Laem Thong Tour by Ferry

Phi Phi Don Island East Coast

After a complimentary coffee and a stroll round the sunny deck, the distinctive shape of Phi Phi Don starts to loom larger on the horizon. We sail into the almost luminous Tonsai Bay with its turquoise waters and green covered limestone cliffs and several passengers disembark. Only minutes later we’re off again – heading to the beautiful white-sand Laemthong Beach.

We pass several idyllic-looking resorts along Phi Phi’s eastern coast and afterwards drop anchor about 300 metres from the shore. Two large long-tail boats putt-putt out and take us to a beach bar in the shade by the side of the sea.

It’s still quite early in the day so the lady offering happy-hour-priced cocktails gets no business until lunchtime. In the meantime, we’re busy snorkelling in the gin-clear waters and taking in the colourful sight of tropical marine life in its own backyard. Wonderful stuff, this is exactly what people dream of when they envisage a perfect beach vacation.

Lunch at Laem Thong Beach

Two hours later and we’re starving hungry. We come back to find a gentleman with a very gentle voice singing evergreens at the beachside bar. In an adjacent beachside restaurant the company has laid on a buffet with a handsome choice of oven-roasted baby chicken legs, spaghetti and sauce, a very tasty vegetarian curry, spicy Thai soup, rice, freshly cut fruit and more. It’s, to say the very least, satisfying and well executed.

Now it’s time to move off and everyone’s feeling mellow after the meal. We sail back to Tonsai Bay where several new passengers join us and spend the 90-minute trajectory back to Phuket watching a movie on the three large-screen LCD TVs in the ship’s lounge.

Summary

It’s been a great and non-demanding day out with some excellent snorkelling, a memorable lunch enjoyed in the company of a veritable hotchpotch of nationalities. Simple, but enjoyable. There were a few hairy moments getting on and off boats but crew members were always there to lend a hand.

Tour Available: Phi Phi Islands Tour by Royal Jet Cruiser 9