The southwest of Thailand – massage, sandy beaches, corals and lots of islands

Finally in Langkawi our first guests came on board our newly renovated boat. Aunt Maria from Stuttgart, Anja from Southern Tyrol and Bigi & Wolfi from Vienna. Although Langkawi is a very nice island above water we start towards Thailand after only two days. Our crew is very interested in marine biology and snorkeling and therefore wants to be able to see something under water. Around Langkawi the water is greyish-green and you are only able to see app. 50 cm - it's because lots of particles and plankton organisms float in the water.
First we sail towards Koh Lipe. It is a small island but with lots of tourism, dive shops, souvenir booths, restaurants and good to shop for cloth and to get a massage. Since it is also an immigration point for Thailand we officially check in and join the fray. Our crew straightaway “besieges” a massage saloon and has a great time. Although the atmosphere is pretty relaxed we decide to sail to the west side of Koh Adang onto a mooring buoy. There you can find shallow coral reefs, a small river delta with lots of birds, like many kinds of kingfisher, and enough beach for everybody. We do a check dive with Bigi and Wolfi and during a snorkel trip with Anja in the morning they even can observe a seasnake.

Jabang Channel between the islands is a sensational snorkel and dive place. The best is to start down at the sandy bottom at one of the concrete blocks of the moorings which are full of different Bryozoans. There alone a biologist could spend hours looking at everything. Once you dive to the shallower parts you will see a fantasy land made out of lots of soft corals of the genus Dendronephtya. Every square centimeter is grown over and you swim through beautiful and colorful soft coral gardens. Unfortunately the current usually is very strong but you can hold onto ropes while coming up from a dive or snorkeling. Since we really like the island here in the south we decide to stay a little longer before heading north and even encounter a sea turtle during one of our dives.

On our way we stop over at a few islands like for example Koh Petra, which has a spectacular  steep coast, or Koh Lai Lang, an inside tip to camp and to go climbing. Also our two sea kayaks get used very often to get around the islands. Furthermore we decide to take a look at the world famous “Maya bay” on Koh Phi Phi Don (the movie “The Beach” with Leonardo di Caprio was shot there), although we can not recommend it since there are so many tourists going there every day. But with the sailing boat you have the advantage to come and leave whenever you want. So we get a buoy in the evening when all the tourists have gone and you finally can see the beach again. Anja, Bigi and Wolfi take advantage of the early morning hours to explore the bay with the sea kayaks before  the stream of tourists starts coming again.

We make a short detour to take a dive at a famous dive spot close to Phuket. It's called Shark Point with lots of current but therefor many huge gorgonian fans, lots of red and white stripped shrimp (Stenopus hispidus) and morays sitting in their holes. For the first time we also see a baby moray, only about 30 cm long and as thick as a finger. We definitely want to go diving there again!
We finish our two week trip in Krabi with a sundowner drink and lots of nice memories.