Note: 'Koh' or 'Ko' is the Thai word for 'island'.
Koh Chang
In mid-April, our friend Gary offered to sail with us south of Pattaya to the Koh Chang archipelago. He is very familiar with the area, and was an excellent sailing companion and tour guide!
We departed on a Thursday afternoon for the 20+ hour trip, motor-sailing south through the night. We made it to Ao Bang Bao, on the southern coast of Koh Chang, before noon on Friday.
After weighing the anchor, we took the dinghy into the harbor and climbed to the dock. We had lunch at an excellent café, and shopped for fruit and coconut ice cream in the covered flea market.
This fruit is called rambutan, but we call it 'alien fruit'. Its strange and a little slimy, but tastes delicious!
Ao Salak Phet
We then made our way east to Ao Salak Phet, where we anchored on the west side of the bay for the night. The Wifi was great, and Randy was able to work that evening from the boat.
Bright and early the next morning, we hopped in the dinghy and zipped further north in the bay to the mangrove. We motored up the small river to visit Gary's friend from Germany, who is building a beautiful home in the mangrove forest. It was amazing to see the community built along the banks, all on stilts.
Koh Ngam
At the southeast tip of Koh Chang Gary guided us to the small island of Koh Ngam, which has two peaks connected by a narrow sandy beach. Unfortunately some guards would not allow us to land on the beach, so we anchored offshore and went for a nice swim from the boat in the crystal clear water. We were able to see several monkeys playing on the beach.
I found this pic on the internet so that you can see what the island looks like:
Below is our view from the boat - a little hazy, but still so beautiful!
Koh Wai (aka 'Dino')
Our next stop was Koh Wai, which is south of Koh Chang. Gary knew of a great little café on the north beach, and we dropped the anchor then took the dinghy ashore for some delicious tropical drinks.
We also revisited this beautiful island a couple of days later, for a delicious lunch and a visit with one of Gary's pals and his family.
Can you see why Randy nick-named this neat little island 'Dino'??
Koh Mak
We anchored near the northwest shore of Koh Mak on Saturday. We swam off the boat, and scrubbed part of the hull. Gary and Randy worked on an electrical issue, and Gary also recalibrated our auto-pilot system. We took the dinghy to the beach for a delicious dinner and some icy cold beer. Around 1:30 am, a thunderstorm rolled through, and we anxiously watched the lightening NOT strike our boat.
Koh Kut (or Koh Kood)
On Sunday afternoon we anchored off of the west side of Koh Kut, and took the dinghy for a lovely cruise up the river. We would like to go back and explore the waterfall on our next visit.
We anchored further south, at Ban Bang Bao, which is where we had stopped on our previous trip from Vietnam. Its a nice protected spot, with just a few fishing boats for company.
Here is the sunrise, and some early morning visitors!
Koh Rang
On Monday we sailed northwest to the small island of Koh Rang, which is known for its snorkeling. We tied up to the red mooring ball, paid a fee, and hopped in the water. In the picture below you can see where they have marked off the snorkeling area around the reef. We saw hundreds of fish, and will definitely be making a trip back to this beautiful spot.
We headed back north to Pattaya, once again sailing through the night. We saw lots of huge barges and cool fishing boats, and were able to use our awesome red spinnaker along the way.
We enjoyed our trip to Koh Chang, and look forward to exploring more of the islands in this part of the world.
Until next time! 😎
Thanks for sharing guys!!!