Where We Sail
Based in Chalong Bay, S/V Jumpalagi sits at the centre of some of Southeast Asia’s most spectacular sailing. With a draft of just 0.9m fully loaded, she reaches anchorages the big charter fleets simply cannot access. Here are the four areas we sail — each one a different world.
Phang Nga Bay is the defining landscape of the Andaman Sea — a vast, sheltered expanse of emerald-green water studded with hundreds of limestone karst towers that rise vertically from the surface. Sailing into this bay for the first time is genuinely humbling. The scale of the formations, the colour of the water beneath them, the silence when you kill the engine and drift between them: there’s nowhere else quite like it.
The bay offers days of exploration. James Bond Island, the sea caves, the floating fishing villages, the hongs (interior lagoons inside hollow limestone islands accessible only by kayak at the right tide) — each one a different kind of spectacular. Because the bay is largely protected from ocean swell, it sails comfortably in most conditions, making it ideal for a first passage north from Phuket.
Head east across the peninsula and you enter Krabi province — a stretch of coast and islands that gives Phang Nga serious competition for sheer beauty. Railay Beach is arguably the most dramatic beach in Thailand, accessible only by sea, enclosed by vertical limestone cliffs on three sides. Ko Phi Phi’s iconic Viking Cave and the turquoise waters of Loh Samah Bay need no introduction, but they look entirely different arriving by sailboat from a quiet anchorage than stepping off a speedboat from Krabi town.
Further south, Ko Muk is the gateway to the famous Emerald Cave — a swim through a 75-metre sea tunnel that opens into a hidden inland beach surrounded by towering cliffs. Photo: S/V Jumpalagi at anchor off Ko Muk, viewed from inside the cave approach.
South of Chalong the islands thin out and the water gets clearer. Ko Racha Yai is the classic first-night stop — only 12nm from Chalong, with a sheltered bay, white sand, and some of the clearest water close to Phuket. Ko Racha Noi, another 6nm south, is almost entirely undeveloped and offers world-class snorkelling in currents that bring in pelagic fish.
Push further south and you reach Ko Rok, a national park island with gin-clear water and coral so healthy it feels like a different ocean. Nearby Ko Kradan has a beach that regularly appears in “best of Thailand” lists. Ko Lipe, on the Malaysian border, is the southern frontier of Andaman sailing — a tiny island with a relaxed vibe, excellent snorkelling in the Tarutao Marine Park, and the option to clear customs for a day trip into Malaysian waters.
The Similan Islands sit about 60 nautical miles northwest of Chalong, out in the open Andaman Sea. They are consistently rated among the top diving and snorkelling destinations in the world — nine granite islands with impossibly clear water, massive rounded boulders tumbling into white sand beaches, and coral reefs that drop away into the deep blue. The passage to get there is the adventure: a proper offshore hop, usually done overnight or in a long day sail, that reminds you this is real sailing.
The Surin Islands, another 30nm further north, are even more remote. The surrounding waters are part of Thailand’s most protected marine reserve, and the Moken sea nomads who have lived on these islands for generations make the Surins unlike anywhere else in the Andaman. Both island groups are seasonal — the national parks close June to October to allow the reefs to recover.