Snorkelling at Coral Island

---

Today we hired a driver to take us to Rawaii - the cost was 600 baht each way for a van for 6 of us. We wandered around Rawaii, looking at the market stalls and the view, and then hired a longtail boat to take us to Coral Island’s Banana Beach. The longtail was 1800 baht for 6 people.

This was a terrific day, but I would advise going later than we did, preferably after 2.00pm. The beach was packed with tour groups when we arrived and there were no beach chairs or snorkels available. Fortunately we had our own snorkels and simply laid on our towels. I was a bit disappointed at first as there weren’t many fish to be seen, but once the tours left at 2.00 things changed dramatically.

We had a great lunch at the restaurant for a few hundred baht (both Thai and western food was available) and suddenly there were beautiful fish by the hundreds to feed and see. I really recommend a trip like this, it was so relaxing, but as I said, arrange to get there after 2.00pm and go by yourselves rather than on a tour.

We finished our day with dinner at On the Rock and the Marina Phuket hotel. We stayed at this hotel a couple of trips ago and absolutely love this restaurant.

The view along Karon Beach and of the sunset was sensational, particularly watching fireworks go off along the beach and seeing the beautiful lanterns. Unfortunately the restaurant was very hot and steamy which spoiled it somewhat, they had fans, but it was obviously a particularly humid night with no air from outside.

---