Longtails and beaches: a day on Phang Nga Bay

After the painful kayaking experience of a couple of days earlier, the option of using motorised transport to explore more of Phang Nga Bay seemed a much more appealing option.

We walked out through the low-tide mudflats to our longtail around 8:30am, the sun already high in the sky and making its presence felt.  While far from new, the two most important aspects of the boat seemed in good working order: the engine and the shade canopy.  Even better, only one of them failed during our time on board…

Within half an hour of leaving Koh Yao Nao we had arrived at Koh Hong, a small island protected by national park status.  Unlike other parts of Thailand (Phi Phi Lei, I’m looking at you), this actually meant something here – the beaches and bays were as pristine as I have ever seen despite the amount of boat and human traffic in the area each day.

For once it felt like the 200 baht national park fee was going towards protecting the local environment and giving us a beach that looked like this.  When we arrived, bright and early, there was barely another person on it.  An hour later all was different, but for those glorious sixty minutes we could almost pretend this little slice of paradise was ours alone.

The 2004 Boxing Day tsunami tore through this part of the world, destroying towns and lives with equal disregard. Eight years later most of the visible damage has been repaired, but memorials such as the skeletal remains of this longtail, swept twenty metres inland by the rushing waves, have been left untouched as an enduring reminder.

Once the tide had risen we returned to our boat and entered the large lagoon that gives the island its name (Hong means "room").  The dramatic rock-lined entrance gave way to a shallow lake perfect for lazing around in the water for ages.  So we did exactly that.

We were joined by a slow but steady procession of other longtails in the lagoon, but nearly all of them just did a quick lap and carried on.  These guys and girls seemed more interested in working on their tans than their swimming prowess.

There was plenty of time to watch the other boats coming and going, however, as the driver of ours spent several minutes using such high-tech tools as his flip-flop and a large hammer to convince the engine that it actually did want to start…

With dozens of limestone karsts rising up out of the sea, it’s not surprising that Phang Nga Bay is regularly compared to its more famous counterpart – Vietnam’s Halong Bay.  Having now been to both, I’ll take the clean waters, few visitors and minimal hassle of the Thai option every time, thanks.

Bird’s nest soup is a rare delicacy in China, and a kilogram of the raw material can sell for hundreds, even thousands of dollars.  With so much money at stake it is no surprise that the people who risk their lives to gather the nests protect them so vigorously – shootings are apparently not uncommon.

This guy had no such concerns as we motored past, mind you, giving us a wave as we went.  I imagine it might have been a different story if we’d tried to stop…

The final stop of our day on the bay was Koh Pak Bia, a thin spit of sand that seemed to be extremely popular with daytrippers from some of the resorts in Krabi for some reason.  It was very pretty, but the crowds meant that we chose to have lunch on a tiny strip of beach on a nearby island instead.

An inspired choice, as it happened, as there were hundreds of tropical fish in a sheltered bay nearby just waiting for us to lumber in with our snorkels and disturb their serenity.  I’m sure they loved it.

Heading back towards home  our boat driver’s sunny disposition briefly disappeared as he looked out to the north.  I wasn’t sure why … until I did the same thing.  Those clouds were large, dark and heading directly for us.

We got back safe and sound, but half an hour later mother nature decided to put on quite a show for us.  All of that thunder and lightening was best enjoyed from the safety of our balcony with a drink in hand … and not, say, in a flimsy longtail in the middle of a large body of water.

We loved our time on Phang Nga Bay – yet another highlight of a wonderfully relaxing week on Koh Yao Noi.  If you happen to find yourself in the area, I’d highly recommend hiring a longtail for the day and heading out there yourself.