Ko Jum?

[aqudoc]

Our third trip to Thailand, missed dives previously to Hin Daeng/Hin Muang d/t weather so it's a priority. Flying out of BKK to the south, (no tickets purchased yet, so destination is open to date) on 1/20 and have read about this island Koh Jum. We have until 1/27 when we will go to Ko Lak to leave on liveaboard 1/28 for 4 days Similians, (2nd tour). Question: Anyone know this island or the dive outfit there Blue Juice Divers? We also are curious about Libon, any experiencees? The last trick is travelday passageway to Lak from any of these locales on the 27th. We are aware there are opportunities from Lanta, but all information on the possibilities are welcome. Thanks in advance!!

[Quero]

AFAIK, Blue Juice is a small shop in Krabi Town. You might contact them directly and see whether they do in fact have operations on Koh Jum.

As far as the diving in the area goes, I'd say it's forgettable. I drove over to dive from Koh Libong last spring and would not make the trip again with diving as a priority. The water is silty (5 - 10 m viz only) and there is nothing of particular note about the marine life other than dugongs. I did spend about 90 minutes in nearly zero viz for a shallow (3 m) dive in the seagrass area where the dugongs live looking for them, but saw nothing interesting other than some murex shells crawling on the bottom. The dugongs, if they were there, probably heard me coming and moved out of sight--but I'd have to have pretty much bumped into one in order to see it anyway!

You will most likely not be able to dive Hin Daeng/Hin Muang from these little islands. The dive boats are not meant for open ocean travel such as you would need to do to reach these pinnacles. To dive HD/HM you will need to depart from a more developed dive destination with operators who have bigger boats--from, for example, Koh Lanta, Krabi, or Phi Phi. From Phuket you can get a 2d/2n LOB that goes down there.

Now if what you are looking for is that 1960's-beach-shack-backpacker experience, you should definitely go to Koh Libong or Koh Jum or one of the other nearby islands such as Koh Kradan. Transfers are complicated and do take a long time. It would take you the better part of a day to get from Libong by longtail to the mainland and then by mini van from the pier at Hat Yao to Trang where you could get a bus up to Khao Lak (not Ko Lak--it's not an island but a town on the coast). If you've got that kind of time, go for it! It's well worth visiting some of the less developed islands on Thailand's Andaman coast.

[katdiver]

Quero is right about Blue Juice in Krabi town. Not sure about any operation on Koh Jum. Better try one of the main diving areas for that sort of service and the boats to handle it.
We do a 2d/1n trip there, basically 1 day diving Phi Phi, overnight on Phi Phi, then next day HD/HM and Koh Haa Yai on the way back.

[aqudoc]

Thanks for the overview. We stayed out on Ko (not Khoa) Kradan last visit to decompress. Great snorkeling @ high tide, Ko Kr***n Resort...uh, rustic? LOL