See the Beauty: The Tropical Island of Poda.
Sometimes it happens like this: you spot the silhouette of an unknown island on the horizon, and you get an overwhelming, urgent desire to go there no matter what.
Looking at the maps, you can see that this island is called Poda, belongs to the Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park, and is located about seven kilometers from Ao Nang Beach in Krabi Province.
At the same time, Poda is the largest of the Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park island group. It measures 600 by 1000 meters, has cliffs 230 meters high, and a coastline 3 km long. The beautiful cliffs of the Railay Peninsula are also clearly visible from Poda Island.
The hallmark of Poda is the Koh Ma Tang Ming rock (sea stack), which rises almost 100 meters out of the sea.
As soon as we reached the resort town of Ao Nang and took a dip in the warm Andaman Sea, we started sorting through various ways to get to the nearest island beach.
We didn't bring our own kayak this time, so we started looking for some water transport from Ao Nang.
There were several options to feel like islanders.
In principle, a public longtail boat suited our purpose, which departs several times a day from Ao Nang Beach (costs 300 baht per person round trip, but you need to gather a group of 8 people); a private boat (1,700–3,000 baht depending on the number of islands, for the entire boat). Well, or a speedboat.
There was another option not to stress out and treat yourself to a pleasant time by buying an island tour: in Ao Nang, you can take a one-day excursion called "Four Islands." Such offers are available in all local tourist shops and on Trip.com. During this excursion, tourists visit the islands of Poda, Tup, Chicken, and Phra Nang Beach on the Railay Peninsula.
Getting to the island with a slight touch of extreme means getting to Poda on your own, which, of course, is exactly what we chose.
And, a little while later, we finally made it to Poda and settled down right across from the Ma Tang Ming rock.
Poda Island is part of the national park territory; rangers keep watch and charge an entrance fee of 200 Thai baht.
Closer to noon, the crowd on the beach noticeably increased as numerous excursionists began to arrive. By lunchtime, you could count 20 or even 30 boats and two speedboats at the central parking area all at once.
At low tide, the beautiful beach of Poda looked, to put it mildly, not so great. Where did that picture of a paradise island that impressed us so much upon arrival go? Shallows, dirty yellow corals sticking out of the water—not it at all. But for some reason, the tourists who arrived at the beach were quite fine with it: young and older couples, as well as families, continuously took pictures against the backdrop of the sea and the Ma Tang Ming rock.
The sight of the coral beach during low tide is a mediocre spectacle, so tourists who want to see a beautiful picture of a tropical island should definitely take this timing into account.
Meanwhile, evening was already approaching. After waiting for the water to start rising, we headed back.
The sea on the islands of Krabi Province is clean, of an incredibly "delicious" turquoise color, and the sand is so snow-white that it blinds the eyes. There is also shade under the trees. Perfect. Sun, sea—everything we love.