Tuesday, Nov 1 - Phuket - Sailing to James Bond Island

We woke up to the rain.  The hotel had a very nice and extensive breakfast buffet.

Our excursion pickup was 20 minutes early this morning…so it was a last minute scramble to get ready.  Then we had an hour drive to the Phuket Port where we boarded a speed boat.  It was covered which would normally have been adequate coverage for the sun.  However, it was raining and the top leaked a lot. 

We headed to a cluster of islands that reminded us very much of Halong Bay without the vast number of large tourist ships…just lots of smaller ones.  

We were met by a bunch of locals in inflatable canoes and they took us rowing around on of the islands.  

We also rowed into a couple of caves with very low ceilings …we had to pretty much lay down while they maneuvered us into the caves.   The worst of the rain had stopped and made it much easier to enjoy the ride.  The area was just beautiful.

Next stop was a short walk into a cave.  Very short walk.  The mountains are limestone and very porous so there was a lot of dripping water in the cave.

Next stop was an island called James Bond Island, so named because it was used in the filming of the Bond movie Man with a Golden Gun.  

We took a short walk to enjoy the views; hiking up to get a panoramic view of the islands, 

and then it was back into the boat for a trip to another island for lunch at Panyee Village.  The village was on stilts over the water…or at least the large number of restaurants were.

Last stop of the day was yet another island where we had an hour to hang out on the beach.  We opted to rent a couple of lounge chairs and umbrella.  We enjoyed the location and we both took a nap.  As we were almost back to the pier the sun decided to make a short appearance…its first of the day.  We were back in the hotel by dinner.

Weather could have been better but it really was a great day.