Hong Island Tour Sea Caves and Canoeing

 Hong Island Tour
Sea caves and Canoeing

After much research and advice, I choose Hong Island Tour, as we only had time for one trip during our stay in Khao Lak and we weren’t disappointed.
The main reason was the variety of places visited, from a natural inner cave with peace and tranquillity, to a stunning film backdrop on James Bond Island, seeing Thai culture on a floating village and meandering through a mangroves forest in kayaks!

Early Start!

We were warned that the collection time on the Hong Island Tour would depend on the tides, so 5am we were collected by our guide, stopped on the way at a 7/11 to grab a coffee and cake, paid for by our tour guide and arrive soon after at the pier.

Sunrise

Standing on the edge of the pier we observed the most beautiful sunrise and after this we were wide awake and ready for an adventure

Hong Island Tour

Our boat trip out on the Hong Island Tour was smooth, scenery stunning, the islands are limestone karsts, some standing like skittles which appear to ‘hover’ on the water, as the limestone is slowly being dissolved at the base. We visited a cave on the way, which one, depends on tide and sea conditions, before arriving at Hong Island. In a matter of minutes, deflated kayaks that had been on the boat roof were inflated. Two per kayak and a boat boy or guide take you under the gap (we had to lie flat at one point) between the rocks and the sea into a secret haven.  Silence and tranquillity in abundance, puncture only by the birds singing! Once out, there is a chance for you to kayak around the area on your own.

James Bond Island

The island’s Thai name is Khao Phing Kan, where a scene of “The Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed in 1974. Beautiful island, nice walk and some great photo opportunities!

 

Panyee Sea Gypsy Village

Stopped for an excellent lunch and afterwards there is a opportunity to explore the Muslim floating village which has a mosque, school, market and even a football pitch!

 

Mangrove Forest

Our last stop was a kayak guided tour around the mangrove forest, again they steered us through, round and under some very tight gaps, very exciting and pointed out several things I had not seen before.