the reef by day and can crawl, or even swim, to a better spot.
Where: Sea fans and coral in current. Best: Nov-Apr.
Long-spined Sea Urchin Common
Diadema setosum
A pincushion of needle-sharp black spines with a glowing orange ring, grazing algae and quietly shaping the reef.
Where: Rubble and reef base at night. Best: Nov-Apr.
Magnificent Sea Anemone Common
Heteractis magnifica
A great carpet of stinging tentacles that is home and fortress to the anemonefish, a partnership at the heart of the reef.
Where: Shallow reef tops. Best: Nov-Apr.
Staghorn Coral Common
Acropora species
The fast-growing branching coral that builds the living thickets of the reef, nursery and shelter for a whole community.
Where: Shallow reef flats. Best: Nov-Apr.
Also out in February
3 species
Present through the season regardless of month.
Pacific Reef Heron Regular
Egretta sacra
Comes in two entirely different colours, charcoal grey and pure white, and both can hatch in the same nest.
Where: Rocky shores at low tide. Best: Year round.
White-bellied Sea Eagle Regular
Haliaeetus leucogaster
A huge coastal eagle in grey and white that snatches sea snakes and fish from the surface in a spectacular swoop.
Where: Over the limestone cliffs. Best: Year round, morning.
Germain's Swiftlet Common
Aerodramus germani
The little cave swift whose nest of pure saliva is harvested from sheer sea caves for bird's nest soup.
Where: The limestone caves of Phi Phi Ley. Best: Year round. The Viking Cave nests are harvested commercially; the birds are visible from the water.
Practical notes for February
Get in the water early. The blacktip sharks in Maya Bay are most reliable in the first hour, and the Bidas are quiet before the crowds. Maya Bay has entry rules and periodic closures, so check the current position before booking. February is peak season, so book boats a few days ahead rather than on the morning. If you are getting in the water, the Green Fins code of conduct, run by the Reef-World Foundation with UNEP and first trialled in Thailand, is the fifteen-point standard for snorkelling and diving without damaging the reef.
Find Phi Phi dive and snorkel trips
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Frequently asked questions
Is February a good time to visit Phi Phi?
It is the best month for water conditions and visibility, and it is inside the whale shark window. It is also the busiest, so go early each day.
Can you swim with sharks at Phi Phi in February?
Yes. Maya Bay’s blacktip reef shark nursery is active year round and most reliable in the first hour after opening.
When is the worst time to visit Phi Phi for snorkelling?
May to October, when the southwest monsoon brings rough water, poor visibility and reduced boat access.
More Thailand marine life
- Fish of Thailand
- Sharks and Rays of Thailand
- Reef Invertebrates of Thailand
- The Similans in February
- Snorkelling Koh Samui
- Phi Phi marine life, all year
Part of the Wildlife in Thailand guide.