Bali Snorkeling

Visited March 2011 - last updated January 2013. .   Most of Ko Phra Thong's west coast is similar to this section near Golden Buddha Beach Resort. Ko Phra Thong is one of the least developed islands in Thailand from both the domestic and tourist point of view. When I visited in March 11 there was one high end beach villa place, two budget bungalow joints with another soon to open, and a village homestay operation. Domestic activity seemed mainly confined to a couple of fishing villages. I only saw one small agricultural operation. This is the place to go for those wanting to get right away from it all. Phra Thong is a reasonable size at around 100 sq miles and is mainly sand deposits in the west and extensive mangroves in the east. Similar Ko Kho Khao is directly south and the mountainous and rainforested national park island of Ko Ra is just north. These can best be thought of as the northern Phang Nga province islands, although they are a hell of a long way from Phang Nga town -

LAST VISITED FEBRUARY 2014 Main beach at Coral Island - Long Beach. An unusual beach for Thailand - it runs east (near end) to west, facing north. So this should be a pretty sheltered beach in the wet season. This is a nice shot to click-expand. Coral Island is one of Phuket’s fringing islets and popular daytrip locations. It also has a lower-midrange place Coral Island Resort which is not a bad place to spend a couple of days at the start or end of an Andaman trip. There was a second place under construction in Feb 2014 but it was hard to tell whether it was going to be budget or midrange. Location is only 10km SSE of Phuket's Chalong pier. The beaches are on the north coast, connected by a rainforest track just above the rocks. There are no roads or villages. Oblique Google Earth image showing the island from the north west. Might be worth clicking the image to expand - shows the reef drop-off for both beaches well. Long Beach is about 900M in length. The western end here tends