14 January James Bond island

Everywhere we've been in the last couple of weeks we've seen trips to James Bond island advertised. This is the island in the north part of Phang Nga bay where scenes from Man with a Golden Gun, more specifically Scaramangers (sp?) lair, were filmed.

We're here so we couldn't not go could we? Our cruising guide suggested a anchorage nearby and to go across in the dinghy either early in the morning or late afternoon when there would be less day boats visiting.

as featured in the film and me

David explores the caves

rock which launched 1000 visits

Perhaps our level of expectation was set too high. When we arrived at the Koh Yang anchorage, a shallow bay in the lee of a small island, the wind was blowing hard and we couldn't find sufficient depth to be able to tuck in away from the beam on swell so we rolled while we waited until late afternoon when we planned to cross (the even shallower channel) to James Bond island. Our timing was spot on as the last tourist boat was loading it's passengers as we arrived. We had the place to ourselves apart from the Park Ranger who wanted to collect our foreign visitors fee. We explained we had bought our one week tickets at the last island (as we had) but they were on the yacht and we weren't going back for them. It was late in the day and he recognised the indignant yachtie.

JB island is two high peaks joined by a low rock beach which is now filled with tourist shops selling tourist tat. They were all closed and the stalls owners weren't bothered with us so we wandered, explored the caves and took photos of the iconic rock stack. Unfortunately the phrase 'is this it?' came to the fore. Yes, this is it, a set from a 1974 film which continues to draw the crowds.

By chance this is the second Bond island we've visited on our travels; the first was a large rock in the Bahamas which was the Thunderball cave. I can see a theme developing...where will we visit next. I already know the answer; the location where The Beach was filmed, Phi Phi Le to the south of Koh Phi Phi and on our route back to Langkawi in about six weeks.

Back to Phang Nga and back to Jackster half an hour before the sun set and half an hour from the more protected, deeper anchorage at Koh Hong. For the sake of a good night's sleep we shifted back to Koh Hong and had a more peaceful night.