I had an amazing time with the team. Wonderful itinerary that was unlike others, great service, solid inflatable canoes (never felt unsafe!) and they fed us really well. Thank you!

Very well run tour that goes through different islands, lagoons, and sea caves, and gives tons of free time for swimming and kayaking too. They also provided us with unlimited buffet-style food that was pretty yummy and unlimited cold water that was much needed during the April heat! The only thing that could be improved is we waited a longgggg time (everyone was getting restless waiting in the boat) to see the sunset and the bioluminescent organisms (which honestly weren’t as impressive as the ones in Mexico) — so I think they can start the tour a bit later.. Overall, though, it was a well-run tour with great guides, good food, and beautiful sights!

We learned about this excursion from a couple friends that had experienced it during their trips to Phuket. We had a total of 10 people (5 couples) and we all felt this may have been the best thing we did during our week long trip. John Gray himself was on our boat and it was great to get to know him and learn about him putting this experience together years ago. He said he goes out almost everyday as he loves to interact with his customers. Everything was extremely organized and well run. The boat ride out to go canoeing was awesome. Smooth water and amazing scenery. Then we got in canoes and a guide paddled each group so we could just sit and relax. Going into these caves and then into the middle of these islands was incredible. The whole experience was awesome! The food they provided was very good and the crew gave great customer service. I would highly recommend this activity to anyone, regardless of age. I would also recommend using John Gray as they have been doing this for years and know how to create a great experience.

Definitely do this trip!! This tour was amazing. Not only did they allow me to reschedule due to unforeseen events, Jate is very quick and helpful in his email communications and I loved that. The later start was nice as I had done a different tour the day before that started earlier, so I could sleep in a little bit. Definitely buy drinks at the little shop at the initial meet up before getting to the boat if you would like something other than water to drink (they do serve tea with lunch and coffee after the first couple of caves). The food is excellent! I was solo in Phuket, so I got paired up with a group of 3 from Mexico and we had a lovely time together. M is an amazing guide, he does speak limited English, but he recognized that we really enjoyed seeing the different animals and took his time to focus on really experiencing the caves and nature and that was great. He also helped me during the free time swim; I was using a life jacket to float but the current was slowly taking me away from the boat, he was nearby in our canoe and let me hold on and just float, then helped me onto the canoe to get back to the boat. All of the caves are beautiful, though we missed the last one due to the tides being too low (not enough water to get in), so we floated our kratongs in some shallow caves on the outside of the island and enjoyed the bioluminescence. Again here he was great; he got out of the canoe to show us the plankton with his shirt; he would squat in the water, pulled the bottom of his shirt out then would slowly stand up and you could clearly see the bioluminescence. It was like catching stars, it was so cool. Am definitely going to do the tour again!!

There aren’t enough words to describe our incredible experience!!!! The entire staff was beyond amazing but our personal tour guide, Adam, was TOP NOTCH!!! He was knowledgeable, friendly, hilarious, and just absolutely remarkable! We will definitely request him when we return! From transportation to the delicious meals to all the attention to detail, we could not have asked for a better tour! I could go on and on but my review still won’t do justice to the level and quality of this entire experience! My husband and I felt like we were on our second honeymoon! From sea caves to lagoons to bats to glowing plankton and floating candlelit flower lanterns, the surprises kept coming! Thank you, John Gray Sea Canoes and a special thank you to Adam!!! We love you guys!

An absolutely amazing, unique and worthwhile tour! My husband hadn't been keen on going out but it ended up being his highlight of our time in Phuket! Nick was an amazing guide and he quickly realised what sorts of things we were interested in and took us over to show us these things. Could not fault it!

I am not much of a tour person, but I am so glad I decided to try this one. A really relaxing and enjoyable trip. As others have mentioned the customer service is really top notch. Each canoe carries one or two people and has their own guide. I was a solo traveler and the way it worked out it was just the guide and I the canoe. All of the guides or pleasant. My guide (Son? I know I’m spelling it wrong, but he deserves to be recognized) was experienced and it showed in the little details. Allowing me to simply hold my camera as he spun the canoe for 360° video views. Pointing out things that I would never have seen on my own, such as a giant monitor lizard. Lunch was decent, and dinner was actually quite good. I enjoyed the later start and relaxed feel to it. Bioluminescence was a miss for me, but being on the canoe in the water at night was in itself surprisingly enjoyable. You are at the mercy of the tides to a certain extent, but at least for my trip other than waiting for everyone to arrive at the staging area, there was little down time and the overall length was pretty spot on. Boat ride back in was about 45 minutes, but because it was so calm, the weather was so mild, and the boat is slow (in a good way) I was able that entire ride outside in the front of the boatwithout being wind blown or splattered by waves. A really nice way to end the trip.

