Snorkeling in the Andaman Sea from Khao Lak

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Surin Island National Park is an archipelago of 5 islands: Koh Surin Nua, Koh Surin Tai, Koh Ri, Koh Khai, and Koh Klang. The National Park covers an area of 84,375 rai (33,750 acres).

Koh Surin was declared a national park on July 9, 1981. The archipelago is located in the Andaman Sea, near the Thai-Burmese sea border, on the west coast of Thailand. There are beautiful and unspoiled coral reefs; the area is suitable for snorkeling. The best time to visit is from November to April.

Surin Island National Park belongs to Tambon Koh Phra Thong.

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The solitary Tachai Island lies about halfway between the Similan and Surin Islands in the Andaman Sea, about one and a half hours drive by speedboat from Thap Lamu.

Tachai Island has a beautiful white powdered beach. There is no accommodation available.
There are several dive sites with abundant marine life, the most famous is the plateau. The Tachai Reef extends along the east coast and gently drops from 5 to 30 metres. Manta Rays are often found here, Whale Sharks not so often. Usually divers can also see Leopard Sharks and Jenkin's Rays. Common are also various Barracudas, Batfish, Bluefin Trevally, Snappers, Triggerfish and Fusiliers.
In 2009 Khaolak Highlight Tour made the first trip to Koh Tachai. It was a wonderful day trip to a most beautiful beach with no people around. Gang made a seafood barbecue on the beach and every guest enjoyed this wonderful day trip. Soon other tour agencies copied her trip, started price cutting to get customers and as a consequence this trip became a standard package with the usual Thai service.

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Khao Na Yak National Park is a completely undeveloped national park in front of Thap Lamu. The narrow peninsula of Khao Na Yak is the northern extension of the wellknown Thai Mueang - Lam Pi National Park. The peninsula is covered by dense forest which is inhabited by many birds and monkeys sometimes frolicking at the beach. Offshore of the northern tip towards Khao Lak the sea floor is covered by many coral which grew again in profusion after the Tsunami of 2004. Many fish seek shelter among the corals. A large population of 4 species of moray eels can be seen sticking their heads out of their holes among the corals. It is not uncommon to see more than a dozen of them during one snorkel trip. A good guide can show you also a family of sepia playing just two meters below the surface.
Khao Na Yak has also some of the most beautiful small beaches in the Khao Lak region, named Paradise Beach or Robinson Beach by the snorkel guides. Only a few boatmen know how to access these idyllic beaches due to the rocks in front.
Another beach is covered with thousands of hermit crabs walking over the sand.

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Bang Niang Beach was for several years the most beautiful beach of Khao Lak with a wide beach of 30 to 50 meters. The sand was sloping gently into the sea reaching swim depth after 5 to 10 meters. This changed completely after the Tsunami of December 2004, when all the beach sand was washed out into the sea with the receding waters. Since then the owners of the beach resorts are struggling to keep their land against the powers of the ocean. Many walls of varying effectiveness were built by contractors who had no clue about the force of nature. So all walls broke sooner or later, the Sudala wall even five times. In the end of 2014 the beach sand is only there during low tide so that beach hikers can walk only for 4 to 6 hours. During the other half of the day the waves are crashing into the stone and concrete walls.

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T-Tour is a tour operator in Bang Niang, Khao Lak, specializing in nature adventure tours that no other tour operator offers. Khun Nok has researched the most fabulous places in Phang Nga Province and combined various attractions into highly rewarding tours. Her top tours are the T-Globe Triathlon and Mini-Triathlon around Phang Nga Town and Thap Put with the three sports biking, kayaking and swimming. The detailed description of these tours is available on the webpage
www.t-globe.com/14915
One of them is a 3-in-1 world class kayaking trip with 3 completely different kayak trips in one day: on a jungle river, on a tidal mangrove river and in a limestone cave in close contact to awe inspiring stalactites.
She also arranges a 4 hour jungle trekking in Khao Lak-Lamru National Park on hiking trails that even the locals do not know. This trek leads mostly in the shade through extremely beautiful vegetation with many flowers hardly ever seen. Soon she will be able to arrange a mountain bike trip through this beautiful national park.

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