An exciting activity which we looked up beforehand was of a kayak/canoe tour in Bahía de Phang Nga Bay. We did some research and decided on John Gray Sea Canoe who had been operating for some time. They have several tours available and decided to go with the Hong By Starlight tour which costs 2950 THB1 each. Our pick up was 35 minutes late arriving at our hotel at around 11.15 AM. We were the first ones and the driver picked up 2 more groups before heading to the pier. We got there at around 12.15 PM and were given tickets to get on another bus which took us a couple of minutes down the pier to the boat. We then boarded and were handed life jackets to put on. The whole thing was somewhat unorganized and we weren’t always sure who to follow. Once the boat pulled off the pier, the guide gave his welcome talk and went over the schedule.
It took about an hour to reach the first cave (Bat Cave) and this travel time was used for lunch. It was one of the best buffet-style lunches I’ve had included in a tour. Before arriving at the cave, we had to pick a name out of a hat to see who would be our guide. We got ‘Term’ and as our designated guide, he would do all the rowing throughout. Once at Bat Cave, the guides unloaded the canoes and we had to look for Term who helped us onto the canoe. It was 2 people max or 2 adults and a child (plus the guide) per sea canoe. We made it out of the boat first and Term took us into the cave. The cave was a little smelly and Term said it was from the smell of the mud. We soon had no more sunlight and it was pitch black. Term turned on his flashlight and pointed it at the ceiling for us to spot the bats. There were hundreds of them. He handed me the flashlight so that I could have a look around. We soon made it out of the cave and emerged into the lagoon. It was beautiful and looked a lot like the scenery from the movie Skull Island. There were tall peaks all around filled with vegetation.
We continued to another lagoon and the tide here was quite low and we could see some ‘mud islands’. Term pointed out some fish that were jumping through the mud which looked like tadpoles. They had the appearance of an early evolutionary species. Being the first ones at this lagoon, we took several pictures before everyone else came. We couldn’t stay long since the tide was getting lower which would mean there would soon be no water to canoe out of the cave. When we got out of the cave, Term took as along the shore and there were many stalactites. We then reached another cave that took us to a lagoon which looked similar to the previous one but here we managed to see monkeys. They were digging into the mud looking for worms to eat. We stayed for a bit and then had to head out as the tide was getting lower.
Once back on the boat, they served tea/coffee with some banana cupcakes and watermelon. It was about 30 minutes to the next stop and during this time, we were taught how to make a Kratong. This was similar to the lanterns that are lit and released into the sky. But the Kratongs are made from a section of a banana trunk, lit, and sent to float in the water. It was a fun activity and nice to learn about some of the Thai traditions. Once we were done, they stored the Kratongs to show us how to release them later that evening. When we got to the next stop, we were given 40 minutes of free time to go for a swim or take the canoes out. We chose to take the canoes to a nearby shore and walked around for a bit. The guides went to another shore and when we got there, they were digging up clams. We rowed back to the boat and saw they had lined 4-5 canoes for people to attempt to run across them. Many failed but some were successful.
At around 3 PM we made our way to Hong Island since the tide was now high enough. We hopped on the canoe with Term and he took us around the island. We then made it to the cave and this one was much narrower. We only made it to the first lagoon as the tide was too low to go to the next lagoon. When we headed back out, Term took us into another lagoon and told us to look up and at the outline of the trees. It formed the shape of an elephant’s head. After this, we headed back to the boat.
Next, we headed back to Bat Cave to watch the sunset. Once the sun had set but wasn’t completely dark, we set out on the canoes again with the Kratong we made earlier. We went into the cave until it was pitch black. Term then lit the candles on the Kratong and told us to make a wish. He then told us to release the Kratong into the water for our wish to come true. We let it float for a bit and then turned it off. Then when it was pitch black again, he taught us how to reveal the plankton. When you splash the water, the plankton emits light. As you splash you see hundreds of little dots of light. It’s a wonderful experience and unfortunately, it cannot be captured on a GoPro (I tried). We then headed out of the cave and back on the boat. It was now home time and took about 1 hour 30 minutes to get back to the pier. From the pier, we were put back on the buses and it took about an hour to reach our hotel.
