Chulabhorn Marine Park Conservatory Centre

The Chulabhorn Underwater Park Conservation Centre is a two-storey exhibition hall inside the Royal Thai Navy’s Phang-nga base at Lam Kaen, set up in 1993 to support the “Chulabhorn 36” project — named for Princess Chulabhorn — which protects the coral reefs and marine life around the Similan and Surin Islands, Ko Bon, and Ko Tachai. It’s an education stop, not a wildlife hospital: despite how it’s sometimes described online, the displays cover reef ecology and conservation, not sea turtle rescue.

Ground-floor displays cover the marine ecosystem of the Similan-Surin chain — reef structure, the species the project protects, and the pressures those waters face from fishing and boat traffic. It’s a modest, government-run space of information panels and preserved specimens rather than a live-tank aquarium, closer in feel to a briefing room than a marine park. Next to the main building sits a small turtle hatchery that breeds soft-shell, box, and grass turtles — freshwater and semi-aquatic species used for conservation and education, not the green and hawksbill sea turtles that Thailand’s dedicated navy turtle centres rehabilitate.

Watch out: Online listings sometimes blend this centre with a separate sea-turtle rehabilitation facility on the same stretch of naval-base coastline — if injured sea turtles in recovery tanks are what you’re after, that’s a different site. Confirm with your driver or tour operator which one you’re booked into before setting off.

Because it sits on an active naval base, arrive with photo ID and expect a routine gate check, similar to the navy’s other conservation sites around the country. The centre gets far fewer visitors than the Similan Islands it exists to protect, so mornings are quiet and staff generally have time to answer questions.

Reach it by car in well under an hour from Khao Lak, a short drive south along Route 4 through Thai Mueang district. Bring sun protection for the walk between buildings, and pair the visit with the wider Thai Mueang coastline — Hat Thai Mueang beach and its turtle-nesting stretch of sand sit close by.