Our sea kayaking trip started with a taxi boat trip from Ton Sai Bay to Ao Nang. In Ao Nang, our guide (who was also our host for our Muslim homestay) picked us up in a songtaew and took us on a 45 minute ride through the beautiful countryside to a small village that seemed to be the starting point for one sea kayak company.
Our guide took us on a stroll around the village while we were waiting for the tide to get a little higher. He showed us a longtail boat being made and some fishing cages and nets. We also saw some fresh crab being boiled – yummy! I was hoping for a sample, but it didn’t happen. We were also served tea and cookies.
We kayaked in double kayaks. We started our following the limestone cliff coastline and then went into the mangroves for a bit, and then back out to the cliffs. We stopped in a tiny beach for lunch. After lunch, we spent the rest of our trip deep in the mangroves. I loved it back there – it was totally still and peaceful. We paddled and floated through narrow openings in the limestone cliffs that would now and then open up and the mangroves would expode in a jungle of roots. The mangroves actually looked a bit spooky with their gnarled roots rising up out of the water and low hanging branches causing your imagination to "insert snake here."
Twice we saw solitary monkeys hanging out by the shore. You could tell they had been fed by many others as they headed straight toward the guide and reached out for food. I have never approved of feeding wildlife, but since I couldn’t do anything about the way it is here, I just had to turn my park ranger voice off. Later in the trip we saw a group of about 20 monkeys that were definitely showing the unfortunate downside of wildlife feeding. They were extremely aggressive and actually jumped into our kayaks to grab anything that looked like food. One of the little ones made off with half a watermelon – I’m not sure how he carried it alone. Overall it was interesting to see the monkeys up that close (they were very cute), but I don’t like that they are no longer wild in a seemingly wild place.
The sea kayaking trip was all in all quite excellent, and I highly recommend it. The price was 700 baht per person (about $17.50) for the whole day – kayaks, transportation to and from Ao Nang, guide, lunch, and snacks. We didn’t have to contend with the people and boats that would be around if you kayaked direct out of one of the beaches, and the mangroves were fantastic.