Kayaking around Samui and Phangan

[gearbox]

Howdy,

 

I'm planning a few multi day kayaking trips around the islands, does anyone know if any islands around Samui, Phangan, and the Ang Thong archipelago are off limits for landing or camping?

In regards to Ang Thong I'll get a national park pass from the office there, but wondering if the military still uses some of the islands.

[RickG16]

Not sure on the legalities, but am interested to find out...

 

Where will you get the kayaks from? And how much can you actually carry on them?

 

Cheers

[gearbox]

5 hours ago, RickG16 said:

Not sure on the legalities, but am interested to find out...

 

Where will you get the kayaks from? And how much can you actually carry on them?

 

Cheers

There is pretty much only one kayak vendor in Samui and they sell only Feelfree. The kayak market here is oriented towards tourists with minimal skills.

 

I bought a single feelfree Nomad sit on top from the vendor, which is by no means a sea kayak, but IMO good enough for short distances like Nathon to Ang Thong or Samui to Phangan in good weather and calm water. It is slower and requires more effort. The planned trips are just preps and training for longer expeditions.

Later in the year I plan to bring in a modular sea kayak like the ones from Point 65 from Australia to Samui. I need a kayak which can be moved easily to starting points thousands of kilometres away, the classic sea kayaks are very difficult to move around.

 

If you have high tech lightweight camping gear it is not a problem to load it even onto a single sit on top  kayak. Food and water can be an issue on some uninhabited islands, mainly around Ang Thong, but you can always paddle to the national parks headquarters and resupply. Again relatively long distances should be done in a good weather conditions. I may get stuck for days in Ang Thong before the weather is good to go back to Samui.

[RickG16]

9 hours ago, gearbox said:

There is pretty much only one kayak vendor in Samui and they sell only Feelfree. The kayak market here is oriented towards tourists with minimal skills.

 

I bought a single feelfree Nomad sit on top from the vendor, which is by no means a sea kayak, but IMO good enough for short distances like Nathon to Ang Thong or Samui to Phangan in good weather and calm water. It is slower and requires more effort. The planned trips are just preps and training for longer expeditions.

Later in the year I plan to bring in a modular sea kayak like the ones from Point 65 from Australia to Samui. I need a kayak which can be moved easily to starting points thousands of kilometres away, the classic sea kayaks are very difficult to move around.

 

If you have high tech lightweight camping gear it is not a problem to load it even onto a single sit on top  kayak. Food and water can be an issue on some uninhabited islands, mainly around Ang Thong, but you can always paddle to the national parks headquarters and resupply. Again relatively long distances should be done in a good weather conditions. I may get stuck for days in Ang Thong before the weather is good to go back to Samui.

Thanks. Is there nowhere to rent in Phangan? Id be looking at going around the edges of the island.

 

And obviously a complete layman's question but how do you know if the weather, is suitable and that its not going to suddenly switch?

[gearbox]

2 hours ago, RickG16 said:

Thanks. Is there nowhere to rent in Phangan? Id be looking at going around the edges of the island.

 

And obviously a complete layman's question but how do you know if the weather, is suitable and that its not going to suddenly switch?

I'm not sure if you can get more than 1 day rental on Phangan, but you can ask around. The feelfree vendor in Samui rents weekly too, if you are prepared to paddle from Samui to Phangan.

 

The easiest way to get the wind/weather forecast is to install the Windy app on your phone. They usually have the wind forecast a few days ahead. Of course you'll need internet access. You can get also weather forecast on VHF marine radios, but mine hasn't arrived yet and I don't know how well works this in Thailand.

 

Just a month ago a couple vanished with a kayak off the coast of Phuket, it is safer to kayak if you are fit and can swim well. Most of the tourists renting kayaks are not prepared to go too far offshore.

 

[RickG16]

1 minute ago, gearbox said:

 

 

The easiest way to get the wind/weather forecast is to install the Windy app on your phone. They usually have the wind forecast a few days ahead. Of course you'll need internet access. You can get also weather forecast on VHF marine radios, but mine hasn't arrived yet and I don't know how well works this in Thailand.

 

But what constitutes weather that is unsafe for kayaking close to shore?

[gearbox]

1 minute ago, RickG16 said:

But what constitutes weather that is unsafe for kayaking close to shore?

Depends on your skills, but generally swell/surf more than 2-3 feet would be a good limit, or wind more than 10-15 knots.

 

I was watching tourists trying to launch a kayak on Chaweng beach in probably 2-3 feet waves a few days ago, they capsized multiple times and gave up. However someone with considerable experience probably would have done it.

 

Stay safe.

 

 

[Birdman]

Angthong you are allowed to camp at the headquarter on Koh Wua Talab. Are you gonna paddle there from Samui?

 

Samui, Phangan, other islands except the 5 with the swallow nests, all beaches are public, the land behind the beach privat. So it´s up to the landlords. You can certainly sleep on the beach or on a rock for a night or two without a tent. With tent and camping equipment on Samui, you will be on many social media, especially in China.

