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ATTRACTIONS
Ao Phangnga
This province is directly north of Phuket and covers an area of
4,170 square kilom-etres. The provincial capital is 788 kilo-metres
south of Bangkok. The province's major attractions are the marine
national parks of Ao Phangnga (Phangnga Bay), Mu Ko Similan (Similan
Islands) and Mu Ko Surin (Surin islands). Phangnga Bay has been
featured in several in-ter- national movies, in-cluding the 007
adven-ture The Man with the Golden Gun, and contains some 100 largely
unin-habited limestone islands scattered around almost perpetually
calm waters. Many is-lands are riddled with aquatic grottoes, and are
best explored aboard sea canoes which are able to enter inner
chambers, essen-tially collapsed cave systems, sometimes only at low
tide. The timeless 'Jurassic Park' atmosphere of such islands
contrasts viv-idly with more popular venues such as James Bond island,
Nail island and Panyi island which supports a Muslim village built on
stilts embedded in the sea.
Similan islands
The far less commercialised Similan islands, nine in all, are
renowned among diving enthu-siasts for the variety of dives, superb
un-derwater visibility between November and May, and teeming marine
life. The Similans offer more than 30 dive sites, with coral walls,
huge sea fans and barrel sponges, big rocks, swim-throughs, coral
gardens and plenty of shallows for snorkelling.
Surin islands
The five Surin islands, equally secluded, offer similarly good
diving opportunities and, because of seasonal weather changes, are
best visited between December and March. Phangna is conveniently
accessible by road or boat from Phuket and offers ac-commodation
ranging from bungalows to deluxe hotels. Full transport and
accommodation details are available at the TAT Phuket office. |
Information
provided by T.A.T
(Tourism Autority of Thailand)
