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PHUKETYacht Charter
Limestone islands rising from the Andaman Sea

Cruising grounds

18 islands and anchorages, grouped by cruising ground

Where to anchor, which wind each bay shelters from, what the park charges, and the one thing at each stop that separates a yacht from a day boat.

PHANG NGAPHUKETANDAMAN SEAMergui, 180 nmAo Po Grand MarinaBoat LagoonRoyal MarinaYacht HavenKoh HongKhao Phing Kan and Ko TapuKoh PanakKoh PanyeeKoh Yao NoiMaya BayKoh Phi Phi DonBamboo IslandRacha YaiRacha NoiSimilan IslandsSurin IslandsRailay and Phra NangKoh Hong, KrabiKoh RokKoh Muk and the Emerald CaveKoh Haa
  • Marina
  • Anchorage
  • On this itinerary
  • Positions are projected from real coordinates. Coastlines are simplified and not for navigation.

5 anchorages

Phang Nga Bay

Sheltered, shallow and full of limestone. The bay sits in the lee of Phuket, which makes it the forgiving cruising ground and the one that still works when the monsoon turns.

  • Koh Hong

    14 nm out

    A limestone island with a lagoon hidden inside it, reachable only by tender or kayak through a low tunnel at the right state of tide.

    300 THB park feeSheltered from NE, E, N

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Khao Phing Kan and Ko Tapu

    18 nm out

    The leaning cliff and the free-standing limestone needle that appeared in The Man with the Golden Gun, which is why every long-tail in the bay goes there at eleven in the morning.

    300 THB park feeSheltered from NE, E

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Koh Panak

    12 nm out

    Four sea caves cut through the island into interior hongs, and the low ones are entered lying flat in a canoe.

    300 THB park feeSheltered from NE, E

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Koh Panyee

    22 nm out

    A Muslim fishing village of around 1,600 people built on stilts against a limestone cliff, with a mosque, a school and a floating football pitch.

    300 THB park feeSheltered from NE, E, SE

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Koh Yao Noi

    16 nm out

    A farmed and fished island of about 4,000 people in the middle of the bay, with anchorages on both coasts so it stays usable when the monsoon turns.

    Sheltered from W, SW, NW

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Oct

3 anchorages

Phi Phi Islands

The most beautiful and the most crowded water in the region. Everything here is a question of which hour you arrive and which bay you sleep in.

  • Maya Bay

    32 nm out

    The beach from The Beach, closed for four years to let the reef recover and reopened under rules that decide how and when you can see it.

    400 THB park feeSheltered from E, NE

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Koh Phi Phi Don

    30 nm out

    The inhabited island of the group, shaped like two mountains joined by a sand isthmus, and the only place in the archipelago with a town.

    400 THB park feeSheltered from W, SW

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Bamboo Island

    33 nm out

    A low sand island north of Phi Phi with a shallow hard-coral reef that starts a few metres off the beach, which makes it the best snorkelling stop in the group for people who are not divers.

    400 THB park feeSheltered from S, SE

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar

2 anchorages

Racha Islands

Twelve miles south of Phuket and the closest clear water to the island, which is why the dive schools go there.

  • Racha Yai

    12 nm out

    Twelve miles south of Phuket with visibility that regularly runs past twenty metres, which is why the island is where Phuket teaches people to dive.

    Sheltered from E, NE

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Racha Noi

    16 nm out

    Granite boulder reefs and deep drop-offs four miles south of Racha Yai, with manta ray sightings in the first months of the year.

    No overnight shelter

    Best: Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

2 anchorages

Similan and Surin

The best water in Thailand, fifty-eight and one hundred miles out, and legally closed from mid-May to mid-October.

  • Similan Islands

    58 nm out

    Nine granite islands in the open Andaman Sea with the clearest water within reach of Phuket, open only from mid-October to mid-May.

    500 THB park feeSheltered from E, NESeasonal closure

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Surin Islands

    100 nm out

    The largest and healthiest shallow reef in Thai waters, plus a Moken sea-nomad village that still lives on the water in the channel.

    500 THB park feeSheltered from E, NE, SESeasonal closure

    Best: Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

4 anchorages

Krabi and Koh Lanta

East and south of the bay: climbing walls, a second hidden lagoon and the cave diving at Koh Haa.

  • Railay and Phra Nang

    28 nm out

    A peninsula cut off from the mainland by limestone walls, reachable only by boat, and the birthplace of climbing in Southeast Asia.

    Sheltered from E, NE

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Koh Hong, Krabi

    24 nm out

    A second hidden lagoon, this one wide enough to take the tender inside and quiet enough to swim in.

    300 THB park feeSheltered from E, NE, SE

    Best: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Koh Rok

    62 nm out

    Twin uninhabited islands with a shallow channel of white sand between them, and the best snorkelling south of Phi Phi.

    400 THB park feeSheltered from E, NESeasonal closure

    Best: Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

  • Koh Haa

    52 nm out

    Five small islands arranged around a natural lagoon, with a chimney and a cathedral cave that are the best cave diving in Thai waters.

    400 THB park feeSheltered from E, NE, SE, SSeasonal closure

    Best: Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

One anchorage

The far south

Past Lanta towards Trang and Tarutao, where the day boats stop and the anchorages empty out.

  • Koh Muk and the Emerald Cave

    78 nm out

    An eighty metre sea tunnel that you swim through in the dark and come out in a hidden beach inside a collapsed limestone dome.

    Sheltered from E, NE

    Best: Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr

One anchorage

Mergui, Myanmar

Eight hundred islands, permit-controlled, reached overland from Phuket. December to March only.

  • Mergui Archipelago

    Around 800 islands in Myanmar waters with almost no infrastructure, reached overland from Phuket to Ranong and cleared into Kawthaung.

    Sheltered from E, NE

    Best: Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar