February 13th – Day 7 – Krabi to Phuket

An early start (7am) as we not only had to use the boat and then a coach to get to where our cars were parked, but we had to be just outside Phuket for 11am to catch a boat to see Nail Island, made famous in the James Bond film, The Man with Golden Gun.

We all congregated on the beach with our luggage as the resort staff worked like Trojans to carry bags onto the boats and then, after we arrived in Krabi, onto the coaches.

Waiting for the boats to take us back to the mainland.

At the car park we said our goodbyes to Mandy Smith and Maureen in Car 24, who will be flying out from Bangkok early on Monday morning. Her husband, Richard and Malcolm Stanley will be carrying on from Bangkok on their own.

Richard Smith had decided to by-pass Phuket and go straight to our next stop, Chumphon, and then on to Bangkok, to arrive there a day before the tour. It’s possible we will see them for a short while in Bangkok, provided we arrive early enough.

Our drive to catch the boat was a lovely drive through rural Thailand, which included a twisting narrow mountain road. It was here that we caught up with Richard Smith, before he turned off our route.


Following Terence English, in the distance, through a small Thai town.


We arrived at the boat dock at 10.45am. The boats that take you for the three hour cruise are quite something! They have large car/truck engines which are swivel mounted so that the driver can manoeuvre the boat.


The noise they make is incredible and as they speed along a huge spray of water rises up behind the boat. At first we went through the mangrove swamps. Wonderful trees with roots, exposed by the low tide, that are a tangled mass.

We were shown a cave that went right through one of the mountains and spent a few minutes sailing from one side of the mountain to the other. Giant stalactites hung from the ceiling of the cave.


We then went out into open water and after about half an hour arrived at the ‘Bond’ island. Hundreds of tourists were on this tiny island, making it about the busiest place we have seen on the tour! We saw Nail Island which the Bond film made famous.


There was a very interesting rock structure, and I hope the photo below shows it clearly. A giant slab of rock leans over at an angle with the strata running vertically. It was very impressive.


Jeremy Stream was reading notice board explaining the geology and called me over. I took a photo of the Thai explanation, which we both found very amusing.


The journey back to the cars was broken by a lunch at a fishing village. We then headed for our hotel in Phuket, the Marriott. This was a change from the Sheraton as Phuket Island is in the middle of an industrial dispute, and several of the hotels are closed.