As well as Nathorn being the administrative 'capital' of Koh Samui, it's also home to the island's port. This is where the biggest ferry operator has its terminal as well as being home to assorted tour boats and a small fishing fleet. It's not huge but consists of two main piers that extend out, probably 700m or so into the sea, as the sea is very shallow here, exposing acres of sandy seabed at low tide.
If you were wondering just how far out to sea this pier extends, you can get an idea from this photo which shows the sea-front road in the distance.
We'd finished work a little earlier than usual one day, a couple of weeks ago and the wife had booked her favourite massage lady for a couple of hours from 6 pm, just before sunset. I was looking forward to simply hanging out around town waiting for her and after having some tea (dinner for Southerners!), got on the bike and rode down to the end of the first pier. The Seahorse ferry was docked after one of its twice-monthly trips down from Bangkok and people were fishing and generally milling around having food and drinks with family. It was lovely to see people just relaxing at the end of a tough week. From the number of joggers, it seems to be a favourite spot for a little exercise too, and with coffee in hand, I plonked my arse on a hefty bollard and enjoyed a little people-watching.
It's not really in the style of an English seaside pier. There are no amusement arcades, candy floss or ice cream, it is a working port so more of a dock or wharf, I guess but even so, throw in a couple of food vendors and it's a great place to hang out. Imagine trying to enter a port in the UK and trying to explain to security you were just going to chill and have a beer and some dried squid snacks whilst looking at boats.
It had been a beautiful day and the moon was out early, obviously wanting to enjoy the sunset in front of it!
Yup, that sunset!
Just a dad with his kid spending a little quality time together fishing.
The red boats you can see in the background are the tour boats that take people out to see some of the smaller outlying islands such as Pig Island, which is an island that is only inhabited by pigs. Seriously! Read about it here.
These boats also ferry passengers from the giant cruise ships that visit the island each week, anchoring far out to sea and needing the help of the tour boats to bring the passengers ashore. It's bedlam when they call. The roads around are full of buses taking the cruise passengers to various tourist traps.
I'm guessing they can squeeze on a few hundred people per boat!
Two local fishing boats await their next trip out to sea. Boats like these will fish in pairs and stay far out at sea for a week at a time. They really don't look safe and I wouldn't like to be stuck on one of these for a day, let alone a week but I'd love to have a look around. I assume they have cold storage for the catch and crew quarters but I can't imagine life onboard is very pleasant! It seems everything related to food production at a grassroots level is difficult and we should all appreciate farmers and fishermen a whole lot more.
They don't look any more seaworthy from behind!
The much smaller long-tailed fishing boats that fish nightly just offshore using green lamps to attract squid and fish are simply sat on the beach and in the shallows between trips.
Sorry, I couldn't resist another gratuitous sunset shot but this was taken on a different evening.
The Blue Dolphin is a ferry that runs twice a month between Bangkok and Koh Samui. The trip takes 20 hours each way which I don't think is bad considering it must be around 400 miles as the crow flies. The boat sails right up the Chao Phraya River to a dock that's very close to the city centre.
It's not a cheap trip however as you are unable to simply book a seat. You have to book a cabin which starts at 3000Baht (£70 GBP, $90USD) for a capsule room, all the way up to 24000 Baht for a cabin that will sleep up to 6 people. A car or bike is extra, of course. I think it is more of an 'experience' trip as they have a restaurant and cafes on board along with live music and I could imagine it's a really relaxed way to travel up to or down from Bangkok. I would have also thought it may be a more convenient and quicker way to get freight onto the island but in this respect, the ship has a big problem; the loading height is only 4.2m, well below the maximum 5m loading height for trucks in Thailand.
Looks like they were loading some supplies on board using a davit on the top deck. (Top Deck. Now there's a shandy you don't see anymore from the days when we marketed alcoholic drinks to kids!)
Despite my misgivings, everyone I know personally who has done the trip to Bangkok by the Blue Dolphin has thoroughly enjoyed it so I see a trip with motorbike sometime in the future. Unless it goes bust again!
From Pier 2, the Seatran ferries across to the mainland keep chugging away from 5 am to 7 pm, outside those hours, you've had it!
There are plans afoot to build a 25km long bridge from the mainland to Samui. Its been talked about for years but was approved by government in 2021. Costing 30 billion Baht ($900m USD) work has just started with seabed surveys to calculate the exact route it will take.
What an absolute waste of money. Already on Samui we have roads blocked by traffic, regular electricity shortages and not enough clean water and they want to bring even more tourists over! Total madness.
Supporters of the plan, who are mainly local, complain that there aren't enough ferries and that they don't run 24/7 and that the single airline that flies to its own private airport on the island is prohibitively expensive, despite there being a local residents discount scheme. The same locals who made a killing by selling off family land to fuel the tourist and expat boom 20 odd years ago.
I say, if it's a problem, don't live on a fucking island.....but only quietly, in case the in-laws hear me!!
And that's it. Oh, go on then. Just one more!
When the bridge is finished, Seatran and Raja will be sailing off into the sunset permanently!
Thanks for reading. I hope everyone is well and I send my best wishes to all for the coming week.
Martin