My wife and I had a wonderful trip on the starlight tour. (Still mostly in the daytime, but you're on the water until just past sunset) Wonderful sunset, great views and very tasty and fresh food. We saw monkeys, paddled through a bat cave, swam and saw may cool plants, caves, and cliffs while paddling through caves to the hollow insides of islands! We got some really cool photos and wonderful memories, and would reccomend it to any nature/adventure lover!

Booked the Hong by Starlight tour after reading the stellar reviews here, and I was not disappointed. My friends and I had an amazing time and this was one of the highlights of our holiday in Phuket. We had excellent guides (Alan and Ahgen) who were friendly, knowledgeable and funny. We enjoyed exploring the caves and lagoons, and it was interesting to partake in a local traditional activity of making and floating our own krathong. Being out at sea at night on an inflatable canoe and watching the bioluminescence glow in the dark felt pretty magical. The tour was well organised and a plus point is that the food was great! Highly recommend to anyone looking for a different sort of day trip activity as compared to the usual island-hopping tours. No doubt this is considered to be one of the more expensive tours but it is well worth the bucks.

This is an absolute must do if you visit Phuket. I have done many many day trips over the years and nothing comes close to the way this is organised. It’s a seamless, well organised excursion. Beautiful locations and at a time of day where you see less tourists so you feel the ocean belongs to you. I enjoyed my birthday here and I have to say it was just unforgettable. We had a lovely hard working guide- only thing was he spoke no English which surprised us because john gray mentioned everywhere that they have all English speaking guides. So this was a little bit of a bummer because we could ask or be told anything about our surroundings, etc. other guests who had English speaking guides were being told about different ecological facts etc so we would just try to listen in on that as we passed them. Either way- the guide was lovely and sweet and I hope he picks up English soon ! Also must mention that this is probably some of the best food in thailand on this one little boat. Lovely lovely lovely

Very enjoyable trip, well organised and guides (ours was Rahod who was so careful in looking out for us and pointing out animals like bats, snake, small crabs in our visit). About 30+ tourists in a boat but it was very spacious, lots of room. Food (lunch, tea time and dinner were excellent, a delicious buffet spread). Scenery with the limestone cliffs and caves and lagoons was beautiful. We managed to jump into the ocean for a short swim too - sedimented waters as the area has more clayey seabed. Plankton bioluminescence is more like white speckles seen when you agitate the water in the dark cave at night (cannot be captured on camera). Overall amazing experience afternoon to night experience you should try once in your life!

Superb experience. First time I did this was 10 years ago and I already had a good experience. Just came back from it and what can I say, the whole experience, the crew, the shuttle pick up, all very professionally done. My husband and I enjoyed ourselves tremendously and we highly recommend this to anyone who's been in the city too long and want to immerse in the vast sea, amongst beautiful nature.

An unforgettable experience kayaking into the sea caves of Phuket. Over the course of 8 hours, we had the chance to visit 3 caves in day and night time. Spectacular view of the lime rocks, and we got to indulge in the Thai tradition of kratong in the evening. Sunset view on the kayak was magical. Lunch and dinner were included and the food was restaurant quality - in fact, the chefs cook the food on the boat so you don’t get cold pre-packed meals like some other tour operators might provide. There are tons of other kayak tour operators out there but I highly recommend John Gray.

What a fantastic day. I'm not sure what to say, it was just really, really great. All the staff were so nice. The chap in charge was funny. Our guide, named Boy, was lovely, very sweet and kind. The food was great and there was a lot of it. I have no hesitation in recommending you just book this....now!!

