For our first full day in Phuket we played it safe by signing up for the #1 rated tour on Trip Advisor: Simba Sea Trips’ Phang Nga and Beyond.
As we would be visiting several of Phuket’s most popular island attractions, an early start is required to get a head start on the crowds, and so we had another 5am alarm call.
Over coffee at the marina, Harry, our guide for the day, explained that the 42 islands that lie off the east coast of Phuket were formed a few millennia ago when two tectonic plates collided. So unlike Polynesia, where all of the islands are volcanic, these islands are made from limestone, which gives rise to some very interesting rock formations and caves.
In contrast to our visit to Teriaroa a few days ago, where we spent the day cruising on a spacious catamaran, we were surprised to find ourselves boarding a narrow and not especially spacious twin-engined, single-hull vessel… but after we’d navigated out of the harbour and got up to full speed, all became clear. This boat was fast, and it needed to be too – we had a significant distance to cover to make our six scheduled stops in a little over seven hours.
Forty minutes later, we reached our first destination: Koh Phanak. This small island is full of tunnels, hidden lagoons and hongs (a hong being a cave that has sea water flowing into it). After being kitted out with a hard hat and a flashlight each, Harry led us into one of the tunnels. Two hours later, we’d have needed to swim through, but at relatively low tide, we were able to walk through the waist-deep water, occasionally ducking to avoid low-hanging stalactites.
At the far end of the tunnel, we found ourselves in a hidden lagoon. With steep rocky cliffs surrounding us, there was no way out but the way we had come in – unless we had climbing ropes I guess, as there was a narrow shaft of sunlight coming in from above.
Underfoot, below ankle-deep sea water, we were walking on sand… that is, until Harry suggested some of the tour party might like to experience the healing properties of Koh Phanak’s mud pool. There’s one particular species of fish who are right at home here too – the mudskippers – one of only six species of so-called amphibious fish: fish that have both lungs and gills, enabling them to breathe above and below water.
Being the only species of tree that grows in salt water, mangroves thrive here. Their thin roots and branches are surprisingly strong.
Just five-minutes from Koh Phanak is Koh Hong. Here, we discovered a quite unlikely but obviously thriving little tourist economy in canoe piloting. In pairs, we were taken out onto the water in canoes, but we didn’t have to do any of the work ourselves because each canoe came with a local “guide” who did all of the paddling for us!
I had expected to be taken on a circular trip around the island. That would have been a nice enough way to spend 30 minutes, but what we actually did proved to be far more fun. After a brief paddle in the strong sunshine, we entered a blissfully cool tunnel. We could see light at the end, but it looked far too narrow for us to be able to paddle through. But paddle through we did, after being instructed to lie flat by our guide!
At the other side, we entered another lagoon – similar to the one we’d walked into on Koh Phanak, but this time with water deep enough to paddle in. Our guide pointed out several interesting rock formations – elephants, an upside down chicken, a Budha, a mummy, a turtle… and Scooby Doo (although I thought this last one looked more like an devil hellhound than a friendly cartoon character!).
Our paddle lasted for 30 minutes, all in the most spectacular surroundings, with several more “lie flat” tunnels to navigate.
Back at the boat, we headed over to our third stop: Koh Phing Kan, aka James Bond Island. So called because it was used during the filming of The Man With The Golden Gun (starring Roger Moore, with Christopher Lee as Scaramanga), this is probably Phuket’s #1 tourist attraction, with upwards of 3000 visitors a day. Despite being a tiny island with absolutely nothing there except some interesting rock formations, a group of locals are ferried over each morning to run stalls selling tourist knick-knacks and coffee!
We stayed on the island just long enough to take some very predictable photos. The most iconic shot here is taken in front of Ko Ta Pu, a 20-metre tall islet just off the shores of Koh Phing Kan. In The Man With The Golden Gun, Ko Ta Pu houses two large solar panels which Scaramanga uses to power a giant laser gun!
The name Koh Phing Kan translates roughly as “Island with Hills Leaning Together”, and this gives rise to an opportunity for more very predictable photos…!
After leaving James Bond Island we headed next to a very dreamy desert island location for a bit of rest and relaxation. Here, a sand bar enables visitors to walk far out into the ocean without getting more than your legs wet. There are – inevitably – palm trees here, and some of the whitest sand we’ve had the pleasure of walking on!
Though we had been served breakfast on board after finishing our cave walk on Koh Phanak, all this island hopping was giving us quite an appetite. Good thing that the next island we would be visiting – Koh Yao Noi – has a restaurant with tables reserved for us! To reach the restaurant, we were bundled into two open-sided taxis and made the short drive across the island by road. En route, we passed a delightfully low-tech gas station, and several rubber plantations – latex being one of Thailand’s biggest exports.
Being in Thailand, we were, of course, served Thai food for lunch. Spring rolls, a coconut and chicken “soup”, cashew nut with chicken, stir-fried vegetables and rice. Pretty tasty, and all served in the very idyllic surroundings of an open-air restaurant just a few metres from the ocean.
After lunch, we had just one stop remaining on our tour: Koh Nok. Koh Nok is a tiny island a few minutes from Koh Yao Noi which has a wide sandy beach, great swimming and… for anyone looking for a bit of adventure, a very steep climb up to a lookout point. Of course I had to go and take a look, and boy was it worth it: the 360 degree view from the top was spectacular. And you don’t mind getting a bit sweaty climbing up there when you know there’s an ocean to cool off in when you get back down to the beach.
From beginning to end, today’s tour was perfectly delivered, and it might just have been the best tour of our entire trip. Every one of the six stops was a highlight, though canoeing was our favourite and definitely one of the abiding memories of our 3 months in Asia Pacific will be lying down flat on a canoe to avoid being guillotined by razor-sharp limestone rocks!
