Islands of Krabi province – Part 2

There’s an unofficial hierarchy when it comes to island hopping tours in Krabi. First you do the ‘4 Islands’, followed by the Phi Phi Islands. Then if you still have time, throw in the Hong Islands or ‘5 Islands’ tour. I wonder if there’s a subtext in the tourist information: stay long enough and get rewarded with what is possibly the loveliest of all the island tours.

We returned to Barracuda Tours to cruise the ‘5 Islands’ by longtail boat. First stop, Koh Deng, is a rocky red outcrop where Roo snorkelled and Tash fed green, black and white striped fish from the prow of the boat, sitting with our otherwise purely decorative guide Em.

Next up was Pakbia Island where we had a swim and collected huge shells to decorate the sandcastle built by Canadian twins Roya and Yasmin, whom Tash had befriended on the boat. The twins’ parents Christina and Nadim were taking the girls on a year-long world tour. Watching them made me realise how much easier it is travelling: a) with two children; b) with eight-year-olds. I can’t remember the last time I got to read on the beach!

We stopped for lunch on Lading Island at a small idyllic bay called Paradise Beach where five Thai police were stationed to protect the resident swallows’ nests (a kilo of which fetches 100,000 baht on the export market). These were the most laid-back Thai cops I’ve ever met, which is not surprising as this must be the cushiest police posting in all of Thailand. There was just enough infrastructure on the island – rough-hewn wooden tables, benches and a huge swing – to indulge in the three most important traditional pastimes: eating, sleeping and sanuk (having fun).

Then it was on to the main attraction, Hong Island. Hong meaning ‘room’ in Thai refers to the lagoon in the middle of the island, accessible only at high tide through a narrow chasm. Inside the hong, surrounded on all sides by limestone cliffs, it felt like being let in on a wonderful secret.

To one side of the same island was an exquisite beach: soft white sand, aqua water (‘aqua’ in Thai is si far talay, literally ’sea-blue colour’), limestone outcrops and tropical fish to gaze upon – with or without a snorkelling mask. Tash found a ‘baby pool’ in a cleft among the rocks and Roo and I took turns at swimming with her and with the fish.

Apparently there is an walk that shows how far a boat was tossed inland by the December 2004 tsunami, but we were too enchanted by the beach to drag ourselves off to see it. And true to form, we were having too much fun to take photos – although there is a good one of the beach at Hong Island on Christina and Nadim’s travel blog.

Tash slept wrapped in a towel on my lap during the ride back to Ao Nang. It’s hard to know at times if she really enjoys what we plan for her, or whether she feels obliged to enjoy it because of our enthusiasm. So it was a great moment, as we got off the boat, to have her come out unprompted with, ‘That was fun!’

[As I write this, almost three months to the day since we took the 5 Islands Tour of Krabi, a State of Emergency has been declared in Thailand and parts of Bangkok are on fire. Krabi is a long way from Bangkok, but concerned travellers can check the Paknam Web Thailand Forum Q&A site for updated information on the security situation].

Tags: 5 Islands Tour, Andaman Coast, blogsherpa, Hong Island, Krabi province, Thailand