Phuket Seacanoe Adventure

The Seacanoe Experience

Phang Nga Bay is an image of beauty, with hundreds of small islands with sheer cliff faces standing in the still waters. Some of the islands contain open air caves, accessible to small boats during the right tidal periods. Depending on the tide, the caves can be as easy to enter as just paddling in and as difficult as laying flat in the boat with the roof of the cave mere centimetres above your nose.

We chose Seacanoe because of their reputation for quality and eco-sensitivity and we were not disappointed.

We left the boat lagoon early on a beautiful morning. Cruising northeast from the Phuket boat lagoon, we entered Phang Nga bay in about half an hour. About 16 of us, tourists from Australia, Germany, the UK, Canada and the U.S., absorbed the amazing sights, supported by Seacanoe's all Thai crew. The Thai people are famous for their friendliness and hospitality, and our new friends were no exception. Throughout the trip they mingled with us and engaged us in conversation as if we were all old friends. And by the end of the trip, of course, it was like we were.

Sitting on the bow of the boat, we watched the strange and beautiful islands grow in the distance, until we were anchored near their sheer cliffs, the crew dropping the canoes into the water. By this time we had been assigned our guides for the day; Jayne and I had Kiaw and Sarah had Nu.

Inside these islands there is a completely different world. Once the islands were separated from the mainland, all the plants and animals that were there were now stranded. Many new species of plantlife and animals have been discovered here. Although we didn't get to witness it, I was told that sometimes monkeys would come down the cliffs to eat the oysters growing on the rocks when low tide exposes them. As you can see from this picture, Nu does all the paddling and all Sarah has to do is take the pictures.