ชายหาดเกาะพะงัน

ทุกชายหาดบนเกาะในแผนที่เดียว เล่นน้ำที่ไหน กินข้าวริมทะเลที่ไหน และไปอย่างไร

หนึ่งหาดสำหรับพักทั้งวัน. เล่นน้ำ กินมื้อกลางวัน แล้วกลับมาริมทะเล ชายหาดทั้งสามให้วันพักที่ต่างกัน

แผนที่

สถานที่: 8 ชายหาด × ทรายสะอาดไม่มีหิน ×

Which shore for what

Koh Phangan has two different seas, and it is the shore, not the weather, that picks one. The west lies behind a reef: the water is calm and shallow, and at low tide off Hin Kong it goes out 700 metres to a kilometre, so people walk the sea floor. In the east the water is deep a few steps from the sand: at Haad Yuan, Than Sadet and Bottle Beach you can swim at low tide too. The east is open to the wind, though: from November to January the north-east monsoon brings waves, and on some days swimming is banned.

The tide has seasons as well. From about April to September the west's water stays low for long hours in the daytime, and a swim has to be timed to high tide. From October or November to March it is the other way round: the water is high most of the day. Each beach's page says when high tide is today.

Snorkelling without a boat. Mae Haad: the coral starts some thirty metres off the beach, by the islet of Koh Ma. Only at high tide on a calm day — at dead low tide it is too shallow and easy to scrape the coral.

With small children. Nai Wok by Thong Sala: behind a sand spit, a knee-deep lagoon at any tide.

To swim, not to wade. The east, and Bottle Beach. A longtail goes to Bottle Beach from Chaloklum, usually 150 baht a person: it leaves once about four people are aboard, the last at about five in the afternoon. In a storm the boats stay put and you can be stuck there for a day or two. As places to be stuck go, it is not the worst.

Box jellyfish occur in the island's waters. Where a beach has a net, swim inside it, and stay out of the sea at dusk and at night.

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