John Gray Sea Canoe – a tour for the ages – Part 1

It’s nighttime. We are in a canoe, in a cave, in the middle of nowhere. It is pitch dark and we cannot see a thing. There is no sound, except that of the oars guiding our canoe through the caves. We halt, our guide asks us to stretch out our hands and vigorously run them through the surface of water. Here goes nothing, we do as was asked and lo and behold, a light bluish glow began to appear. We had always wanted to witness bioluminescence, but never thought we would do it this way, right in the middle of it, especially after the amazing day we had just experienced. John Gray Sea Canoe starting out from Phuket delivered on all the hype and promise, and delivered an absolutely outstanding adventure through nature and time, making it one of the best tours we have ever had on our travels. In fact, from all the tours we took even just out of Phuket this one by John Gray was the most memorable one.

Looking for a good tour while planning for Phuket is no easy task. Tens of travel websites have hundreds of tours up for offer, with thousands of tourists booking them every single day. Also, you do not want to be stuck with something which takes up too much of your time and money, and sticks you up in a small boat filled to the brim with tourists, doing the most generic things possible. This is when we came across John Gray Sea Canoe while in Phuket. Unlike the hoards of other tours, John Gray used to take his canoe out by himself to Pha Nga Bay, and has discovered and mapped this route. Writing about John’s love for nature can be an entire article in itself, but all it takes to understand his thinking is his ‘about’ page on his company website. Moreover, this tour wasn’t just making people happy, it was changing their lives and we had to check it out and opted for the ‘Hong by Starlight’ tour.

Excited for the trip, we were out and ready by the hotel lobby and a van picked us up at 11:30am sharp. Picking up a few more guests, we were on our way to Ao Por Pier. Finally excited, we were getting on to the boat to start the trip, and to our amazement, John Gray himself was standing there, inviting us aboard. After an introduction and a safety brief, we started off our journey towards the bay with some amazing food in tow. We got our food and sat next to John, who was happy to entertain us with his stories, from being the first Emmy award winner from Hawaii to being stranded in Thailand 26 years ago with $26 in his pocket. But the most important thing we took away from our conversations was how much he loved and cared about nature and how he spent his entire life encouraging people to do the same.

One of the first things you notice while you are on board, is the staff and the camaraderie between them. Some of them have been working with John over the past twenty years, and you can see the happiness over their faces while they welcome and guide you. With respect to safety, it is absolutely on point, these guys are professionals and they know what they’re doing. They even gave a waterproof bag to keep our belongings while we were canoeing out in the bay. After a fun, lengthy chat with John, while enjoying some lip-smacking food on the deck, we were finally arriving at the bay. We were able to stand out on the deck of the boat and it looked absolutely incredible, with huge limestone cliffs approaching us from everywhere. It was like a scene straight out of a movie, unlike anything we could ever imagine.

We had arrived and the canoes were out! Every two people get their own canoe and a crew member to guide them along. Our guide was Oatty, who was a very bright and jovial 20 year old working for John for the past year, and went out of his way to make sure we were having fun. We’ve raised this point before, but it is really cool to see how every member of the crew look up to John and their interactions show how much he cares about them as well. They really want to be there and do the best they can for him, which really elevated our tour to a whole new experience. Oatty welcomed us onboard the canoe, and we set off towards the first cave. Here’s a tip: many of these caves may have bats on the roof, so don’t stare directly upwards with your mouths open if you want to avoid eating bat-poop. There’s gonna be a great lunch on the boat, we recommend you wait for that.

Entering the Hong through the cave felt like a portal taking us back in time by a thousand years. If not for the other canoes around us, it felt like we were the first humans to have discovered this place. This was further evidenced by the fact that the first creatures that we saw on entering was a mudskipper, which is believed to be the symbol of an evolutionary turning point from literally millions of years ago. There was no other sound in the bay, except that of nature itself. This was our planet in all its natural glory and we had never experienced anything like this ever in our lives. It was a phenomenal experience and it had just begun.

Veering in and out of caves on our canoes, while lying completely flat on our backs so our heads don’t hit the rock formations, was an adventure in itself. The ceilings of some caves were covered with bats, while others were ornate with oyster shells more than hundreds of years old where you couldn’t keep your eyes off the beauty of nature. Every single cave was like a pathway to a bygone era and the experience was as mind-blowing as you can imagine.

One of the highlights of this tour was when the oyster cave led to a huge open lagoon area which had no other canoes there except ours . We stopped canoeing and were just sitting there, marvelling at the huge limestone formation in front of us. Not a word, completely immersed in nature. There was only the sound of water splashing the rocks gently, monkeys fighting in the trees, insects in the forest and birds chirping away in the distance. And just us, taking everything in. We had snorkelled in a Spanish lagoon in the Caribbean and now napping in one all the way in Asia was an experience of a lifetime too.

This is why we love traveling. This is why we want to see the world and experience the true beauty surrounding us all. To this day, I can be sitting at home, miles away in the comfort of my chair, and all I have to do is close my eyes, and I am there! It was absolutely unreal. And everyday, because of these guys and their love for nature and this place, more people are getting to experience this for the first time in their lives. Moreover, this was just our afternoon, and there were other activities planned for the rest of the day and we could not wait to see what else was in store for us.

Stay tuned for part 2 of exploring the Phang Nga Bay!

Who knew a tour out of Phuket could be so magical all thanks to John Gray & his team!

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