Sea Kayaking Phang Nga Bay

In addition to our tour to the Phi Phi Islands, we also took a sea kayaking tour while we were in Phuket. This awesome tour took us through the cliffs, caves and lagoons of Phang Nga Bay National Marine Park.

Instead of going to the Royal Phuket Marina, this trip left from Ao Pro Pier. We were picked up by our guide Franco who drove us right up to our double-decker boat, which was pretty awesome. The kayaks were all on the bottom level of the boat (where we hopped in and out of the water) while we hung out upstairs where there was food! We didn't know it when we booked, but instead of us kayaking through the park, Jeff and I got to kick back while our guide paddled and we soaked in the sights.

It took us about an hour to get to our first drop off point. Along the way we saw some really cool limestone rock formations.

At our first drop off point they told us we would be going through a fairly long cave which led to a lagoon surrounded by limestone cliffs. When we hopped in the water it was drizzling a little, so it was nice to enter the cave.

The cave definitely had bats (you can't mistake the smell of guano) and our guide used a flashlight to point a few of them out to us.

When we exited the cave we saw the awesome lagoon. We also saw that it was pouring rain! Good thing we were in our swimsuits! Franco paddled us around the whole lagoon, and we felt like we were in our own little world surrounded by cliffs.

We then headed back through the cave, which was so low we actually had to lay down to get through!

We hopped back on the main boat and cruised around some more amazing cliffs.

We hit our next drop off point about 45 minutes later and again were told we would be going through a cave. As we arrived at the cave's entrance we came across a group of playful monkeys who were all too happy to take bananas from our guides.

This time the cave was pretty short, in length, but it was much taller and didn't smell like guano! This lagoon was also really cool, but really shallow! Though it wasn't raining when we first got into the water, as soon as we entered the lagoon the skies opened up. We were really happy that we had our waterproof camera case!

We returned to the main boat and chugged along to our final drop off spot. This one took us to a really cool area full of limestone formations. The most famous of them was "James Bond Island." The 1974 Bond movie "The Man With the Golden Gun" was filmed in the bay, and the island's unique shape made it an unmistakable landmark. I am not a huge James Bond aficionado, but it was still pretty cool to see.

After paddling around the bay for quite some time we hopped back on the main boat and made our way to a small beach where we could swim or kayak on our own. During this one hour boat ride the rain was absolutely torrential, and we all were huddled in the middle of the boat to stay dry and warm.

Amazingly, the rain had completely cleared up by the time we hit the beach, and Jeff and I enjoyed some swimming and freestyle kayaking.

After an hour in the sun we were ready to get back on the main boat and head back to Phuket!