Blog 8. Ko Yao Noi. 10 March 2020. 08.07.06N 98.40.46.E
Alcedo
David Batten
Fri 13 Mar 2020 11:03
Ko Hai Yai and its neighbours approaching from the east
The view into one of the sandy covers, where we think we anchored with Gundy II and followed skipper Brian to catch supper
It was actually very disappointing snorkelling, the water being far from clear, the coral unspectacular and the fish not as good as elsewhere, while the jelly fish were present in huge numbers. Perhaps it is better for the divers, but for us, just a tick in the box and we would not bother to come here again.
As the predicted wind for the night was northerly and early evening and night is when it likes to blow at the moment so we anchored in the southern bay of Ko Yao Yai, which has excellent holding. It is very shallow, so none of the three yachts we joined for the night were much into the bay, but it is a peaceful spot with just a fishing village ashore, mangroves and mud at low water.
9 March and the Skipper washing off the chain with the head of the bay in the background as we up anchor to head north
Our next stop was just south of the Tha Khao Pier, anchorage B on the east coast of Ko Yao Noi, where we had lunch in a deserted beach restaurant and hired bicycles for an afternoon exploration and much needed exercise. Inland Yao Noi is relatively tourist free, with rubber plantations and scattered houses.
Rubber plantation on Yao Noi and...
......Cattle farm in the dry season
The tide was well and truly out when we got back to the boat. We were expecting this and the kayak is just the job on such occasions, even if it is harder work paddling such distances
From Ko Yao Noi it is about 5 miles to Ko Hong, so a short motor in the morning to arrive at an hour before high water. Sartori II was the only other yacht there, so no competition for mooring buoys, but a bit of timing needed to avoid long tails and motor boats in the entrance, as a the Kayak is not much of an adversary for them.
Long tail and dinghy in the entrance to the Hong....
.....inside the hong, mangroves and steep walls, a lovely spot, enhanced by kingfishers in the mangroves and very peaceful in spite of other tourists
Lunch was at Ko Pak Bia, supposedly a good snorkelling and diving spot, but the visibility was so poor that if there was coral there, we saw none.; neither was there any fish of note. We had promised ourselves a good meal out this evening, so we motored back to Yao Nai and anchored off the Six Senses Hideaway, described as offering 5 star services to visiting yachtsman. Well, not in our case. Maybe we didn’t tick all the boxes for some reason, or they have gone off yachtsman or had royalty staying or something. Whatever the reason, we were very politely but firmly turned away at the jetty, with lots of bowing and “sorry, sorry” but definitely no service of any sort to be had. The next resort to the South was much more accommodating and we had reasonable meal there with excellent service, but can’t remember the name of it!
Alcedo
Sent from my iPad