Kayaking day trip from Koh Samui to Angthong Marine Park

Kayaking in Angthong Marine Park

Last month I was in Koh Samui and while there I went on an excellent day tour to the Angthong Marine National Park. I am happy to recommend this tour to anyone interested in a high quality tour from Koh Samui. There are several different tours running daily from Koh Samui, most of them are speedboat tours and they are a good way to see Angthong. The tour that I went on, though, was a slow boat tour that focused on kayaking around the islands and caves of Angthong.

The boat took a leisurely 90 minutes to reach Angthong where we moored in the north of the marine park. On the journey we had breakfast and our guide briefed us on the day's itinerary. There were about 30 guests on board, a mix of nationalities. About half the passengers were German speakers so we were divided in to team English speakers and team Deutsche speakers. In the morning the German speaking group would kayak first while the English speakers snorkeled and in the afternoon roles would be reversed.

The snorkeling was ok but nothing to write home about. The water is not as clear as Koh Tao although the reefs look healthy. The corals were also very shallow and a few people returned to the boat with cuts and scrapes. I would recommend Koh Tao above Angthong for a snorkeling day trip.

Kayaking in Angthong Marine Park

The kayaking on the other hand was very nice, the rock ledges, tunnels and caverns are beautiful. Kayaking was done in pairs, as I was travelling solo I was coupled with Jasmine from the US of A. We chatted away pleasantly as we got to grips with our paddling. She took the front and me the back so most of my photos feature the back of her head :) Our group of kayaks followed our kayaking guide like ducklings following mother duck. By the time we were back on board it was lunchtime.

Lunch was served as we cruised south through the park to the Emerald lake. I was amazed as we traveled through the park how few other boats there were around. This must be one of the most beautiful places in the World and no one is there to see it. I was there just before Koh Samui's high season so I'm sure it gets busier but still, compared with tourist numbers in Phuket it's very quiet. Our tour guide told us that he makes a special effort to avoid the other tour boats. Because it's quite a small operation they have the flexibility to change the itinerary as required. For example we arrived at the Emerald Lake just as the morning tours were leaving but before the afternoon tours arrived so we got to the top view point alone.

The Emerald lake

When we arrived back down at the beach after visiting the lake we found that our kayaks were waiting for us on the beach and the boat had moved off further south so we paddled off down the coast to meet up with it there. By the time we were back at the boat it was 3pm and time to head back to Koh Samui. Some people sun bathed, other slept or chatted among themselves. All in all a very pleasant day.