Traveling in Thailand

Here’s the rundown on our sailing trip off Phuket. We just got back last night, I’m a little sunburned and, I have to admit, more than a little sad to be back on dry land. Our trip was fantastic. Spectacular. Wonderful. Fun. Actually, there really aren’t enough words to describe how great it was, so I’ll just leave it at that and let you decide once you’ve seen the photos and read about it.

Though I like sailing, and have been out on plenty of ferries, speed boats and longtail boats in Thailand, I had never done any sailing here before this week and never slept on a boat. Fortunately, one of J’s good friends was visiting Thailand with his wife and really wanted to get a boat, so he rented one for a couple of days and invited us along. All we had to do was show up at the marina with provisions. How lucky is that?

Our boat and crew

The boat had three cabins, two bathrooms, and a fully equipped galley (plenty of space for two couples and one skipper). It was just a few months old and was very well-fitted. J’s friend, also J, is an experienced sailor, but the yachting company he rented the boat from put him through a serious vetting process to decide whether they were comfortable handing over their $170,000 boat. In the end, everyone agreed that having a skipper was better. That way, we could do as little or as much as we wanted to, and Khun Yip, our skipper, was able to give us great advice about where to go since he knew the islands we were touring very well.

Day 1

The marina is on the northeast part of Phuket at the mouth of the canal that separates Phuket from the mainland and feeds into Phang Nga Bay.  We left just after noon on the first day and sailed south before hitting a little storm. We made it to Ko Yao Yai (Yao Yai Island) and, by the time the storm passed, were able to take a swim, relax, then head onto the island to explore a little. We moored there for the night.

Day 2

In the morning we headed for Ko Phi Phi. Our first stop was Ao Ling (Monkey Bay) where we got to feed some monkeys and do some excellent snorkeling. There are lots of beautiful tropical fish and some nice coral just to the left of the beach.

From there, we motored to Ao Tonsai for a late lunch and some exploring of the little village. Our last stop for the day was at Ao Maya, the gorgeous beach from the movie The Beach. We moored there, enjoyed the sunset and then it started to pour! The only lights we could see where a single light on the beach and the anchor lights of other boats, so the lightening was spectacular. Nice company and cold beer made it fun.

Day 3

We woke early and headed out to make our way back to the marina. We had a little communication problem (we didn’t tell our skipper that we had a flight to catch!) and so, once we realized we’d miss the flight (more on how we dealt with that later), decided we might as well get one last stop in so we moored at one of the smaller islands in the Phang Nga National Marine Park, swam a little, then headed back on the boat.

How much did it cost?

Rental: 500 Euros per day (24 hours, fuel included) plus 100 Euros per day for the skipper. At today’s exchange rate that’s about $800 for both.

Provisions: Around $100 (would have been substantially less but for the group’s thirst for beer).

Meals: Around $25 for a snack on Ko Yao Yai, lunch on Phi Phi at Tonsai Bay and some meals for our skipper.

Gratuity: $100 for our skipper

Total cost:  $1,835
Per person cost: $456.25

Expensive?

I did these calculations based on four people, but our boat could have easily slept six if every couple wanted a cabin and eight if two people didn’t have a cabin (I slept on deck anyway so would have been fine without one). For eight people, the cost goes down to $227 per person or $114 per person per day and if you come during low season (May – November) cut about 20% off of that. If you’re on a backpacker budget, it’s definitely too expensive, but if you’re visiting Phuket on vacation you could easily spend more than that on hotels, food and excursions. If you plan it right and have a group it can be a bargain, and a once -in-a-lifetime experience.

How to do it?

Our boat came from Elite Yachting, and I’ve listed other information about the different marinas and charter agencies in Phuket in Moon Thailand. There are many sailboats available for charters in Phuket. During mid and low-season, you won’t need to make a reservation weeks in advance, but during high-season you may not find the exact boat you’re looking for unless you start planning early.
If you want to sail yourself, you’ll need to prove that you are an experienced, licensed sailor. Be prepared to send copies of old rental agreements, your boat’s registration, etc. (this is what did J in, as he works abroad and didn’t have his documents with him).
If you are sailing yourself, many of the yachts are quite high tech and come with rollerfurling mainsails, autopilot, GPS plotters, solar panels, etc.

Provisions

We went to the Villa supermarket in Bangkok the night before we left, packed up our provisions in a checked bag and supplemented them with the supplies at the little shops at the marina. Yacht Haven Marina is only 15 minutes from the airport but you won’t pass any big markets on the way, and if you’re looking for foods that aren’t Thai, you won’t find them enroute. The marina sells limited provisions including fresh fruits and vegetables.

Advice

I’m not sure if it’s just me being sad that it’s all over, but I would really advise adding another day and doing a full three days. Because Phi Phi is so far, we had to spend a fair amount of time motoring and didn’t get to see as many of the beautiful islands in the bay as I would have liked. I’ve visited a lot of them already but think that our hosts would have loved them.
Unless you are a passionate sailor, hire a skipper. In the end, we were all very happy to have Khun Yip. Aside from his expertise and knowledge, he was a really nice guy and we enjoyed talking to him. Plus we didn’t have to worry about anything with him there.

Anything to worry about?

Sailing looks glamorous but it’s not all about lounging on the deck. ☺

Part of the fun for us was when we got to pitch in and do a little work once in a while and, since you’re not always mooring near islands where there are restaurants, someone needs to cook (my small contribution). It’s also not that easy to do anything but look at the scenery when the boat is keeling. I love that feeling but it might not be for everyone.

Seasickness hit all of us but no one got really sick or was very uncomfortable. Some folks took Dramamine on the second day, and others just avoided being below deck as much as possible.

Tags: andaman, bangkok, hotels, island hopping, market, phang nga bay, photos, phuket, sailing

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 10:27 pm and is filed under Phuket Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.