Sea Canoeing in Phang Nga Bay

Probably the best day of our vacation in Phuket was spent sea canoeing in Phang Nga Bay. It was amazing! We were picked up from our hotel by the Sea Canoe crew and driven to the Ao Po beach, where the boat awaited us. Other people from other hotels were on our trip, including a father and son from San Francisco who are living in Singapore. When the boat got to Phang Nga Bay, we all got into flat, inflatable canoes with a guide, who did all the rowing. The islands had sheer cliffs of limestone that were maybe 30 feet high. Laying flat on our backs, the guide squeezed out little canoe through sea caves that are only accessible during low tide. When we got inside, we were surrounded on all sides by sheer, 30 foot high cliffs! It was a really quiet and eerie inside the walls. The water was still and sort of stagnant like a lagoon because there is only limited "flushing". In one lagoon we saw a family of Macaque monkeys. They were diving off of the cliffs into the water. It was so cool! Our guide said that they are really good swimmers. In another lagoon there were mangroves and in another a monitor lizard. After we canoed for a while, we went back to the main boat and the boat crew had prepared a huge Thai lunch for us. It was delicious! After lunch we got to take a canoe out by ourselves. I definitely recommend our tour group, The Original Sea Canoe. They were very friendly without being obsequious, and were very knowledgeable about Phang Nga Bay and it's ecosystem. They even gave us a VCD as a parting gift! They said that usually they go out everyday, but since the tsunami, they have only been out 3 times. There just aren't enough people visiting Phuket anymore. The only bummer about the day is that Matt and I didn't bring our camera!