Kayaking in Ao Thalene, Krabi

23 March 2018

After a great out enjoying the beaches at Railay Peninsula, we went kayaking in Krabi's beautiful Ao Thalane bay the next day. Ao Thalane or Thalane Bay has some of Thailand’s most beautiful mangrove forests with limestone cliffs, caves and amazingly shaped karsts.

The bay is located about 29 km from Ao Nang and 20 km from Krabi town. One could try to arrange your own transport to Ao Thalane and hire kayaks at the kayaking centre at Ao Thalane but the easiest way to enjoy a leisurely day of kayaking would be to sign up for a half-day (or full-day) tour for about 500 to 700 THB per person. This includes hotel pickup from Ao Nang or Krabi town, kayak and equipment rental, life-vests, use of a waterproof bag, bottle of water, guide and some refreshments.

There is no need to book the tour too far in advance. Check the weather and the tide a few days before your intended trip. We booked our trip after arriving in Ao Nang via internet.

Trip planning tip: Check the tide when deciding when to go as the tide does makes a difference on how much you can see during your trip. Best time is during mid-tide. At mid-tide, more of the areas in the Ao Thalane forest are accessible and we could paddle deeper into the mangroves forest and into caves.

The caves may not be accessible at too high a tide. Too low a tide means some shallow and narrow waterways would not be passable and your trip would be shorter. But low tide could also mean you could see crabs, mudskippers, lizards and other interesting creatures that lived in the muddy ecosystem.

After checking the tide tables on the internet, we decided on an afternoon half-day trip. We were picked up promptly at 1.45 PM from our hotel in Ao Nang. There were 3 other persons already in the back of the pickup truck.  One young German man travelling solo and 2 other German men who looked like brothers. The driver introduced himself but I could not hear his name.  He told us he would be our kayaking guide and there were 5 persons in his tour group.

The drive to Ao Thalane from Ao Nang took about 35 minutes, through small towns, villages and spectacular karst landscape.

Scenic view of the Krabi karst landscape from the back of our pickup truck on our way to Ao Thalane Bay for kayaking.

After arriving at the Kayaking Center, we were given some time for refreshment and toilet breaks while our guide went to prepare the equipment. 

Kayaks at the Kayaking Center in Ao Thalane.

We were given a short briefing on use of the paddles before boarding the open kayaks. The last time my wife and I did any kayaking was back in our school days, more than 30 years ago, and it felt good to be on a kayak again. The guide and the solo traveller took the single-seater kayak and the rest of us took the double-seater kayaks. 

All ready for kayaking. Equipment, life vest and a waterproof bag are provided (but we brought our own waterproof bag to store phones and wallet).

The water at the bay was extremely calm and the kayaks were very stable.  Although the risk of kayak capsizing is extremely low in the calm sea, we would still get slightly wet from the water dripping down from the paddles.

Overview of the journey through the mangroves forest of Ao Thalane.

Once all 5 of us in the group were on kayaks, we paddled a short distance through open water from the launching point to the mangroves forest of Ao Thalane.

The channels through the mangroves are narrow, so we had to proceed in a single file most of the time. Hence it was difficult to hear what our guide was saying as he talked about the mangrove forest. This was not a big deal to me and my wife since we lived in South East Asia and are very familiar with mangroves.  We did hear about mangrove
wood being processed for use as charcoal for burning, and how the mangrove could convert sea water to fresh water. The aerial roots of the mangroves at Ao Thalane are home to many crustaceans which attracted many game fish like snappers in these waters.

Our guide led us through shallow channels, over submerged roots and even paddle right next to almost vertical limestone cliffs, towering above us. He knew the forest very well and it was comforting that we had a guide to lead us. I would not want to get lost or stuck in the midst of the mangrove forest with the tide going out.

With the mangrove forest on one side and the cliffs on the other side.

It was a leisurely kayaking through the forest without anyone else but us. At times, we stopped paddling and listened. Silence, except for occasional sound of cicadas and rustling of leaves overhead.

