Koh Samui Beach With The Low Tides

[Paul36]

I found this picture below from Koh Samui with Full Moon Monsoon it said. On pattaya beach this happens about 200 days each year, when the low tide drops to 1m that lousy strip of 10m broad beach all of a sudden becomes 200m wide filled with kneedeep shallow pools.

Does what I see on this picture happen regularly on Koh Samui beaches or was this a rare occasion?

[Samui Coconut]

This looks like Nathon...but not sure. Happens occasionally....

[limbos]

Happens certain times of the year but mainly on the Nathon and Plai Laem beaches, when all local Thais run out and start collecting shells!

[PoorSucker]

Never happens on the major tourist beaches.

[Paul36]

http://www.thailandmarineguide.com/tidetable_samui_october_2009.php

That a tide table for Koh Samui. As you can see the level of the water for this month varies between 1.3m above lowest water level and 2.7m above lowest low tide water level. The picture might be an extreme example but doesn't it make a big difference in how wide the beach get every day? Could someone describe how broad some of the beaches are at low and high tide?

I love walking and jogging on the flat wet sand, something that is rather unpleasant if the water doesn't drop back far enough.

[Mole]

The season for very low tides are over. It starts around April and lasts till August.

I've walked around the island twice in each direction and during high and low tides.

The beaches where you'll get similar scenery during extreme low tides are as follows:

Nathon all the way south to raja car ferry peer in fact almost the whole western part of island

Pang-Ka, west-southwest of the island.

Thong-krut, south-southwest

The beach north of the big budda on north-east part of island

Bang-kao south part of island

North part of Lamai

And of course north part of Chaweng on the lagune and you can walk accross to the Mat Lang island.

During extreme low tides, it'll expose around 100-200m of sea-floor basically. Some beaches will expose rocky seaweed and some will expose corals and some just very fine white sand while some are quite muddy.

I've personally walked on all of them during the low tides. The scenery is quite spectacular when you walk on the low tides and it's nice and quiet and especially around south-west part of the island is very deserted.

That is one place I think I've been complete alone without any humans maybe around nearest kilometer. That is an experience hard to get in Thailand.

Edited October 10, 2010 by Mole

[Mole]

In the coming months, the low tides are never low enough that much of the beach is exposed.

This was the schedule I had taken from your link. However, I'm not entirely sure about how the numbers really mean. Because the lowest tides listed are 0.8 while the highest are 2.9 and there is no way that there is 2 meter of difference on the tides. When I stand on the beach during the lowest tides and it is just not possible that the highest tide is above my head because the whole beach is not even high enough.

May	29	Saturday	08-09		1.0
May	30	Sunday		09-10-11	1.0
May	31	Monday		10-11		1.0

June	12	Saturday	07-08-09-10-11	1.0
June	13	Sunday		09-10		0.9
June	14	Monday		09-10-11	0.9
June	15	Tuesday		10-11-12	0.9

June	25	Friday		08		0.9
June	26	Saturday	08-09-10	0.9
June	27	Sunday		08-09-10	0.9
June	28	Monday		09-10-11	0.9
June	29	Tuesday		10		0.9

July	11	Sunday		08-09-10	0.8
July	12	Monday		08-09-10-11	0.8
July	13	Tuesday		09-10-11	0.8
July	14	Wednesday	09-10-11-12	0.9

July	21	Wednesday	09-10		0.9
July	22	Thursday	08-09-10	0.9
July	23	Friday		07-08-09-10	0.9
July	24	Saturday	06-07-08-09-10	0.9
July	25	Sunday		07-08-09-10	0.9
July	26	Monday		07-08-09-10	0.9
July	27	Tuesday		08-09-10	0.9

August	07	Saturday	08		0.8
August	08	Sunday		07-08-09	0.8
August	09	Monday		07-08-09-10	0.8
August	10	Tuesday		09		0.8

August	21	Saturday	07		0.9

[Paul36]

Great Mole, I have bad timing! Need to get there with 3 days to see what a regular 1.3m low tide does to the beach since it won't get low anymore the rest of the month like here and my current lease is ending. Over here that's enough to turn 10m wide into 200m wide, I hope the regular low tides have a nice effect on Koh Samui beaches as well.

[Paul36]

looks decieve... I'd say no way over here as well but I swim and can't reach the bottom whilst I walk there the next day.

[Mole]

All I can say is that anything above 1.2 you're not going to get much of the beach exposed.

It's only during these few days during the year where you get the really spectacular beaches.

[Paul36]

I was hoping on a 100m wide beach with the 1.3m lowtides comming up, will that happen?

[Mole]

No, not really. As you can see on the table, from now on it'll only get over 1.3 and 1.4 being the lowest for the next couple of months or so.

[longtom]

Yes. Just not this year.