What to Expect: Phuket + Phang Nga Bay Bioluminescent Plankton Tour

Rating: 4/5 (Phang Nga bay is stunning but seeing bright bioluminescence is luck of the draw)

Price (Per Person): $145USD (expensive for Thailand but worth it)

While pricey for a day tour in Thailand, this was one of the highlights of my trip in general to Southeast Asia. The water was pretty rough when I went so the plankton weren’t super bright, but it was still an awesome experience that I’d highly recommend as long as you have decent weather.

Introduction

On my last (and only) full day in Thailand, I went on a full-day boat tour of Phang Nga bay, ending in the water at night with some Bioluminescent plankton. These tours are pretty popular so I won’t put my specific one here, just make sure to choose a well-reviewed operator if you go on this circuit. All pretty much have the same itinerary.

Technically this was only a half day tour, starting with pickup at 1pm and drop off back at my hotel at 10pm, so I did have the morning to myself. But this tour does make for a pretty long day, so I wouldn’t recommend doing anything too crazy in the morning. Also I had some questionable Thai food the night before which made for some … interesting … times on the boat on choppy waters.

The weather looked rough the day before but I ending up lucking out with mostly clear skies – I’d definitely track the weather closely and would honestly cancel ahead of time if heavy rain / thunder is in the forecast (the tour operator may do this anyways for safety purposes).

Also, the lunar forecast does matter to the extent you want to see bright bioluminescent plankton – I’d aim to do this when there is no moon in the sky if possible (new moon).

Wind can have an impact on visibility as well. Unfortunately, it was quite choppy & windy when I visited which was making the water murky, but it was still an overall great experience.

In this post you’ll find each step of the tour:

Phanak Island

One thing to note is that the boat ride itself takes quite a bit of time. You probably spend ~3-4 hours in total on the boat transiting between the islands throughout the day. It’s pretty comfortable onboard though and the crew was always super friendly.

After around an hour ride, we made it to our first stop: Phanak Island.

There was a small beach and the main attraction here were some caves, which were pretty cool.

James Bond Island (Kao Phing Kan)

Our next stop was Kao Phing Kan (aka James Bond Island), which was a quick boat ride away.

They did let us ride on the deck of the boat during this part instead of the seats inside, which was a lot of fun and would highly recommend.

The island was awesome, and would look familiar if you’ve seen the old James Bond movie (The Man With the Golden Gun).

We had around 30 minutes to our own to explore the island before heading to our next stop:

Hong Island

Our next stop was Hong Island. This place was stunningly beautiful, although we only got to kayak around vs. going to the beach here. The kayaks are in pairs so you’ll have to buddy up with someone if traveling solo (shoutout to the french dude who joined me).

It’s actually kind of an awkward setup where some local guide is hired to paddle you instead of paddling yourself. I guess this is for safety(?), not that kayaking on still water is an extreme sport. But I’d bring a little cash for tips to make sure the support folks are taken care of as well ($5 – $10 USD per person is fine). The views from the water were pretty incredible, and our guide took us under some cave formations.

After getting back on the boat, our tour guides went a bit into deeper water then let us all jump off the boat for a swim, which was a lot of fun and refreshing after being in the heat all day. And the views were pretty epic.

Ko Panyi & Dinner

Our next stop was Ko Panyi, which was a really cool floating village. The town is home to around ~1,600 Muslims from Java, Indonesia. It was really cool to see a different culture / religion within an almost entirely Buddhist Thailand.

We arrived right as the sun was setting and the views of the surrounding Phang Nga bay were incredible.

We had a buffet-style pre-arranged dinner here for us. It was definitely touristy and the food was not great, so I’d make sure to eat a solid meal before the tour. They offered a mix of western and Thai options, but given I had a 14 hour flight lined up for the next day I didn’t want to test my stomach with anything crazy, so I just settled for chicken and rice.

However, the dining area and gift shop was all local Muslim-run, which was cool to see. Also, the views of the surrounding Phang Nga bay from the island at dusk were incredible.

Bioluminescent Plankton

For the finale of the tour, we headed back to Hong Island in the pitch black to see the bioluminescent plankton. The water was quite choppy due to wind in the bay, which made for a fairly bumpy ride. If you have a bad back / don’t do well with turbulent waters, I’d definitely keep that in mind if booking this tour. I thought it was really fun though, and added to the adventure. Also, it was pitch black outside at this point, I was in the front row, and could see absolutely nothing out the front. But hey the crew does this every day, right?

We made our way to Hong Island and parked at a little beach. The crew instructed us to head into the water (knee deep), where they turned off the lights on the boat and we let our eyes adjust in the pitch black for a few minutes.

Then, we were free to move our hands through the water to “activate” the bioluminescent plankton. Unfortunately, the water was pretty murky this day due to the waves kicking up a lot of soot in the Bay, but the blue glow was still quite visible when pitch black.

The science behind why bioluminescent plankton glow is pretty interesting – when water is disturbed around them, an enzyme inside of them (luciferase), which interacts with oxygen to produce light. Evolutionarily, this is actually a defense mechanism to either (a) startle predators or (b) attract attention to the predator, so a larger predator can come and eat the first predator. Nature is pretty crazy.

The boat ride back to the marina took around an hour, plus another hour to drive back to the hotel (took awhile since the car had to make multiple stops for other people on the tour).

I was pretty exhausted but still hungry, so finished off my night with some authentic Thai food (quesadilla and guac, don’t judge me) and a Singha.

Conclusion

This tour was one of the highlights of my trip to Southeast Asia in general. While definitely weather and elements sensitive, seeing all sorts of islands in Phang Nga bay and the bioluminescent plankton was a special experience I’ll always remember.

One other thing to consider as well is that this tour departed in the afternoon (~1pm). While the downside is that it can be scorching hot at the beginning, it was also a good way to avoid peak crowds. At most of the destinations we visited in Phang Nga bay, the crowds were fairly minimal despite being peak tourist season (February), which is quite the opposite from my experience in Halong Bay a week prior.

This was a great way to finish off my Southeast Asia trip, but I still had more to look forward to with trying out Finnair’s AirLounge business class for the first time on my long trip back home to NYC.