Thailand: the jewels of the Andaman sea

NEWS	PHOTOGALLERY

It was not my first visit to Phuket. In 2007 I had been invited to attend the King’s Cup Regatta that takes place each year in early December. Yachties like to party and the many social activities surrounding the event are centred on Kata Beach in Phuket’s touristy heartland. But when I returned to the Thailand last June I had a very different agenda in mind. This time I was visiting in low season and rather than reporting on sail boats racing off Phuket’s west coast, I would be cruising aboard a Princess 62 flybridge motoryacht off the island’s east coast in Phang Nga Bay.

It’s hard to imagine a more perfect place for boating than the Andaman Sea and Phang Nga Bay, in particular, offers year-round cruising, diving and fishing in close to ideal conditions. Protected from the southwesterly monsoons that batter the Andamen Sea from June to October, the region is sprinkled with tropical islands and sandy beaches amidst emerald green waters. Add to this formula naturally friendly people who welcome visitors, a richly diverse culture, fabulous food and reasonable prices and the attraction is virtually irresistible. Not for nothing is it widely regarded as the jewel in Thailand’s maritime crown.

My starting point was Boat Lagoon Marina, set up in 1994 as Phuket’s first marina complex and a centre for marine services with many major suppliers having taken up residence in the immediate area. The continually expanding complex is operated by the developer’s son Vrit Yongsakul, a young Thai who, like his father, was educated at Marlborough College and Oxford University (I was somewhat surprised to hear his clipped, English tones in a place where the language is widely spoken but often poorly pronounced). Vrit, who is also the local Princess dealer, introduced me to Fred Patten, the owner and captain of the Princess 62 Jasgalore VI, who would be my host on board for the next few days. With his soft, hard-to-place northern accent, Fred is a charmingly affable ex-pat in his early sixties. He is also something of a serial Princess owner (Jasgalore was his sixth and he took delivery of another 62 last August). After a successful career in the construction business he has been a Singapore resident for over 20 years and a regular visitor to Thailand for almost as long. “My heart and soul is in Southeast Asia and has been from the beginning”, he admits.

We discussed the cruise itinerary over a simple yet delicious lunch at the nearby Bang Mud floating fish restaurant, where the farmed fish and lobster is hauled out and prepared before your very eyes. It was my initiation into genuine Thai cuisine beyond the rather bland Anglicised version and the first of some truly fabulous meals. One of the joys of travelling in Thailand has to be its culinary delights that draw on neighbouring countries for their variety but invariably use fresh instead of dried herbs and spices such as chillies, turmeric, basil and coriander, as well as the typically Asian kaffir lime leaves and lemon grass. I also developed an instantaneous penchant for ice-cold Singha lager – just the ticket for the high humidity and temperatures well over 30°C.

Vrit’s impressively detailed programme – like so many best intentions – broke down on the very first morning after we slipped our moorings at high tide and exited the channel connecting Boat Lagoon Marina to the Andaman Sea. This was partly the result of a tacit understanding between Fred and myself as we were both loath to follow any rigid timetables except for those indicating the tides. But also a consequence of the nature of motor yachting in Phang Nga Bay, where you are seldom more than a couple of hours’ cruising from your next destination and can easily be distracted by the sights and secluded anchorages along the way. Indeed, much of the fascination of cruising the Bay is discovering the innumerable caves, creeks and coves for yourself and we spent four day’s criss-crossing our wake while heading where our fancy led us. Closer exploration of the coast’s nooks and crannies (and especially the hollowed out pillars of limestone known as hongs) is best done by sea kayak at low tide when you can sometimes squeeze into complex cave systems carved out of the rock by water erosion. At one point we even anchored Jasgalore inside the aptly named Koh Hong on our first day out.

Phang Nga Bay is renowned for these hongs and sheer-sided islands rising vertically out of the sea, images of which have travelled the world and helped to shape most people’s perception of southern Thailand and the boating experience to be had there. This means that in high season during the European winter these waters can be inundated with high-speed tour boats, although thankfully only during the middle of the day. Travelling in low season may bring with it the occasional tropical downpour, but also means lower prices with far fewer holidaymakers on the water and beaches and in the guesthouses and resorts.

