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Koh Wai is a medium
sized island around 12 kilometres south of Salakphet Bay. Reaching the
island is easy with daily boat services from both Koh Chang and also Laem
Ngop on the mainland.
Although the island does have attractive beaches and
several resorts in which to stay, it's best avoided if one of your
prerequisites for a beach experience is that the beach have fine, white
powdery sand. Unlike small neighbouring islands Koh Wai's quiet,
narrow beaches are covered in soft, beige sand.
The island often gets busy as it's a popular spot for day trips, however
outside the times when the tour boats are moored, you can have the beach to
yourself. There are three small resorts on the island.
Koh Wai Paradise, where the most of the tour boats stop, is the most popular
with basic bungalows right by the beach for 300 baht/night. Pakarang
Resort is the most luxurious with rooms around 600 - 1000 baht/night and
electricity for at least 6 hours per night. From
these resorts you get a great view of the mountains on Koh
Chang.
A coral reef, which is only 50 metres
offshore and right in front of Paradise bungalows, is an excellent
place for snorkelling. During the day this is the spot that can get busy as
boatloads of day trippers on '4 island' tours will descend for an hour of
splashing around. Dive schools often head to the bay on the west
coast. At Pakarang Resort a new coral protection zone, a cordoned off area
where a small coral farm has been established.
The three beaches at
the north of the island are all connected by wooden walkways which take
visitors from one beach, past rocky outcrops and through slivers of jungle
to the next. What Koh Wai lacks above the waterline it makes up for
underwater. Anyone brought up to believe that fishing has to involve
hanging around for a few unproductive hours before sloping of home to be
laughed at by your mates should try casting a a line of a pier on Koh Wai. You're guaranteed to pull some kind of marine life out
of the water, whether it will be edible and whether it'll be on an
endangered species list you'll have to find out for yourself.
Getting to Koh Wai is easy, all boats
from both the mainland and Koh Chang will stop at Koh Wai on the way. See
the Koh Mak page for more details of these
services. |
