how is coral island? worth the trip? a lot of these smaller, harder to get to islands are disappointing, I.E. malapascua, philipines. is the beach and swimming better than on karon beach or worse? here are some things I hate...

1. small , narrow beaches(I.E. white beach on kochang, pattaya beaches, alona beach philipines)

2. water so shallow you could walk a kilometer out to sea and still only be waste deep(ko phangang, phi phi)

3. crowded beaches(pattaya, patong, phi phi)

here's what i like... big beaches with lots of space and sand(not rocks or gravel) that aren't too crowded and clear water deep enough to wade out and not touch bottom. I.E. Karon beach in low season.

I'll be going to phuket in april.

thanks

Low tide it has shallows you have to get out over, and sadly people have walked all over most of the shallow coral killing it off in recent years, its still good, especially if you swim out to the shelf and down the side of the deeper water, but its been wrecked compared to 5 - 8 years ago.. Racha would be a better snorkel if your after coral these days, mostly as idiot (east asian it seems to me) tourists in life jackets cant stand on everything.

Its a nice beach itself, wide enough but the section they leave you at is kinda small / short.. Crowding depends on time of year more than anything, I expect its fairly busy right now, not crowded but not that quiet either.

April is a good time to visit most Euro's go home, Naiharn beach is probably the best and later on has good surf.

The water's clean due to a lagoon settlement pond and a monastry that prohibits big developments.

Nearby there are smaller beaches Alsane and Yanui also good.

Nai harn also more of a village atmosphere with places to stay if you know where to look.

Not sure about Koh Coral but Nai Yang and Mai Khao beaches to the north are pretty nice and often largely deserted.