One of our first destinations as we headed north was a “floating” community of fishermen attached to Koh Panyee (koh simply means “island” in Thai). While approaching the village we only narrowly avoided a new sandbar that had sprung up nearby – a sobering reminder that the shallow waters of Phang Nga Bay may provide plenty of safe anchorages, but also require a close eye on the water under your keel and a forward sonar can be a useful accessory. The Muslim village of Panyee, complete with its own gold-topped mosque built on piles above the water, is a popular tourist attraction and a good place to do some value-for-money souvenir shopping. Stilted dwellings in Thailand are a common sight and an indication of the natural affinity these people have with the sea. To see Thais taking to the waves in such numbers and exploiting every kind of marine resource is in strong contrast to their Burmese neighbours who are reluctant seamen. This maritime culture, combined with the country’s political stability, is certainly another factor in Thailand’s growing international popularity as a boating playground.

On the way to Panyee we had cut the engines to buy the day’s catch from a “longtail” fishing boat (named after the long prop shaft that can be lifted clean out of the water, making these boats ideal for fishing the shallow coastline). This is a daily occurrence in Thai waters and the fishermen are invariably smiling broadly as they pull alongside in anticipation of a bout of friendly bartering. Although Jasgalore has a barbecue on her fly deck, we were lucky enough to have aboard a young Boat Lagoon Marina employee named Boong, who used to work the tourist boats and knows the area like the back of her hand. A little local knowledge is a valuable thing and she quickly arranged for a local restaurant to prepare and cook the fish for us, which we consumed during a leisurely lunch on board (washed down with the inimitable Singha beer, of course). For anyone interested in chartering a yacht, it makes good sense to hire a Thai boat chef. Apart from freeing you up from having to work in a cramped galley while on holiday, it means you can enjoy Thai seafood at its freshest and finest.

Returning south we passed by Koh Phing Kan, better known as James Bond Island after famously appearing as the baddie Scaramanga’s hideout in The Man With the Golden Gun. Unsurprisingly, the island’s cameo role has made it a must-see tourist attraction and In high season it is ringed with longtails carrying tourists like so many remoras around a shark. Like all of the more popular sites in the Bay, it is best visited in the morning or late afternoon when the place is strangely deserted. Although it has a picture-postcard lagoon and stunning rock formations, it is no more impressive than many other islands that the tourist boats completely ignore and where you can find yourself in blissful isolation.

James Bond Island is not the only location in Phang Nga Bay to have appeared on the big screen. Further south at the entrance to the Bay are the Phi Phi group of islands, one of the loveliest archipelagos to be found anywhere on the planet. Maya Bay was the spectacular lagoon location on Phi Phi Le for the filming of the 1998 cult movie The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio. There was criticism at the time that permission granted to the film company to physically alter the environment inside a National Park was illegal. The controversy quickly cooled, however, when it was realised that the producers had done such a good job of restoring the place that it looked better than it had done before. Following the release of the movie, tourism on the main island of Phi Phi Don increased dramatically and with it the population, although many buildings were constructed without planning permission. These buildings were later devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, when nearly all of the island’s infrastructure was washed away. In the centre of the Phang Nga Bay lie Koh Yao Noi and Koh Yao Yai, easily the region’s largest islands after Phuket itself. The western coast of the more northerly Koh Yao Noi is the location of the Six Senses Hideaway boutique resort, one of several operated by the same chain in Thailand. If you feel like a night spent on dry land in the lap of luxury with a massage thrown in for good measure, then this place is hard to beat and has won several prestigious accolades, including Wild Asia’s Responsible Tourism Award 2008. Covering almost 24 acres of natural vegetation and tropical landscaping, visitors are housed in 54 wood-built villas with private pools. Because the villas are generously spaced for total privacy, transport around the estate is provided by staff driving electric buggies, while the Hilltop Reserve features an infinity pool with a view to die for. And to ensure that the sunset coincides perfectly with cocktails, the resort has even pushed the clock back an hour in its own version of daylight saving known as “Hideaway Time.” It’s worth keeping in mind that Six Senses and others in the region offer generous discounts during the low season. One such is the Tubkaak boutique resort on Krabi on the eastern mainland rim of the Bay, which blends so well with the natural environment that it is virtually impossible to spot from offshore and the resort manager had to come down on to the beach and wave his arms about to guide us in.

After just a few days on the water I could fully understand the attraction of this part of the world for Fred. “Look around you”, he urged as we sat sipping sundowners on the fly deck while anchored off Krabi. “Can you imagine anything more beautiful than this?” I pondered this question, but couldn’t come up with a timely answer before he went on: “I’m absolutely convinced that Thailand is set to become the next cruising destination for a large number of people”.

Justin Ratcliffe was commissioned by Princess to travel to Thailand to research this article, which first appeared in Issue 6 (Summer 2009) of Watermark, the Princess brand magazine.

Text and photos Justin Ratcliffe