Some parts of our journey required us to negotiate sharp turns in tight spaces as we weaved our way through the forest. It was good that our group is small, only 4 kayaks including one for our guide. And everyone in our group are capable kayakers.

My wife snapped photos using her mobile phone, protected by a waterproof casing, while I did most of the paddling in the forest.

After rounding a sharp turn, we saw it!

A lone macaque monkey.

Lone macaque sitting quietly on the aerial roots of a mangrove tree. Poor creature seems to be lost and alone as they usually travel in a group.

These monkeys are commonly found in the forest in South East Asia and we had seen many of these while hiking in the nature reserves back home. Here at Ao Thalane, these macaque could swim and dive to hunt for crabs. Our guide told us not to show any plastic bags as these monkeys are known to jump onto kayaks to snatch food from plastic bags. A plastic bag means yummy food and fresh water to them. The lone monkey did not harass us and we continued on our way.

We saw cliffs with supposedly thousand year old historical paintings done by sea gypsies who once lived in these area. The paintings were much too small and high up on the towering cliffs to be seen clearly from our kayak.

We paddled into a large cave with stalagmites and stalactites. It was named the Crocodile Cave, probably because some of the hanging stalactites may look like a crocodile to those with a bit of imagination. In any case, there is no live crocodile in this forest although it seemed like a good habitat for them. However, large water monitors (a lizard that looked like the Komodo Dragon) that could grow up to a two meters in length had been seen in the mangroves. Thailand is also home to cobras and many other kinds of snake. The lizards and snakes normally avoid human. So we are pretty safe.

Inside the Crocodile Cave at Ao Thalane.

Leaving the cave, we paddled through a lagoon on our way out from the forest. Surrounded by the limestone karsts, this speculator seascape at this part of Ao Thalane is the filming location for many movies. These include a popular movie called The Beach (starring Leonardo DiCaprio), Bollywood movies and local Thai movies.

This speculator lagoon in Ao Thalane is the filming location for many movies.

Narrow passage that leads to the open sea.

The weather took a turn for the worse and it started to rain. There were small swells as we exited the lagoon into the open sea again. One foot high waves crashed onto our kayak as we paddled furiously against the wind and rain. For once, I was a little concerned about capsizing and lightning.

We seek refuge inside a small lagoon with a short stretch of sandy beach to wait for better weather.

On hindsight, I should have join our guide and go for a dip in the sea since I was already soaking wet.

A small lagoon with a short stretch of sandy beach on our way back to the Kayaking Center.

Fortunately the rain did not last very long and we saw another group paddling past our lagoon. They were a much bigger group, including families with small kids.

Leaving the cave, we caught up with the group, overtook them and head towards the kayak centre. As the tide had gone down in the two hours since we started our kayaking, a small sandbank was now visible forming a natural obstacle. We had to pull our kayaks over this sandbank with extremely soft sand. 

Exposed sandbank at low tide that we had to negotiate on our way back to the Kayaking Center.

Once back at the Kayaking Center, we had time to wash up and enjoy a fresh fruit platter with slices of watermelon and pineapples. Surprisingly, we had no aching arms after the kayaking!

We were given the option to buy a souvenir photo of us in a kayak for 100 THB. Although the picture was not very good, we bought it to support the local business.

The rain poured down again and we saw some disappointed people at the Kayaking Centre. They had come for the Sunset Kayaking Tour and it had to be cancelled for safety reason.

Our guide drove us back to our hotel in Ao Nang in his pickup truck. It was still raining slightly when we arrived back at the Pakasai Resort and Spa. 

No Krabi sunset by the beach to watch on this rainy evening. Once the rain stopped, we walked across the road from our hotel to the E-San Restaurant. This restaurant serves delicious seafood at reasonable prices. 

Seafood dinner at the E-san Restaurant in Ao Nang. Deep fried sea-bass with sweet and spicy sauce, grilled tiger prawns and deep fried squid with garlic and pepper.

Update: Potjawan Restaurant (used to be at Noppharat Thara Beach) is now operating at this location.

Overall, we had a great afternoon of kayaking at Ao Thalane. A highly recommended outdoor activity for visitors to Krabi.