After adventuring inland, we headed to Thailand’s islands for some beach time, a festival, diving, and a sailing adventure!
Our first island was Phuket (ภูเก็ต) where we enjoyed lounging at by the gorgeous pool (and the water slide to the lower pool)! We went back in time at the Dino Park Mini Golf with the most amazing dinosaurs everywhere. The animatronics and sounds were amazing and they moved and roared and were delightful! We enjoyed the beach too as our hotel, the Diamond Cottage Resort & Spa, was located between Karon beach (หาดกะรน) and Kata beach (หาดกะตะ) on the west coast of the island. The sunsets were delightful and we enjoyed Thai street food from the walking market and Greek food at El Greco! The beach promenades were nice for running and in the evenings, the sunsets were stunning! We enjoyed the water, happy hours, and amazing wall art!!!
Our official 20th wedding anniversary was in Phuket (though our celebrations began in Chiang Mai). Phuket has a Russian influence including Russian restaurants (menus were often in Thai, Russian, then English)! We were entirely delighted by this because our favorite cake is the Russian Honey Cake by the glorious Smitten Kitchen. So on our Anniversary (and early, just to test it out first…) we very much enjoyed our dinner at Checkoff where we ended our celebration with delicious and gorgeous Russian Honey cake!!
We took some time to enjoy the stunning blue water in Phuket and went scuba diving with Phuket Dive Tours. We did a refresher 3-dive trip at Ko Racha Noi (เกาะราชาน้อย) and Ko Racha Yai (เกาะราชาใหญ่). Two days later, we did the Ko Phi Phi (หมู่เกาะพีพี) 3-dive trip. The Thailand scuba diving was so spectacular! We had the best trip, with another lovely couple from France and the best guide, Kan. The diving photos are courtesy of the other divers, so thank you!
Our final Phuket adventure was celebrating Loy Krathong (ลอยกระทง) at Karon Park (สวนสาธารณะ กะรน). Loy Krathong is a Thai festival thanking the Water and River Goddess, Phra Mae Khongkha (พระแม่คงคา). We joined in by buying a beautiful float, lighting the candles, and floating it in the lake. It was delightful and special!
We then headed to islands on the other side of Thailand… off to Ko Chang (ตำบล เกาะช้าง). We took a flight to Trat (ตราด) and then a ferry to Ko Chang. We relaxed for a few days at the Coconut Beach Resort (โคโคนัท บีช รีสอร์ท แอนด์สปา) before buying provisions and heading via songthaew (สองแถว) to sail a catamaran.
We rented our catamaran from Island Spirit Yacht Charter on Ko Chang. We motor sailed to Ko Wai (เกาะหวาย) and spent a beautiful night on anchor. From there, we then motor sailed to Ko Rang (เกาะรัง) and Ko Yak Yai (เกาะยักษ์ใหญ่) where we enjoyed snorkeling in gorgeous clear water with beautiful fish, coral, and sunken Thai statues. It’s amazing to snorkel directly from your rented sailboat!
In the afternoon, we motored over to Ko Mak (เกาะหมาก) and on the way had an unfortunate event where one of the motors overheated. We anchored in Ko Mak, but were there for a few days as the engine untimely seized. We had checked for water coolant exiting, but didn’t catch the overheating early. Ultimatly, there was a major leak with the internal engine coolant (very hard to detect until it overheats). As a result, we spent a few days at Ko Mak, and it was such a great island. We ran all over the island for exercise, enjoyed Island Gelato, played at the Koh Mak Disc Golf course, found some friendly dogs and delicious coffee at By The Sea, and enjoyed breakfast at the Ball Cafe. We stayed a few days and then were able to switch out boats and were off on our way again (and the charter was so very nice about the entire situation).
We sailed on to Ko Kut/Koh Kood (เกาะกูด) and anchored around the corner from Captain Hook Resort. It was our one day of nice wind during mostly light winds (hence the motor sailing and photos with calm water). We sailed further south to the Ko Kut Khlonghin Beach (คลองหินบีชเกาะกูด รีสอร์ท) and anchored there. Then we made our way back up to Ko Mak, Ko Wai, and finally motored back to the Island Spirit Yacht Charter base in stormy weather with too much wind (25+ knots into the wind… so no sails!). It was an adventurous 10 days with limited sailing…. though the sunsets and beaches were amazing and we were often the only boat at anchor!
Thanks for making it to the end! As your reward, here are some short videos including a beautiful sunset with the catamaran as well as a zebra (leopard) shark and some turtle moments while diving in Phi Phi (courtesy of fellow divers). Gazing into the eyes of a turtle for a few moments is a lovely experience. Enjoy!