Year 2- 17th November 2025 -Discovering the Islands around Phuket-Thailand

We woke to a greyish morning but it was still and quiet. The tourist boats had yet to arrive. The tide was quite high and the cave we went into to see the Hong’s was not that accessible. I knew that the tourist boats would be arriving soon and we would need to vacate the mooring. However, we also needed to make water and so I thought we would go to an island more North which would be quieter and we would be less disturbed.

We therefore upped the anchor at about 8.00am and motored around the corner and by 08.28 we were anchored off Ko Sa Kang and Ko Lang Aen which was quiet apart from the odd fisherman going about his daily business. I put the water maker on and over the next few hours I filled both tanks otherwise we were getting quite low. We had poached eggs on toast for breakfast, as Andy had  made some more bread. I did some admin and others chilled and read.

Once the tanks were full we upped anchor and headed out of the bay and went toward the James Bond Island -Koh Phing Kan a few miles away. We could not really go and anchor that close due to the depth and so we had to go through the passage between Koh Dong Yai and Koh Yang where there was an unchartered rock which many had hit, so I needed to be careful. I decided to keep to the East side and move slowly through the gap and I had my forward-looking sonar on which should alert me to any rock coming up within 70-90 m ahead of me. We eased our way through the gap and luckily we were fine and came into a bay area which was surrounded by limestone islands and cliffs and literally we had a 360-degree view of them which was quite spectacular.

We then had another great salad lunch and got the dinghy down to go and explore. Some of us had a dip but had to be wary of the tidal current running through the bay which was quite strong at times. When we were ready we headed over to the James Bond Island-Koh Phing Kan where there were lots of boats and tourists and we could see the beach which was on the Bond film and people were walking around and over it.

We were I suppose about a 1-1.5nm away from the island and we could not go direct due to the depth so we had to go in an arc before being able to head for the beach. There were lots of tourist boats around and the Thai boats with engine on stalks ferrying people to the island, which make quite a noise. We managed to get to the beach and went to the East side and we walked the dinghy up the beach. We were met by a guy who said that we needed to pay the island fee which was fine and we went to pay.

There was a large cliff rising straight up which had an under hang at the bottom and I am sure at some point that is going to collapse. Luckily it did not do so as we were there.

Once we had paid and secured the dinghy we walked up some steps off the beach which took us up and round the small island to the East side and there in front of us was the famous stack portrayed in the Bond film – The Man with the Golden Gun. It is a famous stack as it is wider at the top than the bottom – see the picture of the day. It is smaller than I remember.

There were various areas where we could see this stack at different levels. We then came to the beach area where there was a James Bond sign. People were taking lots of pictures and posing etc. There was a load of stalls at the end selling various chap paraphernalia including golden guns!! We wandered around and there were various cave areas and caverns to explore. We had a chilled coconut and enjoyed its juice and the white pulp inside. We then had a magnum ice cream which was a treat.

We enjoyed viewing the island but it is now very touristy and as we left they were now leaving although there were some sunset tours to come as there were Kayaks on the beach with sunset tours. We knew there was the risk of rain to come so we got the dinghy back into the water and headed back to Stormbird. We could see in the distance rain further North and then it went South of us and we missed the worst although we got a few splatters here and there and we were lucky.

Ruth and Andy cooked a prawn Thai curry with pineapple and pat choy with rice. It was delicious and they used some paste that Ruth had bought in the supermarket. It was a delicious curry and a great meal.

We will go further North tomorrow to explore more of the area.        

The picture of the day is an iconic picture of us on James Bond Island.

 Need/Opportunity Year Three

In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK.  I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.

The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com