23 Mar 2023
Had to chase this company to confirm a pick up time and it was a little stressful. They arrived slightly late and the itinerary was not as described. We were told to ready for 10 - 10.20 am. We were collected at 10.30 and were back at the hotel at 16.00. Allowing for half an hour to the first stop of the tour and half an hour back to the hotel the whole tripping time amounted to about 4.5 hours. I think the maximum we spent at any one of the stops was 50 minutes. We visited the Monkey Temple first (ladies need to cover shoulders and take a sarong, alternatively you can donate 20 baht and borrow a sarong - I chose to make a donation) then the floating Muslim village, James Bond island and finally cave canoeing. To me that’s 4 not 5 stops but I may be missing a point and maybe they count the long tail boat transfer as one of the 5?
Personally we felt this tour was far too busy. 40 people on a long tail boat felt cramped and over crowded. Not very relaxing.
The lunch at the village was fine. Plenty of it.
Hardly any soft drinks distributed throughout the day and when they were they weren’t always offered to everyone.
The scenery at James Bond island is stunning but it didn’t feel like sand underfoot to me in the sea. More like mud. Very strange.
The cave canoeing was ok and you do get to see some absolutely stunning landscapes on the journey there.
I was mistakenly expecting some swimming in the sea but I was wrong and that wasn’t part of this tour.
Overall I’m glad we did it but wouldn’t repeat the experience. Definitely not in such a large group. My recommendation would be to charter a crew and boat and visit with the people you are with and then you can tailor the tour to what you want to see.