 

 

  

[gearbox]

4 hours ago, Birdman said:

Angthong you are allowed to camp at the headquarter on Koh Wua Talab. Are you gonna paddle there from Samui?

 

Samui, Phangan, other islands except the 5 with the swallow nests, all beaches are public, the land behind the beach privat. So it´s up to the landlords. You can certainly sleep on the beach or on a rock for a night or two without a tent. With tent and camping equipment on Samui, you will be on many social media, especially in China.

 

 

  

No need to camp on Samui, I live there. Otherwise I have pretty good gear for lightweight camping.

 

Yes I'm planning to paddle from Nathon to Ang Thong, it is around 25km and the islands are visible, pretty hard to lose direction. Just need to get good weather. The return can be done via Donsak with the ferry as there are islands in a row pretty much up to there.

 

I had a chat with the kayak shop owner and apparently there are no restrictions to land on any of these islands.

[roadrunner21]

16 hours ago, Birdman said:

Samui, Phangan, other islands except the 5 with the swallow nests

I'm in a similar situation, wanting to visit some of the small Islands in this archipelago.

 

I've talked to fishers and locals before and heard of Islands that I cannot enter because of the swallow nests. Do you may have any more informations which Islands I should avoid?

 

Hope this isn't too much off topic, but I've heard so many different things about visiting the smaller Islands. Even for Ang Thong I've heard that you need to have a license in order to dock on it, but I don't know if these regulations only go for commercial carriers. I've been personally interested to visit these Islands for almost a year now but I'm still uncertain cause everyone is telling me something different.

[grifbel]

13 hours ago, gearbox said:

it is around 25km and the islands are visible, pretty hard to lose direction. Just need to get good weather.

Look for a guy who looks like Dicapiro carrying around a map to the Beach, but be sure not to tell anyone about it.  Regards, Daffy

[pikao]

Currents can be a problem.

I don't know how it is between Samui and Ang Thong. Samui/Phangan is very strong. Friends of mine (in the diving business) wanted to recover a big lost anchor there. To search for it they had to bring smaller anchors (for themselves) with ropes attached to not get washed away

[grifbel]

On 1/14/2020 at 3:46 PM, RickG16 said:

Thanks. Is there nowhere to rent in Phangan? Id be looking at going around the edges of the island.

 

And obviously a complete layman's question but how do you know if the weather, is suitable and that its not going to suddenly switch?

A very wise question.  The OP sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.  Being stranded in the open sea and getting hit by a rogue wave, marine life or even a wayward boat is all possible and could quickly "capsize" any plans no matter how great a swimmer he is.

[RickG16]

3 hours ago, grifbel said:

A very wise question.  The OP sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.  Being stranded in the open sea and getting hit by a rogue wave, marine life or even a wayward boat is all possible and could quickly "capsize" any plans no matter how great a swimmer he is.

I've been here a while but am far from a kayak expert... however going from Samui to Phangan or the other way around seems very ambitious!

 

On a very calm day, I'd be tempted to go around the edges of the island, but am also concerned that this could go wrong.... I guess picking the right time of day could be important.

[gearbox]

3 minutes ago, RickG16 said:

I've been here a while but am far from a kayak expert... however going from Samui to Phangan or the other way around seems very ambitious!

 

On a very calm day, I'd be tempted to go around the edges of the island, but am also concerned that this could go wrong.... I guess picking the right time of day could be important.

I'm far from being a kayak expert too...but will give it a go. Is it dangerous? You bet.

 

As another poster mentioned above, currents could be a problem between islands. They change during the day and tides, typically on the high tide. I've seen some strong currents at the Whitsundays and the Andaman areas before. Wind could be a problem too, to the extent that you could be staying at the same place, even if you paddle furiously. At the moment the winds in the Samui area are mainly from the east, which is not that bad.

[gearbox]

4 hours ago, pikao said:

Currents can be a problem.

I don't know how it is between Samui and Ang Thong. Samui/Phangan is very strong. Friends of mine (in the diving business) wanted to recover a big lost anchor there. To search for it they had to bring smaller anchors (for themselves) with ropes attached to not get washed away

Thanks for the warning, do the current changes direction during the day or the tide?

[gearbox]

7 hours ago, roadrunner21 said:

I'm in a similar situation, wanting to visit some of the small Islands in this archipelago.

 

I've talked to fishers and locals before and heard of Islands that I cannot enter because of the swallow nests. Do you may have any more informations which Islands I should avoid?

 

Hope this isn't too much off topic, but I've heard so many different things about visiting the smaller Islands. Even for Ang Thong I've heard that you need to have a license in order to dock on it, but I don't know if these regulations only go for commercial carriers. I've been personally interested to visit these Islands for almost a year now but I'm still uncertain cause everyone is telling me something different.

Thanks for the info, I think I need to phone the Nat parks office in Ang Thong to get the latest info. I've heard of some islands whether landing may not be allowed because of swallow nests, but have no definitive info so far.

[gearbox]

4 hours ago, grifbel said:

A very wise question.  The OP sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.  Being stranded in the open sea and getting hit by a rogue wave, marine life or even a wayward boat is all possible and could quickly "capsize" any plans no matter how great a swimmer he is.

