Islands
From a few minutes
by speedboat to a day's sailing away, Phuket is surrounded
by so many tropical islands, of such outstanding natural beauty,
that literally weeks can be spent  exploring.
At the far north of Phuket's cruising
grounds lie the nine islands of the Similans - noted for their
magnificent dive sites - to the south, the brooding intensity
of Taratao - a prison colony during World War II and now part
of the fifty-one island Taratao National Park - and in between
dozens of isles offering pristine beaches, spectacular scenery
and a peace and serenity unique to the Andaman.
Perhaps the most popular - and
populace - of the islands off Phuket are the twins, Phi Phi Don
and Phi Phi Ley. The latter of these was the stage for the recent
Hollywood movie - The Beach, while the former has become a busy
tourist destination, offering a range of accommodation and watersport
activities. 20km southeast of Phuket, the Phi Phi islands also
afford visitors  some
excellent diving and snorkelling opportunities - the nearby islets
of Bida Ley and Bida Nok of particular note.
The sheltered waters of Phangnga
Bay have their own gifts of nature peculiar to this region
alone. Scattered around the bay, craggy, hollow limestone escarpments
thrust up from the sea like primordial fortresses. Caves, cut
through the friable rock by salt water and usually only accessible
at certain times of the tide, allow access to remarkable microcosms
of nature. These lost worlds are havens for rare forms of flora
and fauna and are also home to the swftlets whose nests are considered
great delicacies by the Chinese.
It was in this region that part
of the James Bond movie, The Man with the Golden Gun, was
filmed, and the gravity defying Raya Ring Island is now one of
the bay's busiest tourist sites.
Best explored by yacht, charters
and day cruises around Phangnga Bay are readily available
from Phuket, while ferry services and dive trips run to Phi Phi
daily. If time is of the essence, high speed motor launches can
be hired from several locations around the island.
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Raya Yai |
Raya Noi |
Similan |
Phi Phi |
Coral |
Rang Yai |
Maiton |
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