MY WORLD AT LARGE: Island in Thailand: Ko Kradan

Warning: this was written as a guide to Kradan Island and contains accommodation details etc. that may be boring for people who have no intention to go there!

Before I arrived on Kradan I experienced an entertaining transfer from Phuket (see the chapter "Thailand/Krabi").
Why did I pick Kradan?
Before I left Austria I had googled "snorkeling straight off the beach", and Kradan was among the places recommended by fellow snorkelers. I liked it so much that I did not go anywhere else once I was there, contrary to my original plans.

Beach just round the corner from Hat Yao

Hat Yao Pier is the small port where Tigerline's fast ferries depart for the Andaman Islands; there are several other piers in the area where longtail boats offer their taxi boat services from the mainland to various islands. The Tigerline ferries are faster than the longtails and make island hopping possible; they service Lanta, Ngai, Kradan, Mook, Laoliang, Lipe, and Langkawi just across the border in Malaysia.
Tigerline's website
http://www.tigerlinetravel.com/index.php?cat=lineboat&new_language=1
makes it look as if there was a ferry service all the way from Phuket to Langkawi, but unfortunately that is not the case (although they may be thinking about establishing it). True, they do sell you tickets from Phuket to any of the islands mentioned in the timetable, but the fact that 6-8 hours of the journey will be by minivan and only 1- 2 hours by boat is hidden away somewhere in the depths of the website. During my farcical trip Phuket - Krabi - Hat Yao I met several passengers who had booked online and were highly disappointed that they weren't going on a leisurely cruise, but a cramped minivan trip.
When I go to the Andamans again (and I'm pretty sure I will) I'll fly to Trang or Krabi and avoid the tiresome transfer from Phuket. But maybe they will have managed to establish a ferry connection between Phuket and the islands in a few years...

Approaching Ko Kradan

There are no roads and no motor vehicles on the island, except for Wally's sidecar-motorbike; no ATM, and only a tiny shop offering a very limited range of goods.
As of Dec. 09 there were 6 resorts; all of them are roughly the same standard (simple bungalows, no swimming pool), apart from the upmarket Seven Seas.
One new resort is under construction right at the Tigerline disembarkation point.

On the main beach (the east side of the island):
Kradan Beach (formerly Paradise Beach): closest to where you disembark from the Tigerline ferry, in the middle of the main beach; their reception also functions as reservation booth for Tigerline tickets, and they change money in their restaurant.
http://kradanbeachresort.com/index_en.html
Adjacent is the new and expensive Seven Seas Resort, the only one with a swimming pool.
www.sevenseasresorts.com/about_resort.asp
Further north is Kalumé, opened recently by an Italian (overpriced in my opinion, both bungalows and restaurant).
www.kalumekradan.com/2008/11/island
The northernmost resort is Kradan Island, which was the best value for money in Dec.09 (the exactly same kind of bungalow was 500 Baht at Kradan Island and 900 B. at Kalumé; the Kradan Beach bungalows are a bit better, but more expensive). I thought the food at their restaurant was delicious, and really cheap. The resort belongs to a local Thai family.
www.kradanisland.com

my bungalow at Kradan Island Resort

view from the bungalow porch

the beach in front of Kradan Island Resort

On the southern beach (west of the National Park area):
Ao Niang Resort, run by a Thai gentleman from Trang, is situated in a beautiful cove by itself; at high tide it's accessible by boat only (unless you want to wade through waist-high water). Accommodation and restaurant prices are about the same as at Kradan Island Resort.

In a clearing in the forest southwest of Kradan Beach Resort:
Wally's Paradise Lost (Wally, a sailor from Hawaii, is famous among Andaman Islands connoisseurs - his resort used to be the only one on Kradan until not long ago). Prices and quality of the bungalows are similar to Kradan Beach; the restaurant boasts large portions (at relatively high prices).
The location in the forest is very pretty as such, but I would not want to stay there because there is no sea view, and no pleasant breeze in the evening to keep the mosquitoes at bay (not that there were many when I was there).
http://www.kokradan.com/

The southern part of the main beach is taken up by the Anantara Beach Club (formerly Amari) - a fancy structure for day-trippers from the luxury Anantara Hotel at Si Kao on the mainland.
The southeast corner of the island is part of the Hat Chao Mai National Park, and it grieves me deeply what I have to report about it: the only architectural crime on the island was committed by some corrupt N.P. officials or affiliates!
A number of ugly concrete cabins were constructed illegally and abandoned when the offense was detected. Now the ruins blemish one of the most beautiful spots on the island.

National Park beach

Fortunately the reef is undamaged, and that part is still the best for snorkeling.
The island is popular for diving + snorkeling trips, but the boats never arrive before ten am, and are usually gone by 4 pm; I was there over Christmas, which is supposed to be high season, but if there were three tour boats at the same time the locals would mutter "busy today"...
You can walk the whole length of the island - it's only about 4 km - if you watch the tides (several of the sandy beaches will be covered completely at high tide). Wading is no problem, however, because the water is body temperature.

North eastern shore at high tide

On my way to the northernmost tip of the island I met a few fishermen - the only other people living on the island beside the resort employees.

Flora and Fauna:

Flower and seed pod of a tree that is common on the island

Buttressed trees on the way to the "Hidden Cove" (my name for it) at the southern end of the island.

There is a short overland trail, or you can swim/wade from Ao Niang Cove.

This lovely guy shared my bungalow (and my fruit) with me

(he's a long-haired rabbit)

Crabs stranded in a tidepool at low tide

The Kradan Island Resort Christmas tree (!)

I don't have an underwater camera (yet), so no snorkeling pictures of my own, sorry! I wish I had had one for my snorkeling highlights: a luminescent squid with two young, and several moray eels with spots like leopards. There are plenty of colorful fish and also a variety of both soft and hard coral, but I was not lucky enough to see large fish or sea turtles.

At low tide the shallow area along the main beach becomes (almost) dry; you can walk the approximately 70-100 m out to the reef edge, where the snorkeling is good.

In the National Park the reef is very close to the shore, and the best coral can be seen right there.

Supplies
for the island
have arrived

Longtail boats




The entire island is densely forested, with a steep ridge running along the middle (see map):
http://www.sevenseasresorts.com/map.asp
The western shore is largely inaccessible on foot (too steep and overgrown); there are three small sandy coves that lost a large amount of their sand to a recent storm so that there is practically no beach left at high tide (but a fisherman told me that it would not take very long for the sand to be deposited again by the waves). Unfortunately the waves also deposit heaps of garbage, and as there are no resorts that keep cleaning up, all three coves could be called "Garbage Beach".
The southern one is called Sunset Beach, however, and can be reached on a steep trail from Wally's Paradise Lost; at the top of the ridge a short trail branches off to the left, to a driftwood bench erected at a spot called "Sunset View".
The middle one is also "Sunset Beach" and can be reached from Kradan Island Resort; the Italians at Kalumé called it "Flip Flop Beach" - very apt indeed, because you wade through thousands of washed-up flip-flops before you get to the beach (while plastic waste is getting recycled now, they have not found a solution for rubber flip-flops yet).
The northern one is quite far away and difficult to find; my directions were "after the very big tree on the beach look for the ropes leading up on the left", and although you can't miss the big tree you really have to look for the ropes concealed in the undergrowth. The beach is different from the other two, because behind the sandy part there is a wide flat area with wild banana trees - the reason for some people calling it "Banana Beach".