I've heard that before a few times, but so far managed to come back alive.

The waters around Samui are actually fairly good for kayaking. The swell is not nearly as big and dangerous as in Australia, and there are no sharks and saltwater crocodiles. The sea is not that remote and there are always boats around to help you. The winds most of the time are quite predictable and blow more or less in the same direction for days and weeks. And if one is afraid of capsizing, he or she shouldn't be in a kayak to start with. Capsizing happens all the time.

I'm fairly new to kayaking, I was mostly into high altitude trekking and long haul cycling, and still do the cycling. Depending how the things go I may end up paddling much longer distances a year or two ahead.

 

[pikao]

On 1/16/2020 at 6:18 PM, gearbox said:

Thanks for the warning, do the current changes direction during the day or the tide?

Sorry, don't know

[islandguy]

The Five Islands on the West side very much off limits because of birds’ nest concessions. Currents between Samui and close by smaller islands tidal dependent. If new here, note that patterns of tides have a different cycle than most if the world’s seas. Honest.

[gearbox]

11 hours ago, islandguy said:

The Five Islands on the West side very much off limits because of birds’ nest concessions. Currents between Samui and close by smaller islands tidal dependent. If new here, note that patterns of tides have a different cycle than most if the world’s seas. Honest.

Thanks!

 

I paddled already to some of the close islands and didn't have much issues. The wind currently is an issue but apparently it will go down slowly with April the best time. I suspect that the currents are tide dependent, just can't figure out the pattern yet.

 

[Silencer]

I bought a two-person, sit on top, BIC Tobago Kayak (https://www.amazon.com/BIC-Sport-Tobago-Kayak/dp/B004XFVO8A?th=1) recently and have fitted it with fishing pole holders and some storage areas. My wife and I are novices and have taken it out 3-4 times, never more than a kilometer or so out to sea. I live in the very south of Samui, near Bang Kao Beach and can see Ko Mat Sum and Koh Tean from where I live. I'm interested in visitng both islands...maybe about 6-7 kilometers away. Other than a few fishing boats and a couple tour boats each day, the boat traffic is minimal. Currents are an issue as they usually go east to west in the channel between Bang Kao and the islands so I know I need to be aware of that. I also know to attempt my crossings on low wind days.

 

I'm looking for any tips that more experienced kayakers might have regarding equipment we should bring along for these crossings (we would likely set off at sunrise) or anything else we should consider before venturing 6-7k off-shore and probably stop (drift) for an hour or two to fish before returning. 

[islandguy]

It can be pretty hard to see someone in a kayak from another small boat. Safety equipment can or should include a mirror and waterproof strobe light for signaling and a whistle, all to attract the attention of passing boats (not many planes likely to be looking for you around here). A phone in a waterproof case and someone on shore who knows you are out there is a good idea as well. The best safety advice I would have for you is to practice capsizing and getting back into the kayak. Practice until you are confident, it will happen sooner or later. You should also have a leash to secure your paddle to the kayak, or you may be faced with swimming after your kayak while the paddle is blown away from you. 

 

That being said, these are preparations for worst case scenarios. It’s usually pretty easy around there, the one time I went to the islands it was easier than I expected despite some moderate wind and waves. Good luck with your fishing.

[gearbox]

3 hours ago, islandguy said:

It can be pretty hard to see someone in a kayak from another small boat. Safety equipment can or should include a mirror and waterproof strobe light for signaling and a whistle, all to attract the attention of passing boats (not many planes likely to be looking for you around here). A phone in a waterproof case and someone on shore who knows you are out there is a good idea as well. The best safety advice I would have for you is to practice capsizing and getting back into the kayak. Practice until you are confident, it will happen sooner or later. You should also have a leash to secure your paddle to the kayak, or you may be faced with swimming after your kayak while the paddle is blown away from you. 

 

That being said, these are preparations for worst case scenarios. It’s usually pretty easy around there, the one time I went to the islands it was easier than I expected despite some moderate wind and waves. Good luck with your fishing.

+1

There are a plenty of resources how to make kayak expeditions safer. To repeat islandguy, just practice self rescue. Your sit on top kayak is in the same league as mine, a slower recreational kayak. That doesn't mean you can't cover distances up to 30+ km per day, it is just going to take you more time. My practical tip would be to practice close to the shore twice the distance you'll try to reach in open sea - e.g if the distance to an island is 5km, try to paddle at least 10km in unfavorable conditions (like strong winds and swell). You better be prepared for bad weather and extra physical effort.

And tandem kayaks are called "divorce boats" for a reason, so just make sure you can paddle long distances for sure.

[mike787]

Samui is not a safe place anymore.

[Silencer]

Thank you islandguy and gearbox. Good ideas, espcially to practice getting back in and taking a long journey (closer to shore) in adverse weather conditions. Will add mirror to signalling kit (have airhorn as well). Have a couple waterproof lights in case we lose daylight.

 

I'll repost if, and when, we make the journey to the islands.