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PHUKETYacht Charter

The far south in seven days

Past Lanta towards Trang, where the day-boat radius ends: Koh Haa, Koh Rok and the swim-in Emerald Cave at Koh Muk.

Length
7 nights
Distance, round trip
214 nm
Departs from
Chalong Bay
Park fees, per person
400 THB
Empty anchorage between two uninhabited islands in clear water

Closed for part of the year

Mu Ko Lanta National Park, which covers Koh Rok and Koh Haa, closes from mid-May to mid-October.

Not runnable in: May, June, July, August, September.

PHANG NGAPHUKETANDAMAN SEAMergui, 180 nmAo Po Grand MarinaBoat LagoonRoyal MarinaYacht HavenChalong BayKoh 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.

Almost every Phuket itinerary turns round at Phi Phi. This one keeps going, and the change past Koh Lanta is immediate: the anchorages empty, the reef improves and the water gets clearer the further south you work.

The stop that sells this route is Tham Morakot at Koh Muk, an eighty metre sea tunnel you swim through in the dark before surfacing on a hidden beach inside a collapsed limestone dome. Every tour boat from Lanta does it at eleven in the morning in a queue. From a yacht anchored off overnight, you do it at half past eight with nobody in it.

It needs seven days and a crew who have been south before, because the anchorages are less charted and the support is thinner.

Best months
Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr
Water
Mixed, with open crossings
Suits
Catamaran, Sailing yacht, Motor yacht
Charter types
Skippered, Fully crewed

Day by day

  1. 0112 nm

    South to Racha Yai

    A short first leg to settle in, with clear water for the first swim.

  2. 0234 nm

    East to Phi Phi

    Across to the Phi Phi group. Maya Bay early on the second morning if the visitor cap allows.

  3. 0326 nm

    Koh Haa

    Southeast into the ring of islands. Cave diving for the certified, shallow reef for everyone else.

  4. 0422 nm

    Koh Rok

    The white sand channel between the twin islands. A park mooring, a ranger station and nothing else.

  5. 0526 nm

    Koh Muk and the Emerald Cave

    Further south to Koh Muk. Anchor off the west coast so the tunnel swim can happen at first light rather than at eleven.

  6. 0646 nm

    North again through Lanta

    The turn for home, with an afternoon stop wherever the wind makes sense.

  7. 0748 nm

    The passage back to Phuket

    The long leg north, usually with a last swim at the Rachas before Chalong.

What first-timers get wrong at each stop

The value of doing this route on a yacht rather than on a day boat is control over the clock and the tide. Most of it comes down to these.

  • Racha Yai

    Racha Yai works as a first or last night on almost any itinerary, and it is the standard answer when weather closes the crossing to Phi Phi. Racha Noi, four miles further south, has better diving and worse shelter, so the pattern is to dive Noi in the morning and sleep at Yai.

  • Koh Phi Phi Don

    Do not plan to anchor overnight in Tonsai. It is a working ferry harbour with a hard bottom in places, heavy traffic until late and a swell that wraps in from the southwest. Yacht crews use Loh Bagao or Laem Tong and run the tender the ten minutes to town if guests want the evening ashore.

  • Maya Bay

    Every rule here exists because the previous version of this bay was loved to death. A crew that tells you it can take the tender straight onto the beach is either not going to Maya Bay or is planning to break park rules with your names on the manifest. The right question to ask before booking is what the operator does when the daily cap is already full.

  • Koh Haa

    Koh Haa is the diving reason to route south rather than west. If the group includes certified divers, an itinerary through Koh Haa and Koh Rok gives them better water than the Phi Phi loop, without the five-day passage that the Similans demand.

  • Koh Rok

    Rok is the reward for going further than the standard week does. It is roughly a full day's passage from Phuket and only makes sense on an itinerary that is already working south through Phi Phi and Lanta, which is why it appears on five-day southern routes and almost never on three-day ones.

  • Koh Muk and the Emerald Cave

    The cave is on almost every southern itinerary and the tour boats from Koh Lanta arrive in a block around 11:00. From a yacht anchored overnight off Koh Muk you can be in the tunnel at 08:30 with nobody in it, which is a completely different experience from the same swim in a queue.

Who runs this route, and in which version

No two operators run an identical itinerary. The variant is the useful part: a shorter version has dropped a destination, and it is almost always the furthest one.

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Source: Operator itineraries, Mu Ko Lanta National Park. Checked 6 September 2026. Distances are planning figures and the coastlines on the chart are simplified. Neither is for navigation.