Phuket is Thailand’s grand gateway to the Andaman — but the island itself is only the overture. Point the bow east into Phang Nga Bay and the sea fills with limestone towers draped in jungle, their hidden lagoons — the hongs — reachable only at the right tide, by tender or kayak. South lie the Phi Phi cliffs and the glass-clear water of the Racha islands; northwest, in season, the Similans’ granite boulders and coral. Between the passages: some of Asia’s finest tables and a beach-club scene built for long, gold afternoons.
The Andaman, From the Deck
Phuket is the largest island in Thailand and the unrivalled base for an Andaman charter — its marinas at Ao Po, Royal Phuket and Yacht Haven send yachts out into one of Southeast Asia’s great seascapes. The draw is the geology: across Phang Nga Bay and down toward Krabi, sheer limestone karsts rise straight from shallow jade water, hollow with caves and collapsed lagoons. The island gives you the comforts — the spas, the tables, the beach clubs — and the sea gives you the wonder. A charter knits the two together: provision and dine on Phuket, then disappear into the bay and the outer islands where the cruise boats can’t linger.
The island gives you the comforts; the sea gives you the wonder.
Into Phang Nga Bay
Phang Nga Bay is the headline. Northeast of Phuket, a maze of jungle-topped limestone islands stands in milk-jade water — among them Koh Tapu, the slender needle made famous as “James Bond Island.” The bay’s secret pleasures are its hongs: collapsed cave-lagoons hidden inside the karsts, their sea-level entrances passable only by tender or kayak at the right state of tide, opening into silent, sky-roofed rooms hung with stalactites. Koh Hong and Koh Panak hold the finest. Go at first light, before the long-tails arrive from the mainland, and the bay is yours — still water, birdsong, and the towers doubling in their own reflection.
South to Phi Phi & the Racha Islands
Southeast of Phuket, the Phi Phi islands deliver the Andaman’s most theatrical scenery — the towering walls of Maya Bay (anchor in neighbouring Loh Samah and tender in under managed access), the clear Pileh Lagoon, and Viking Cave beneath the cliffs. Closer to home, the Racha (Raya) islands — Racha Yai and Racha Noi — offer some of the region’s clearest water and easiest snorkelling, an hour south of Phuket and ideal for a day at anchor. These are the dependable, all-season waters of an Andaman charter: warm, clear and sheltered enough for swimming and diving straight off the stern.
The Andaman’s most theatrical scenery.
The Similans, in Season
For the finest diving in Thai waters, the Similan Islands lie some 60 nautical miles northwest of Phuket — a national park of granite boulders, white sand and coral, open only from roughly mid-October to mid-May (the park closes in the southwest monsoon to let the reefs recover). In season they reward an overnight passage: dramatic boulder swim-throughs, reef life in abundance, and beaches with almost no one ashore. Park rules are strict — designated moorings, no single-use plastic, fees payable on arrival — and a good crew plans the run around the weather window. It is the wildest, clearest water on an Andaman itinerary.
Ashore: The Phuket Table & Beach Clubs
Phuket’s dining has quietly become world-class. The island holds a Michelin-starred farm-to-table room on the quiet northwest coast, a jewel-box Thai restaurant reached by raft across a lagoon, and a generation of local-hero chefs reinventing southern-Thai cooking in the Sino-Portuguese shophouses of the Old Town. The beach-club scene runs the length of the west coast — flagship clubs on Bang Tao sand, a vast pool club above Kamala, and the rooftop bars of Cape Panwa, where one 360-degree perch is regularly named among Asia’s great sunset spots. It is the perfect counterpoint to days in the bay: provision, dine, dance, and slip back to the boat.
When to Go, and How It Sails
The Andaman’s high season runs November to April — the northeast-monsoon months of dry skies, light winds and calm, clear water, when Phang Nga Bay and the outer islands are at their best (the Similans are open through this window). The May–October southwest monsoon brings wind, swell and rain; sailing focuses on the sheltered eastern bays, and the Similan park closes. From Phuket’s marinas a day charter can reach Phang Nga Bay and back; a three-to-seven-night cruise opens up Phi Phi, the Racha islands and, in season, the Similans — aboard sailing catamarans, motor yachts and traditional-style phinisi alike.
