Firefly - Spectacular scenery in Phang Nga Bay

Today is Friday 4th March and Firefly is en route to Yacht Haven Marina on the north east of Phuket. Some land travel on the mainland north of Phuket to visit the jungle of the Ko Sok National Park is planned.



We have just spent several days amid the splendour of the fantastic limestone islands in Phang Nga Bay. Although Phuket is an island, the north is close to the mainland and there is a bridge with an air gap of about 12 metres. Yachts can't get through that way so we had worked our way back down the west coast and around the south stopping at Freedom Bay and Nui Bay on the way. As well as being scenic and calm, Nui was memorable as it is home to the twice 'Fly Boarding' world champion. There is a small beach club there that provides lessons in this somewhat bizarre sport and we had a grandstand position for spectating.



A large pipe is connected to a jetski and that feeds pressurised water to the fly board. The board looks like a skateboard but instead of the 'trucks' (2 sets of wheels), there are 2 jets. The rider stands on the board, the jetski stays quite close to the rider, the pipe is may 30 metres long, the jetski drivers revs the engine and sends power to the board. The fly boarder then comes out of the water. The beginners tended to go all over the place at first but within 20 minutes they generally stabilised and would hover a metre or so above the surface. The world champion, who did several demos hovered as high as the pipe would allow and did numerous somersaults as well as intentional dolphin like dives in and back out of the water.



The sail from Nui to Ko Yao Yai an long island east of Phuket was a mixed bag with a squall appearing just after the sails went up that gave us up to 30 knots to beat into. The wind did not drop much after that and although the southern bay we spent the night in was very sheltered, the 'catabatic' down draughts coming from the tall mountains were really strong and going from 40 knots to zero over a short space of time - Firefly was swinging wildly all night. Still fairly windy over the next two day we sailed further north with another night on Yai and then anchored on the east side of Ko Phannak, the first of the 'jaw droppingly' beautiful limestone islands in the Ao Phang Nga National Park.



As well as being high, the highest peak being 468 metres, the island's cliffs have been undercut with the action of the sea and there are numerous caves, plus stalagmites and stalagtites just above sea level. Some of the islands also have 'hongs' - the Thai word for room. Hongs have been formed when the roof of an underground cave has collapsed, leaving a hollow open to the sky. There are several hongs that can be reached from the sea via a cave. The first one we visited was on Ko Phallak. Finding the entrance was easy as there were several tour boats anchored outside with their clients aboard inflatable sea canoes, the ideal craft for entering hongs. We followed them in through a long dark tunnel, rowing our dinghy. At the entrance to the hong the gap in the cave was too small for our boat to fit through as the tide was high. The only option was to leave the dinghy and swim through.



Inside the hong was full of sea water but relatively shallow with a silty muddy bottom. Circular with a diameter of about 50 meters it had sensationally high sheer sides and a huge variety of vegetation clinging onto them. By the time we entered one lot of sea canoes had already left and for 10 minutes we had the place to ourselves, swimming through the hong and continuing on via a narrow passage into another beautiful hollow. Near the shore were a group of monkeys and there were various birds and butterflies at a low level and birds of prey soaring way above. The next lot of kayakers came in and disturbed the peace, somewhat surprised to sea swimmers in the hong. We made our way back to Firefly, motoring along in the dinghy under the undercut below the cliffs in the shade with a plan to come back just before sunset when the tourists would all be gone.



Several other yachts appeared as the day went on and once the tide had dropped enough we managed to row into the hong along with crews from the other boats. These fragile eco systems are actually cherished here and running the dinghy engine inside the hong is strictly forbidden. We sat in the dinghy and drank a beer while we appreciated the unique surroundings. On the way back through the cave we saw huge amounts of bats hanging from the roof, clearly we were disturbing them as many flew off, tweeting loudly when we shone our torch up to look at them.



From Koh Phannak we moved onto Koh Pan Yi, a muslim village built mainly on stilts, right next to a steep pinnacle of limestone. The village is part way up the river towards the town of Phang Nga and with a great wind on the beam we stormed up under full sail, the local boatmen looking somewhat surprised to see us. Lunch there was followed by an intriguing walk through the village, seeing the incredibly clean mosque and the floating football pitch that was somewhat neglected and on the way back we viewed some 'neolithic cave paintings on the roof of a cave at the bottom of a sheer cliff. Back down the river we anchored for the night not far from the tallest peak on Koh Raya Ring and surrounded by other sheer sided islands. By 1630 all the tour boats have gone and although they are less intrusive here, it does become very peaceful.



Our friends Denise and Peter from Reverie had already visited this area and had given us an e mail titled 'honging'. It gave us an itinerary for our final day in Phang Nga and we spent time looking in various caves, viewing stalagmites and stalagtites and huge colonies of bats. We finished with a visit to Koh Hong - as it has the actual name, was this the island with the best hong? Having anchored Firefly nearby at about 1700 it was already getting quiet and as we tried to row through the cave the last sea canoes were leaving. The dinghy would not fit so again we resorted to swimming, carefully so as not to kick any of the very sharp rocks. No one else came in and we floated in the 2 adjoining chambers of the hong, a little smaller than Phannak but with even more vegetation spilling out from the sheer sides - total bliss, so good in fact that we could not help humming Louis Armstrong's Wonderful world! To round the day off we saw a Hornbill float across the sky as we were heading back to Firefly.



Paul and Susie