Four islands, before the fleet

At a glance

Duration

One day, 09:00 – 16:00 on the water

Group

Max 12 on the boat

Starts

Hotel pick-up, 07:15 – 08:15

Ends

Back at your hotel by 17:00

Difficulty

Easy, but you swim

From

USD 42 per person

Who this day is for

This is for people who want to snorkel properly at least twice, eat lunch somewhere that is not a floating restaurant, and be off the boat before the light goes flat. It is not a party boat and there is no music.

The An Thoi archipelago sits off the southern tip of Phu Quoc — fifteen islets, most of them uninhabited, in water that runs from three to twelve metres over the reef shelves. It is not the Coral Triangle and we will not pretend it is: expect hard coral in fair condition, plenty of small reef fish, sea urchins on the rocks, and visibility of eight to fifteen metres on a good day in the dry season. What it does have, which much better-known snorkelling does not, is warm shallow water and islands you can stand on.

The difference between a good day here and a mediocre one is almost entirely timing. The commercial fleet leaves An Thoi between 09:30 and 10:00 and arrives at Hon Gam Ghi in a block. We board at 08:45 and are in the water by 09:20, which buys roughly fifty minutes on the first reef with nobody else on it. That is the whole trick, and it costs us a boat crew starting an hour earlier.

The day, hour by hour

Times move by up to 40 minutes with the sea state and with where the harbourmaster puts us in the queue. The order of the islands can change; the number of stops does not.

Day by day

Day 1

An Thoi archipelago — four islands, three swims

Fifty minutes on the first reef before the commercial fleet arrives

You are collected between 07:15 and 08:15 depending on where you are staying: Ganh Dau and the far north go first, An Thoi and Sunset Town last. The drive south along the coast road takes 25 minutes from Long Beach and about 70 from Ganh Dau.

The boat is a 14 metre wooden hull with a shaded deck, a swim ladder off the stern and a freshwater shower. Twelve is the maximum we sell; on a quiet weekday it is often six or eight. Masks, snorkels, fins and buoyancy vests are on board in adult and child sizes — bring your own mask if you have a prescription lens, we cannot supply those.

Between the second and third stop the Hon Thom cable car runs directly overhead, which is the single most photographed thing on this trip and takes about four seconds. The rest of the day is water. You will be in it for roughly three hours in total, split across three stops, with a two-hour break on the beach in the middle.

StayNot applicable — day tripMealsLunch, fruit, drinking waterTravel50 minutes each way on averageOn footUnder 1 km, soft sand

Prices

Private is worth doing from about five people, where the whole boat costs less per head than five shared seats and you set the departure time yourself. Below four it is a luxury, not a saving. The prices page has the same comparison for every trip we run.

Gallery

Who this tour is not for

• Non-swimmers. There is a buoyancy vest and a guide, and people do manage, but three water stops is a long day if you are anxious the whole time. The north island road trip is the better day out.
• Anyone who cannot climb a four-rung ladder out of the water onto a moving deck.
• Travellers here between June and September. The southwest monsoon puts swell into the An Thoi channel and this trip is cancelled more often than it runs. We will tell you that when you enquire rather than after you pay.
• People expecting the reefs of Raja Ampat or the Similans. This is decent shallow snorkelling in warm water, and it is honestly described here as exactly that.
• Children under four, who cannot use the smallest vest we carry safely.