I flew from Penang to Phuket on Firefly Air. Cute name, and yes, they do use real airplanes.
Kata Noi beach is on a dead-end road, about as far from the airport as you can get, and is MUCH quieter than the chaos on the rest of the island. Other than a couple of high-end resorts, there’s 4 tiny hotels, 6 restaurants, and 3 convenience stores, so everything’s covered. This time of year the water’s flat, and sea temp is 30C/86F, so it’s easy to float around all day. Which I did.
I’d gone on a kayak excursion 5 years ago with only 4 or 5 of us in the group. I’m not a fan of tours, but it would be impossible to do this alone. So time for a repeat. This time there were only two plus the guide, well worth the $120.00. It’s a 30 minute ride in a fast commuter boat to Ko Yao Noi island, then about 45 minutes in a long-tail boat to the other end of the island, and a 2km paddle to Ko Roi island.
Ko Roi has a “hong”, or room, a former cave that’s had it’s roof fall in. The entrance is a 5′ wide by 2.5′ high (at our tide level) opening into an enclosed pool surrounded by 60′ high cliffs.
It’s now a mangrove forest, and a challenge to transit, since those roots don’t move and a kayak doesn’t bend. Last time there were thousands of bats sleeping in the trees, but this time none. The guide said that during COVID, when the economy tanked, the locals ate them all.
The longtail met us a beach with lunch …..
… and then we were off to another island with a small but still intact cave plus a beautiful bay.
And finally to another bay to load the kayaks back onto the longtail, rest, and have a swim before heading back to the pier and then to Phuket.
I guess if you’re living on an island, it’s a good idea to have one of these.