Krabi Sunset Cruise
We booked the sunset cruise through one of the travel agents on the street. A pickup was set for 1.15 at a hotel down the street. The cost (2800 baht) included pickup & drop-off from a hotel down the street, snorkeling gear, and a buffet dinner.
There was two trucks to bring everyone to the pier where we got onto long-tail boats to get out to the boat.
About fifteen minutes after starting our journey-the skies got dark and the water started getting rough. It down poured which led to everyone crowding in under the very small awning waiting for the worst of the rain to be over. The rain started easing up a bit just as we got to chicken island. The rainy weather wasn’t a concern to the crew so we were able to get in the water to snorkel and swim around the reef. I jumped off the top deck of the boat in the rain into the super warm Andaman Sea.
Snorkeling at the reef was otherworldly looking. I’ve never snorkeled before but grabbed fins and a mask and out to the reef. There was huge schools of fish that we were swimming through along with watching the coral open and close and keeping an eye out for the sea urchins.
We got back on the boat after an hour and headed to another island for more snorkeling. The current was really strong around this island which made swimming to the reef quite a workout but was totally worth it. This reef definitely bigger than the first one and other than the current moving me I could have stayed in one spot and watched the fish for hours.
In between stops the crew was coming around with different snacks and fruits. Water and soda was included in the price and they had a bar on board that you could pay for cocktails at.
The third stop was a better spot for paddlebaording and kayaking because the visibility was low for the reefs. We tried to just go for a swim but the current was really strong again so after a bit of a struggle in the water i opted to sit up on the top deck with a mojito and watch the sunset through the clouds.
Dinner was a buffet of rice, massaman curry (either with chicken or vegetarian), pad thai, a pumpkin and tofu dish and mixed fried vegetables.
After dinner we sailed back closer to the port and stopped one more time when it got dark so we could go in the water go snorkel with the bioluminescent plankton. They turned all of the lights off on the boat and we got into the water with snorkeling masks on. When you put your head under water and either move your hands or feet around there are all of these glowing ‘things’ in the water. It looked like swimming with hundreds of tiny fireflies.
When we got back to the pier it started to downpour once again. We had to get back on to the long-tails to the dock and it looked like the scene from Forrest Gump when he explains all the kinds of rain there is. Even with the rain it was a really fantastic experience all around and totally worth the money.
