James Bond Island Tour
May, 2019
If you are someone like me who has a full time job, you would be able to relate to the importance of using your time judicially on a trip. Each day off is hard earned and on top of that I have serious trust issues with hiring travel agents for my bookings. Plus, booking by yourself is a great way to save money. Remember, money saved on one trip is money earned for the next one 😛 . There is a whole lot of time and research that goes into bookings, be it picking the right accommodation or day trips. With a plethora of options available, I cannot say if having too many options is a good thing or not!
Before talking about the James Bond Island day trip, here are some tips that could be useful during bookings:
- Before you even get to the booking part, spend time reading about the place. You will have hundreds of options to choose from so its important to know what you want to go for and what to skip.
- READ MULTIPLE REVIEWS. Only trust people who have had a first hand experience.
- Check for local apps and websites of areas you are traveling to. Needless to say, do check how reliable they are. I booked this tour from Klook. This is a great way to find good deals.
- Pay attention to detail. Little details like free pick and drop, if meals are included or not, how many unnecessary stops are added if you are traveling in a group can make a huge difference to how cost-effective and convenient your trip will be.
James Bond Island Tour
James Bond island or the Khao Phin Kan and Khao Tapu islands are two of the many small islands which are a part of the Phang Nga Bay.This island was featured in the 1974 Bond movie, ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ , hence the name.
This entire tour might have been named after this one island but we spent the least amount of time there. Multiple other islands were a part of this day trip and each one had its own story to tell.
The sequence in which the islands are visited is dependent on the tide on that particular day.
Khai Island
Khai Island was our first stop for the day. The island may be tiny, but it is everything that comes to your mind when you think of an island holiday. White sand, clear blue water, restaurants by the beach and a variety of water activities.
Snorkelling wasn’t a great experience here as there was hardly any marine life in the area close to the beach but it could possibly be due to the low tide that day.
The tour included snorkelling gear, snacks and fresh cut fruits at the island as we spent around an hour and a half here.
Panak and Hong Island
While the water at Khai island was the clearest shade of blue, Phang Nga Bay has greenish water due to many rivers emptying into the bay. These rivers bring along nutrients which lead to an algae bloom.
These two islands were all about limestone bat caves, some ancient paintings, lagoons, mangrove forests and canoeing. The caves and the paintings were viewed from the boat as we sailed along the edges of these small islands.
Locals from Panyi island take tourists around lagoons and mangrove forests for canoeing. They are extremely welcoming and will help you around in taking pictures. Do reward them with a generous tip if you like the canoeing experience.
The rental charge for canoeing was included in the tour.
Panyi Island
Panyi Island served as the lunchtime stop. Our preferences were noted before we started from Phuket and the lunch was delicious as well as gorgeous!
After lunch we went on a guided tour around the place which still makes me think about how different life on such islands is. This is almost a floating island and apart from a proper school, hospital and basic facilities, they also have a legit floating football field! You can also buy souvenirs here.
The entire island houses only Muslim population and you are expected to be well covered.
James Bond Island
Finally the island of the day! We spent around half an hour at this island walking around and clicking pictures with the iconic rock in the backdrop. Souvenirs here are really overpriced so bargain well before you buy anything.
Things to carry
You will be spending an entire day island hopping. Here is a list of things which might make it a little easier:
- Water proof sun block and a hat
- Sarong
- Swim wear and a beach towel
- Wear something that covers you from shoulders to knees at Panyi Island
My experience
I had booked this tour from Klook and it was hosted by a local company called Seastar. We were picked up from our hotel and they were very punctual. Even before we started with the tour, I was already on-board thanks to the splendid breakfast spread offered.
All along the way, there was an unlimited supply of chilled cold drinks, water, candies, snacks and fresh fruits. Little things like wet tissues and medicines for sea sickness were taken care of. We were traveling in a small group and they had multiple hosts on-board who spoke different languages. To top all of this, our instructor was quite humorous and entertaining.
You can also buy tickets for the tour over the counter at multiple small shops in Phuket around Patong Beach.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this day tour if you are visiting Phuket. It truly captures the natural beauty of Phang Nga Bay and makes you want to explore the other spots around the area.
Happy island hopping !! 🙂
