Travel Tips

We wanted our own boat, it had to have a sundeck, a western toilet, the boat had to be big enough so the 9 of us could be comfortable and some of the group wanted to do snorkeling.

After a quick phone call this was all organized (by Phuket Richard) and would cost us 12,000Baht (1,333Baht each) this included transfers, fruit, unlimited water, soft drinks and lunch as well. (We also took an esky with a few alcoholic beverages).

Richard supplied all the snorkeling equipment which I think was 100 baht each, however we paid in fish ha-ha.

Our boat headed for Racha Noi Island, this is a great location for fish as the water is much deeper.

The first couple of hours was pretty quiet, we only caught about 15 tuna ha-ha (how exciting). I was the first to catch a double header, the line took off and I dived into the chair with Gary passing me the rod, I started reeling it in with our deckhand screaming instructions at me.

My God, it was so hard, I really had to work, I thought my arms were going to be ripped off, I must have a 500kilo fish on the end, well I had 2 tuna, one of them was a black tuna and they like to fight a bit.

Our deckhand was the funniest guy, he must have told us a hundred times throughout the day that he is the tuna fisherman and do what he says, a few of us got into trouble for doing things wrong.

He told us that today we would catch 50 tuna.

He wanted to break a record of a previous tour he took out where they caught 30 odd tuna. (Go the poms) Everyone caught tuna in the first couple of hours so we were very happy.

It was so exciting, all the fish were tuna, our deckhand would know before he even saw the fish what size it was, he would say good one, good one this one for BBQ (meaning a big one) or fry fish, fry fish (meaning a smaller one).

Mal caught a dolphin fish which apparently Thais love in soup.

By now it was just the 3 guys, myself and Angie who had taken over catching the fish.

It sure is hard when you’re not sitting in the chair, trying to balance and reel in a fish with the rod jammed into your leg, lots of bruises from this, but it was worth it.

Then it was time for a break and some snorkeling, we stopped just off Racha Noi Island for about an hour and a half.

Soon its lunchtime so back on board we go, our deckhand had cooked 2 of our tuna catch and it was just delicious, plus there was fried rice, yummy fried chicken and fruit platters.

Now with full bellies its time for some more fishing.

Things started of quietly again in the afternoon for awhile but then it all changed.

All the rods started to get hit at once, we had people in the chair pulling in tuna, people trying to balance on eskys pulling in fish, (some more double headers as well), the deckhand was going berserk, the captain came down to help, (hang on who is driving the boat, oh well must be on automatic pilot).
.

The huge esky is looking pretty full so our deckhand decides to take all the fish out and count them.

WOW we broke the poms record, we had 68 tuna. GO THE AUSSIES.

We gave the captain and deckhand about 30 fish, so they were very happy.

We had so much fun giving away fish that night.

The bellboys at our hotel had some; the massage ladies down the road took a few.

We gave a couple to the man who works at Nong Jame restaurant for his family, and then we took a couple to Speedys Bar.

The next night Speedy hired a BBQ and the girls cooked the fish plus satays and potatoes so we all gorged ourselves again. It was delicious!!

So once again another fantastic day in Phuket.

We have since been on another fishing trip since this report. The weather conditions were not as good and we only caught 12 fish!!
There are a lot more photos from both fishing trips on the link below.

Photo Pages,

Phuket Richard organised this day for us contact him at: richard@phuket-scuba-diving.com