Today I woke up feeling completely better, and ready to go on our private island-hopping tour. I booked the tour with Andaman Camp and Cruise (with a lady named Elizabeth, who is an expat from Australia). We were scheduled to see Koh Hong, and the four islands (which are Red Island [Koh Daeng], Koh Tup, Chicken Island, and Turtle Island).
Andaman Camp and Cruise – long boat tours of the islands in Krabi Thailand
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Elizabeth picked us up in the lobby of Aonang Phu Petra around 10:30, and we headed to the pier so that we could get on the boat. Unfortunately, she said that she wouldn’t be joining us since I had booked the sunset tour. Had I known that, I would have only done the day tour. She has a young son, and he doesn’t like it when she is gone that long. As such, we had a different tour guide, but she was very knowledgeable and friendly.
We started off by heading to Koh Hong, which is one of the few islands that actually has a substantially sized beach. It was really quite beautiful, but unfortunately, it was pretty crowded, which made taking photos quite difficult. I hope that some of them still turned out decently though. After being on the beach there for a little bit, we went around to the other side of the island, which is a lagoon. It was stunning, and the water colour was somewhere between teal and turquoise. The rock formations around the lagoon, and the mangroves growing in it made it a landscape that isn’t found in many places in the world.
The beach area at Koh Hong, Ao Nang, Krabi Thailand
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A mangrove jutting up out of the lagoon at Koh Hong
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When we left the Koh Hong lagoon, we went to Red Island (Koh Daeng). The island is appropriately named as it is one of the few with red rocks. There were some fishermen in a boat right off the shore, and our tour guide indicated that they were actually catching squid. During our stop there, we took some white bread and threw it off the side of the boat in little hunks. The sheer amount of fish that shot up to the surface to get the bread was remarkable. I tried getting some photos, but even at 1/4000, they were too fast for the shots!
Koh Daeng – Red Island – Ao Nang, Krabi Thailand
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The fish off Red Island, swarming to gobble up the bread we threw to them
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We finished off the island tour with Koh Tup, Turtle Island, and Chicken Island. To me, these islands weren’t really all that remarkable, but they were still worth seeing. Our guide took a funny picture where it looks like Deb is petting the top of the chicken’s head on Chicken Island (and no, there aren’t any chickens running around; the rock formation just looks like the head of a chicken). We got off the boat at Koh Tup, and there were some really interesting rock formations along the beach. On those rocks were tons of crabs of all shapes and sizes. They were moving really quickly, but I was able to get a couple photos of them. We finished off the evening with some BBQ on the beach, and the trip back to Ao Nang.
Colourful crab meandering around the rocks at Koh Tup
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On the way back to the hotel, we had ice cream at the Häagen Dasz store. I found it to be incredibly overpriced, and really not all that great considering the alternatives in the area. We then stopped by this road that’s an offshoot from the main strip (just north of Tandoori Nights restaurant). At the entrance to it, there’s a big sign that says “RCA.” It’s basically the somewhat sleezy bar district of Ao Nang, and apparently the place to visit is Amy’s 69 Bar. We stopped in for a couple drinks, and I quickly realised that “Amy” is actually a ladyboy. That being said, the environment was fun, but too wild for me.
Amy’s 69 Bar – Ao Nang – Thailand
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We quickly stopped off at The Diver’s Inn, and had a glass of wine (which is VERY difficult to come by in Thailand). The wine was pretty good (especially for the price, considering it’s generally incredibly expensive in Thailand), so I made a mental note to come back tomorrow night for some drinks.
