Starting off our Summer: Racha and Coral Island Tour

My roommate has just finished taking an exam for her future endeavor and thought she needed time to get away and relax. She wanted to go to a place we have never been before. Taking advantage of her enthusiasm to see a new place, we decided to have a one day island tour to Racha and Coral Islands.

We searched online for a good deal for these islands day trip. The cheapest one we have seen was worth 1,200THB. A friend of ours suggested a travel company that they usually go to (#suki). The deal was 1,000THB. Perfect for the budget!

It was a Thursday when we had the trip. The sky was somehow cloudy but we fervently prayed it would be sunny in the islands. Again, we asked to be picked up at the hotel near our staff house. The pick up was supposed to be at 8am but the driver came at 9am.

We were dropped off at the travel company's office near Chalong Pier. We had to show our booking voucher to the staff and they provided us with the identification bands.Tour companies use these bands to know the grouping of their clients. Some companies use stickers.

While waiting and because I did not have breakfast, I ate some biscuits in the waiting area. They also have coffee and water ready. For people who know that they are sea sick, they have anti-dizzying medication ready.

A few minutes later we were asked to get a life jacket and walk to the pier.

Chris was our tour guide for the day. He spoke English very well. He called out our names to check our arm bands and let us into the speed boat. While stepping into the speed boat, we were asked to look at a photographer's camera. (They usually print these photos and display them once you are back to the pier in the afternoon. Nice souvenir but I do not feel like buying one.) The speed boat was fairly big. We were about 30-35 people. A lot of Chinese tourists were on board with us.

The trip to Racha or Raya Island was about 30 minutes. It is said to be one of the peaceful islands in Phuket. There were not much people yet as it was around 10am that we arrived. The waters surrounding the island are crystal clear and turquoise in color.

I have read online that less boats and therefore less tourists visit this place. Jet skis or para sailing were banned. Beach chairs can be rented from the hotel in the island but it is fun to just sit down in the fine white sand and soak up the sun.

Next in our itinerary was snorkeling. We boarded up the speed boat again and was transferred to the back part of the island. Putting on our snorkeling gears, we set out to see the fishes underwater. This is the second time I have snorkeled all my life and I can say, I enjoyed it better this time.

While the other tourists were still snorkeling, we grabbed the chance to see the view and take photos from the front part of the speedboat.

After the activity, we were whisked to Coral Island. This island is only three kilometers from the pier where we started. It has been called Coral Island due to its impressive coral reef when one goes diving.

The island was busy with a lot of tourists coming in and out. We had lunch at Koh Hey Restaurant. Koh Hae or Hey is the island's local name.

There were a lot of sun lounger chairs that dotted the shore. I believe they were all for free. Here's the view from where I ate.

Beach activities of varying types were available. I regret I was not able to bring money to do some.
Options were banana boat, diving, parasailing, sea walking and scuba diving.

We just sat on the beach chairs and relaxed ourselves.

At around 4pm we were asked to board the speed boat back and were then dropped off to our house.

It was an awesome day. I will definitely come back soon and try parasailing :)

James Bond Island Tour 2014

Because I miss the beach (not necessarily swimming in one but just chillaxing near one), let me have a throwback blog about the time when we went to James Bond Island.

The island's local name is Khao Phing Kan. It is in Phang nga Bay which is north-east of Phuket. It has found its other name: James Bond Island when it was used as the location of a James Bond film titled "The Man with the Golden Gun". This movie paved for the island to be in the international tourist map. 

(image taken from carroll-foundation-trust.com)

Khao Phing Kan literally means hills leaning against each other in Thai. These hills are actually limestone cliffs that vertically jut out of the emerald green waters.

We booked for a James Bond Island tour online. We tried to look for the best itinerary with the cheapest rate. I cannot remember the exact rate we found but could estimate it as around 1200THB.

On the day of the tour, we were picked up from the hotel near us. Island tour packages here in Phuket include pick up from the hotel and drop off as transportation is kind of difficult. While waiting, we took a twofie :)

We travelled about an hour to Ao Por Pier. On this particular tour, we are to ride on a speed boat with about 12-17 people in total.  Our tour guide explained our itinerary. We had to visit a total of 5 
islands. 

Our first island to visit was Panak Island. We just went around the island for sightseeing. There were no island inhabitants except for monkeys. We were able to see up close on how the lime stone rock formation has built the island. 

Next stop was Panyee Island.This is also where a Muslim floating village is near and was noted to be built on stilts by Indonesian fishermen. This was how it looked from afar.

Wikipedia says that the population is about 1,685 people or 360 families descending from 2 seafaring Muslim families from Java. Just had to take a twofie again :)

The village has a floating restaurants where tourist go to for Thai Lunch. It is said that there is a muslim school, mosque and even a floating football pitch for the children living there. We have not seen this of course. We only went to the restaurant to eat and took photos of the views around.

After lunch, we headed to the main attraction: James Bond Island. There were already a lot of tourists as it was already about 1pm. Upon reaching the island, you will be warned.

So, I won't climb. But I just have to have a photo with a cool stone formation.

We had to endure a few uphill steep concrete steps and keep out of the way of some tourists to the spot where cool photos can be taken.

Ah the famous limestone of James Bond Island as my background.

The island also boasts of rock formations like this one. There was also a cave that people can explore.

Ok, please be brutally and frankly honest. Who did it better? James Bond.. (image taken from becuo.com)

Or Me? :)

Since tourists have been flocking the islands, there were already refreshment stalls and souvenir stalls in it. Still, Thai people has made sure that its beauty would not be spoiled. 

After taking all the photos that we can and exploring the island, we were then asked to board the speed boat again and go to our next stop which was Hong Island. This is where the fun begins.

From the speedboat we were asked to get into a canoe. My room mate and I got into one.

 The canoe driver whisked us around the island and suddenly asked us to lie down. 

A clearer view of the entrance.

I was surprised he asked us to do this. Little did I know that we were entering a part of the island which only has a very low entrance that one has to lie on the canoe to get in. There was a great hollow in the island which resembles like a secret pool. We were thankful that it was not high tide as we are able to get in and see the view inside.

Who would expect to see this inside a small entrance?

More views around this island.

The last but not the least island for this tour was Naka Island. This island is mostly underdeveloped as there are no large buildings yet except for one luxury resort and another one being built. It boasts of a long stretch of fine white beach. There are also a few vendors selling refreshments and food. I did not swim as I felt very tired. I just slept on the beach :)

We stayed for about an hour, just enough for swimming and relaxing. Afterwards, we headed back to the Pier and was dropped off to our hotel :)

Tips for travelers:

1. Search for the best deal online. Most of the island tour itineraries are the same but have different rates. I go towards the cheap one but with a nice itinerary.

2. If you are not that sea sick and would like to have fast transportation to your island tours, choose speed boat tours. It saves your time from sitting a lot in the boat and actually enjoy being in the island. If you are the type who likes to cruise or take it slow, then a long tail boat could be best for you.

3. Don't forget to bring a dry bag for your gadgets and essentials.

4. Bring extra money, in case you would like to buy some extra snacks or give a tip to the driver. Lunch buffet is already included in the tour package, but you never know if you want more food. You may not bring along bottled water, these are offered to you while on the boat.

5. Don't forget to put that sunscreen on and enjoy!