T.I.C.D.: Intro to the Central Thai Andaman Sea
Fabulous islands, bays, beach towns and dive sites make the Central Andaman the front-and-center star of coastal Thailand.
Welcome back to the Thai Island & Coastal Directory, a book-in-progress that promises to be the most complete guide to coastal Thailand ever written in English, covering more than 800 islands and all 24 coastal provinces.
For info on how to use the T.I.C.D. and a working Table of Contents, paddle here. To view all previously published sections, see the welcome page.
If Thailand’s seven coastal zones were a dance troupe, the Central Andaman would be front and center. Comprising the provinces of Krabi and Phuket along with Ao Phang Nga in between, this extraordinarily beautiful area has at least 294 islands. Among them are some of Thailand’s largest and/or most popular island groups, including those named after Phuket, Phi Phi, Yao and Lanta.
Central Andaman: The TIQ take
When last in the Central Andaman I thought about how remarkable this part of Thailand is not only for its natural beauty, but also the wide breadth of travel options linked by so many ferries, longtail boats and songthaews. After a while, the area almost starts to feel like a neighborhood.
From centrally located Ko Phi Phi Don, for example, you can easily venture west to Phuket and a host of other islands within that province; or south to Ko Lanta and the rest of its archipelago; or east to Krabi with its less-visited islands and popular mainland beach areas; or north to Ko Yao Yai / Noi and the rest of Ao Phang Nga. Holding nearly 150 isles all by itself, the latter has been compared to Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay for its karst massifs that tower over the sea.
It is important to keep in mind that one part of the Central Andaman can be drastically different from the next, even if some visitors declare that the entire area is a tourist trap based only on their travels to, say, the busy parts of Phuket, Ko Phi Phi and/or Ao Nang. Even within a given island or coastal area, traveler scenes and natural scenery often differ significantly from beach to beach.
