Handpicked experience · Phuket
★ 4.7Phuket, Thailand
Two hulls instead of one is why you arrive ready to swim, and the fish at Khai crowd you because someone taught them to.
Khai Island.
Enjoy an exhilarating journey through the beautiful Phi Phi Island with multiple Catamaran routes for exploration!
Maya Bay
Monkey Beach
Pileh Lagoon
Viking Cave
Speedboat seating
Clear Kayaking
A hull built for the crossing rather than just the destination
Water at its flattest, before the day's breeze arrives
A transparent hull over sand shallow enough to read
Sheltered bays with time actually spent in the water
Bays reached before the fleet catches up
A day out from Phuket to the Phi Phi islands, Maya Bay and Khai by speed catamaran, leaving early, with a clear kayak provided at Khai and time in the sheltered bays for swimming.
Every operator visits much the same places. What separates a good crossing from a miserable one is the hull.
A catamaran carries its buoyancy in two hulls set well apart, so it resists rolling in a way a single-hulled boat cannot — it stays flatter through a beam sea and does not lean into its turns. On the Phuket to Phi Phi run, which is open water for most of the way, that is the difference between arriving ready to swim and arriving grey.
The early start is part of the same problem. The sea in the Andaman is usually calmest at dawn and builds through the morning as the breeze picks up, so the boat that leaves first gets the smoothest water as well as the emptiest bays. The return leg is nearly always the rougher one.
A transparent kayak is a polycarbonate hull rather than the moulded plastic of an ordinary one, and it does one thing well: it lets you look straight down into shallow, bright, calm water without putting your face in it.
That makes Khai the right place for it — a metre or two of clear water over sand and scattered coral, with almost no swell. It is worth knowing the limits too. The hull scratches and hazes with use, and in full sun a clear kayak gets noticeably hot to sit in. Take it out early in your stop rather than at the end.
The fish around these islands approach people because they have learned to. Years of visitors arriving with bread has conditioned a resident population to associate a shadow on the surface with food, which is why they swarm the moment anyone stands still in the shallows.
Bread is not what they eat, and it fouls the water in a small bay quickly. The fish will come and look at you regardless — you do not need to bring anything to make it happen.
Anything the islands levy is taken at the landing point, so carry small notes. Snorkel equipment is not part of every booking on this route, and a borrowed mask that leaks will define your day, so bring your own if you own one.
Reef-safe sunscreen, a hat, and a dry bag are the useful things to bring. Sit towards the middle of the boat if you are prone to seasickness — the motion is least where the hulls meet the water most evenly.
Open it to pick a date and work out the price.
What the fare covers, and what to budget for separately.
The practical detail, and the answers people actually ask for.
More than the itinerary. A catamaran carries its buoyancy in two widely spaced hulls, so it resists rolling and stays flatter through a beam sea than a single-hulled boat.
Because wind, not tide, drives the chop here. Nights are still, the land heats after sunrise, and the resulting breeze has the whole morning to raise a sea.
Nearly always. By the afternoon the sea has had all morning to build, which is why the ride home is the one people remember.
Looking straight down into shallow, bright, calm water without putting your face in it. That is exactly the water at Khai — a metre or two over sand and scattered coral.
The polycarbonate hull scratches and hazes with use, and in full sun it gets noticeably hot to sit in. Take it out early in the stop rather than at the end.
Feeding creates a standing crowd, and a standing crowd is why the shallows here look busier than a comparable reef with no visitors.
No. It is not what they eat and it fouls a small bay quickly. They will come and look at you without it.
Whatever the islands themselves levy, taken as you land rather than in advance. Notes rather than cards, and smaller ones move faster.