Year 2- 21st November 2025 – Visiting the Islands - Phuket-Thailand

We woke to another wet and grey morning but the buoy held. There were tourists already on the beach at 07.30am in the rain. It is such a shame and rain is forecast for about another week. We all gradually got up and I made banana pancakes for breakfast which we had with papaya and yoghurt and honey.  Delicious.

We discussed what to do and as we had been ashore here we decided to move on to Koh Phi Phi Don– described as the third most attractive island in the world. We got ready in the rain and slipped the buoy without any issue this time and motored round the Southwest side of the island and in between a number of small islands near it. This island is nicknamed Chicken Island as on its Southwest side is a stack which looks like a chicken’s head. We saw this but thought it looked more like a duck or goose.

The wind was right behind us on our course and only 4-6 kts so we motored as we had also to charge the batteries. We were heading about Southwest and we passed a number of islands on the way where there was the odd passenger boat. There seems to be a number of trips which takes them to various islands to view, swim or snorkel that. The rain was not heavy but persistent and consistent.

We motored on and the outline of Koh Phi Phi began to enlarge and we could see one of its peaks in the cloud. This is a very touristy island and you need to be careful in various anchorages of the local and passenger boats.

The Phi Phi Islands are an island group in Thailand located in the Andaman Sea between the large island of Phuket and the Straits of Malacca coast of Krabi Province The islands are administratively part of Krabi Province. Ko Phi Phi Don (which is where we are headed) is the largest and most populated island of the group, although the beaches of the second largest island, Ko Phi Phi Le are visited by many people as well. The rest of the islands in the group, including Bida Nok, Bida Nai, and Ko Mai Phai, are not much more than large limestone rocks jutting out of the sea. The islands are reachable by ferries, speedboats or long-tail boats, most often from Krabi town or from ports in Phuket Province.

Phi Phi Don was initially populated by Thai Malay fishermen during the late-1940s, and later became a coconut plantation. The resident Thai population of Phi Phi Don remains more than 80 percent Muslim. The current population however—if counting transient workers—is more Buddhist than Muslim. The resident population is between 2,000 and 3,000 people (2018).  

The islands came to worldwide prominence when Ko Phi Phi Le was used as a location for the 2000 British-American film The Beach. This attracted criticism, with claims that the film company had damaged the island's environment—the producers supposedly bulldozed beach areas and planted palm trees to make it better resemble descriptions in the book, an accusation the filmmakers contest. An increase in tourism was attributed to the film's release, which resulted in increased environmental degradation. Phi Phi Le is home to the "Viking Cave", where there is a thriving industry harvesting edible bird's nests.

Ko Phi Phi was devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, when nearly all of the island's infrastructure was destroyed. There are are six islands in the group known as Phi Phi. They lie 46 kilometres (29 miles) southeast of Phuket and are part of Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park. The national park covers an area of 242,437 rai (38,789.9 ha; 95,852 acres).  which is home to an abundance of corals and marine life. There are limestone mountains with cliffs, caves, and long white sandy beaches.

Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Le are the largest and best-known islands. Phi Phi Don is 10.27 square kilometres (3.97 square miles): 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) in length and 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) wide. Phi Phi Le is 1.27 square kilometres (0.49 square miles). In total, the islands occupy 12.06 square kilometres (4.66 square miles). The islands feature beaches and clear water, and the natural environment is protected by national park status. At the beginning of the year 1992, the government began imposing a 5 baht fee on each visitor to the islands, in order to pay the laborers who collect and burn refuse and who also help "to provide waterway transportation and security for tourists". Since the release of the movie The Beach in 2000, which was partly filmed on Ko Phi Phi Le, tourism to the islands has exploded. Phi Phi Le's Maya Bay was closed to tourists from June 2018 until January 2022, to enable the ecosystem to recover.

Our plan was to go into a bay called Ao Lanah which is not the most picturesque but it is apparently quieter than many others and has the best snorkelling right behind the moorings or anchorage. It should also other some shelter from the Northeast. There was a bit of a swell on our passage across to Koh Phi Phi Don but we continued toward it and could see lots of fishing boats and longboats darting about with their loud engines and the odd puff of smoke as they accelerated.

We came into the bay and there was a ferry pier and some commercial boats and then at the far end was a white sandy beach and in between quite a lot of fishing and other local boats round. I hope we would find another good mooring buoy but there was no yellow buoys. They were red buoys but they were taken up by the fishing and local boats. In fact unless you anchored in deep water some way out all the good space had been taken up by the mooring and the locals, which is what is gradually happening to many anchorages. We made a few attempts to anchor but eventually we tucked in to the Eastern side of the bay and anchored. The rain was still coming down and we had prawns with butter and garlic and bread for lunch which made us forget the rain for 20 minutes.

There was some swell which came into the bay and we watched the locals going about their daily business. We had a rest and had planned to take the dinghy and go over to the snorkelling area where we had seen the local boats drop people into the water. However, with the rain and swell we decided against this and from our forecasts it looked like tomorrow morning may be drier. We therefore read and chilled although Ruth went for a swim but found the swell a little tricky.

We decided to have another film night so we had the remainder of the Spaghetti Bolognaise which was very good and had benefitted from a day’s stewing.

We therefore watched the classic of The Outlaw Joey Wales which most enjoyed. We hope tomorrow brings drier weather.  

The picture of the day is a picture of the bay in the grey where we anchored. We do not think at present that this is the third most attractive island in the world.

 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