Phang Nga Bay: Twilight Sea Canoe & James Bond Island Tour

4.98

(630 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

We were already gliding past these crazy tall cliffs in Phang Nga Bay when our guide, Lek, handed me a chilled bottle of water and grinned like he knew a secret. The boat was bigger than I expected—plenty of space to flop down or just lean over the rail watching the water go from bright green to almost silver as the sun started dipping. I’d skipped breakfast (they said not to eat much) and honestly, I was glad because that first meal on board was way better than I’d guessed—spicy rice, something with lemongrass, and fruit that tasted like it had just been picked. There was this faint smell of seaweed in the air mixed with diesel from the engine—strangely comforting.

After Lek’s safety talk (he made some joke about “don’t try to stand up in the kayak unless you want to swim with mudskippers”), we paired up for the sea kayaking part. Our paddle guide steered us right into these narrow limestone caves—I kept ducking instinctively even though there was room. The air inside felt cooler and sort of damp; you could hear dripping water echoing off rock. Suddenly we popped out into a hidden lagoon (“hong” is what they call it), all quiet except for birds somewhere above and a monkey or two eyeing us from the trees. I tried asking our guide about one bird in Thai—Li laughed at my pronunciation but still pointed out a kingfisher anyway.

Later, when we reached James Bond Island (the real name’s Ko Khao Phing Kan), it was almost empty—just our group and maybe one other boat far off. It looked smaller than in the movies but somehow more dramatic with nobody else around. We took photos by that weird nail-shaped rock (“Koh Tapu,” Lek called it), but honestly I mostly remember how still everything felt right then, like time paused for a bit. On the way back there was dinner—a buffet again—and someone spotted fireflies flickering near the mangroves while another guide scooped up some glowing plankton in a bucket for us to see up close. That part felt kind of magic, even if my phone camera couldn’t catch it.