That photo you see up there is me trying to mimic Roger Moore as James Bond in
The Man with the Golden Gun. The sheer rock that you see in both pictures is Koh Tapu, now famously known as the James Bond Island of Phang Nga Bay.
We spent the day in this bay which is renowned for its famous mangrove ecosystem and the sea caves (aka hongs). These sea caves are best explored using inflatable sea kayaks in high tide. You can also explore some caves on foot when there's low tide, but it tends to be a sticky, itchy experience. I tried both. There's not much pleasure in swimming in these waters as they tend to be quite murky and uneven in depth. To add to that, there are often treacherous sharp rocks that could cut you badly, so avoid that if you can. The mangroves and the caves are beautiful however and are testimony to the number of ways nature celebrates its own beauty. You can get trips to the bay starting from 1600 THB, though I'd recommend you spend some extra money and take the trip offered by
John Gray's Seacanoe or the one at
seacanoe.net. I say this despite having taken the cheaper trip since I got the impression that the costlier tours spend more time in the caves and doing the sea kayak thing. This apart I learn that John Gray's happen to be a highly environmentally aware tour company and are extremely responsible in the way they operate their tours. The rest of the tour remains consistent across most tour companies. If you're lucky enough you'll get some glimpses of the wildlife around the bay in form of long tailed macaques and sea eagles, bramhanny kites, etc. I'd give this tour a 6/10 simply because I didnt get to do much kayaking through the
hong ecosystem.
We spent the day in this bay which is renowned for its famous mangrove ecosystem and the sea caves (aka hongs). These sea caves are best explored using inflatable sea kayaks in high tide. You can also explore some caves on foot when there's low tide, but it tends to be a sticky, itchy experience. I tried both. There's not much pleasure in swimming in these waters as they tend to be quite murky and uneven in depth. To add to that, there are often treacherous sharp rocks that could cut you badly, so avoid that if you can. The mangroves and the caves are beautiful however and are testimony to the number of ways nature celebrates its own beauty. You can get trips to the bay starting from 1600 THB, though I'd recommend you spend some extra money and take the trip offered by John Gray's Seacanoe or the one at seacanoe.net. I say this despite having taken the cheaper trip since I got the impression that the costlier tours spend more time in the caves and doing the sea kayak thing. This apart I learn that John Gray's happen to be a highly environmentally aware tour company and are extremely responsible in the way they operate their tours. The rest of the tour remains consistent across most tour companies. If you're lucky enough you'll get some glimpses of the wildlife around the bay in form of long tailed macaques and sea eagles, bramhanny kites, etc. I'd give this tour a 6/10 simply because I didnt get to do much kayaking through the hong ecosystem.
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