02 May 2020, by Oana Badiu
Sunset cruises are the best way to relax and see some spectacular landscapes in the same time! Our sailing boat was called Sy Seraph and was originally built in 1906 in Denmark. The boat got renewed in 2019 and even though it’s a sailing boat, during our whole trip it ran with a normal engine.
The whole attraction of this trip is the sunset, not the Hong Islands, so you’ll spend all your time on the boat. At some point during the day there will be time for snorkelling, close to an island called Ko Ya La Hu Tang. The island is close to the more famous Hong Island, Koh Lao Lading.
The normal time when this trip starts is 14:30, however due to tides, we actually started our trip at 12:30 and from a different pier. The trip from our hotel in Ao Nang to the pier took about 30 min. The boat was fashionably late, but there were plenty of landscapes to take pictures of around the area. Than Bok Khorani National Park is an excellent place to kayak and the pier where we were waiting for our boat was close to a kayaking centre. Check more about kayaking in Than Bok Khorani National Park in this blog post.
Our boat arrived and then we started our journey towards the small Hong Islands. A delicious lunch, fruits and water are included in the price of the trip, however sodas and beer can be purchased separately. During the sunset you will also receive some sparkling wine on the house! Food was plentiful, we got fruits several times during the trip and I never really felt hungry.
When we arrived at one of the small Hong Islands, there was time for some snorkelling. Unfortunately for us, the water wasn’t very clear due to the high wind speeds from the past few days and there were lots of jelly fish. A few people that were allergic got stung pretty badly, so I recommend you will bring a stinger suit with you to Thailand. It looks a bit silly, but it protects you from the nasty stingers. Luckily the boat was prepared with vinegar that would relief the pain and the swelling, so after a few minutes everyone seemed fine.
After this, we “sailed” passed some very impressive islands and limestone formations, one of them had a cave where some fishermen were still living in from time to time.
We were really lucky during this trip because we had some clouds on the sky. When the boat started to turn back towards the pier, the sun’s rays really made their way beautifully through the clouds. We wouldn’t have gotten such beautiful rays of sunshine if the sky would have been clear!
During our trip we had some conversations with our guide, who was a Finnish person who had moved to Thailand around 5 years ago. It was quite interesting to hear his stories about the difference in culture and the way of living, especially when it comes to working life. The guide and his wife were mainly making their living from owning a restaurant in Ao Nang and sometimes taking different jobs as tour guides. Krabi is a very popular destination for Finnish holidaymakers, so there are plenty of opportunities as a guide.
Around 17:30 we really started to get the beautiful hues of orange and violet, the one that I was so desperate to see during this holiday! We enjoyed an awesome sunset, all while sipping some complementary sparkling wine!
By the time we reached the pier, the sun was already down and an awesome violet hue was surrounding the landscape.
I was looking forward to this sunset cruise already since I booked this holiday and I definitely wasn’t disappointed! I recommend this cruise to everyone looking for a nice, relaxing time in Krabi! You can read more reviews about this cruise on trip advisor.
