Ko Raya/Racha

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Beachblogger's Visit to Ko Raya February 2014.

Our resort, BUNGALOW RAYA, had a very good deal on transfers for people not needing to be back at Phuket until late afternoon - out and back for 1000b with the daytrippers, which compares favourably with other transfer speedboats at 1200 particularly since it included free shuttles from/to Phuket accommodation, the snorkelling trip and the rather good buffet luncheon. Hey, the daytrippers pay 2000 for all this.
The above is shot at Bungalow Raya's Phuket depot - in a laneway about 400m north of the Chalong pier. 90% of the daytrippers were Chinese. There had to be 100 or so people here - at least 4 big speedboats. Last time I visited Raya, Bungalow Raya had one speedboat and was not into daytrips.

Arrival/departure floating pier on Raya's main beach often a traffic jam. Out front of headland bungalow can be seen background mid-shot. Bungalow Raya's rather panoramic restaurant is lower right. These shots click-expand for detail.

Nice outlook from our fan bungalow - deserted beach indicates this was shot before abt 1000 when the daytrippers start to arrive.

Gets kind of busy after that. Patok is a lovely beach and it is easy to find a bare patch of sand despite the sun lounges. Not bad snorkelling for novices left of camera. However the wind was blowing onto the shore this visit, which meant water was not as smooth as my previous stay, and some boat junk (drink containers etc) was being blown onshore. Not bad, but not perfect.

We arrived at the island at about 1030. That gave us 30 minutes or so to check in to the resort before the snorkelling trip departed. Daytrippers spent the 30 minutes on the beach - they must have liked it because only about 8 of the 30 or so came snorkelling (more than one boat's snorkellers above) Note daytrippers get an extended beach time after lunch. First and 0NLY snorkelling stop was a short distance to the right off the pier in the side bay next to Bungalow Raya's bungalows. I would have been disappointed as a daytripper because its brochure said Siam Bay and Konkare Bay are snorkelled. I later noticed other daytrip speedboats in these areas. 
The above area has little to enthuse non-novices. Some okay rocks and fish, a bit of coral with not much colour. Clear water.

I reckon the snorkelling off the beach in this area to the left (facing ocean) of the pontoon pier is as good. Don't need a boat. Kinda bumpy here - onshore south-westerly winds ruffling the surface a bit. My first trip in early high season saw winds offshore - smooth glassy conditions at this beach.

Bungalow Raya's accommodation stretched along the speedboat's snorkelling bay from the top bungalows to our bungalow. 
Bungalow details on main Raya page.

Some of the bayside fan bungalows.

Bungalow Raya also had some newish aircon bungalows. Surprisingly the closest had its ocean outlook curtailed by the banyan tree at right margin of pic.

Outlook from Bungalow Raya's restaurant. Woodwork not rickety - I'm still trying to master the panoramic setting on my new elcheapo Olympus. Food pretty good, ditto service but I thought non-breakfasts were overpriced for a non-flash resort reflecting the influx of guests from the (in shot behind beach) high-end THE RACHA. Nearest genuinely budget priced food and beer 10 minutes walk up the cross island track from roughly central beach. The daytripper luncheon on arrival was quite good and being inclusive, excellent value.

Viewpoint in front of our bungalow very busy with daytrippers and guests from all over the island. This couple spent a few of hours posing for snaps - earlier in the day they were down on the pontoon pier. Prosperous looking older guy with hot young wife suggests they were staying at THE RACHA.

One of the huge monitor lizzards which hung around the resort. This dude had found some lovely cool water at a storm drain exit.

We strolled the 20 minutes to the opposite eastern coast of the island several times. Because the wind was different (offshore) from my previous island stay, conditions were much nicer. This is Lar Bay - once off the rocky beach (there was beach sand my first visit - I think last wet season/early dry might have been big on erosion), a white sand bottom with several clumps of coral, quite a few fish. Conditions had attracted several snorkellers and lots of dive boats. Nearby Ter Bay was similar. Konkare, the other east coast "beach" was not as appealing. Absolutely no sand both on the beach and in the bay. But the resort there, Ban Raya, was building what looked like a beach bar overlooking the bay. Could be a nice place to spend time.

Departure - beats having to lug bags to boat.

Because we wanted to be back on Phuket in time to catch a speedboat from the Bang Rong pier in the north-east to Ko Yao Noi, we got Bungalow Raya to arrange this earlier 1200 transfer on RAYABURI's boat from Siam beach. Beach and water look sweet but an earlier visit showed quite a lot of  broken coral just off the sand, slightly milky water and pretty underwhelming snorkelling. The daytrip snorkelling boats I mentioned earlier were in a very distant area against the eastern headland. 

Transfer price 600b but note this outfit does not do inclusive land transfers back to resorts etc. Price adjustment saw us pay 600 for the outward trip on Bunglow Raya's boat which DID include the land transfer from out Nai Harn resort, the snorkelling trip and the buffet luncheon. 

PLEASE O PLEASE. IF YOU VISIT RAYA AND HAVE THE TIME, SEND A FEW PIX AND CAPTIONS TO lajolla22@hotmail.com. ON ACCOUNT I JUST HAVEN'T THE TIME TO KEEP ALL THESE ISLAND REPORTS UP TO DATE. PLEASE DON'T ATTEMPT A FULL ISLAND REVIEW - JUST A QUICK REPORT ON YOUR RESORT WOULD DO.