My husband and I had such a wonderful day on the Starlight boat trip. Everything was seamless from the moment of pickup at our hotel and back. The food on the boat is so delicious and portions are generous for lunch, dinner and snack. The boat is absolutely spotless, too. The itinerary was nearly spot on to what was advertised, and the tour guides were very kind and funny, and really wanted to ensure everyone had a great time. This is a big boat and we had about 40 people on ours. They’re efficient getting people on and off but nothing feels rushed. Highly recommend for a nice, easy day seeing wonderful sights with people and an overall really nice day and evening. Well worth the price.

This tour was worth every cent! The boat was very clean (even in the bathrooms) and the ride in Phang Nga bay was smooth and comparable to a river cruise. Food on the boat was abundant and delicious: skip breakfast if you're going on this tour! The guides were super knowledgeable and you learn not only about science, but about Thai culture as well. The guides were also very attentive: they help you on and off the kayaks, rinse you off after your swims and they checked on my partner when he was feeling unwell. The views we saw in the bay were stunning and I really didn't want to leave! Definitely recommend using this company in Phuket.

My experience with the John Gray Sea Canoe tour was awesome! I went on an all day tour 1/6/2019. The locations we visited were some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The crew was innovative, attentive and incredibly friendly. The crew all loved their jobs, and it shows. Our guide, Tu, got super excited to share things with us, and that made the experience even better. I don't swim and life jackets were provided and I never felt unsafe. And I must comment on the food. Usually on tours you hope to get a decent meal. There's nothing to worry about on this tour! Not only was the food good, but I'd chose to eat there if it were a restaurant! We had the opportunity for John Gray to be on our boat (he had at least 3 out that day, maybe more, so most people didn't have him on the boat). The way hos crew treated him showed real admiration and respect. They appeared to really care for him. What's more, John shared quite a bit of knowledge with us throughout the tour. He has a passion for sharing these beautiful experiences with others. I can't imagine any trip to Phuket would be complete without going on this tour. I'd go again in a heartbeat.

My husband and I came to Thailand for our honeymoon, and this Sea Canoe tour was recommended to us by others that had been on their honeymoon as well. We did the starlight tour. We had such an incredible experience, and felt so incredibly lucky to be matched with our canoe guide, Ong, who was kind, patient, knowledgeable, and you could tell he really truly cared about nature and all of the creatures he pointed out to us on the trip. Having him as our guide was a true highlight of the experience. The scenery was so beautiful, we were mesmerized by the views and by the phosphorescent plankton, and the FOOD on the boat was the best Thai food we ate on our whole trip. You need to do this as part of your trip!

This tour was the most memorable part of my trip to Thailand. A unique, once in a lifetime experience. The guides were so knowledgeable and helpful. The lagoons were breathtaking. Even the food (lunch and dinner buffets) was delicious and plentiful. I highly recommend. The only caveat is that if you have physical limitations, you may want to ask questions in advance. It is not physically strenuous but you do need to be able to use a short ladder to transfer between ship and canoe several times.

Absolutely Loved my Tour with John Gray Sea Canoe, the team and staff really good very good care of you. The Food Served was amazing more like a feast! My Guide and Rower Named Charlie WAS INCREDIBLE! Very Funny, full of energy keeping the whole crowd entertained and Happy! The amount of effort he made to keep the the tour lively, entertaining and active was really what makes a great guide. The John Gray Sea Canoe experience was the Standout Tour of my many great tours across Thailand so its definitely very a MUST DO! If you are lucky and fortunate to get a booking with them definitely do it, as it is VALUE FOR MONEY! And for sure ask for Charlie to be your guide. Checkout chasingguilders.com to see all my pictures from this trip.

This tour is a must for anyone that stays in Phuket. It will surely provide good lasting memories of your holiday. There are plentiful tour operators available for kayaking in the Phang Nga area and even though this tour is not cheap, it will provide one of the best quality. We have chosen this tour ourselves by recommendations by several online websites (such as Lonely Planet). The main focus of the tour is of course tha kayaking in the Phang Nga area. Even though that the boat and the group was quite large (~25), it felt very personal due to the appointment of one tour guide per kayak. Each kayak has 2 persons on it and your guide will do all the peddling so that you can enjoy the unparalleled beauty of scenery. Our guide, Dool, was fantastic. He went out of his way to interact with us, explained us about the area, and tried to follow a slightly different path than the other kayaks to find some secluded places. There are in total 3 kayaking moments, each are about 30-45 minutes. You will discover caves, 'hidden' lagoons and find the fluorescent plankton in the evening. There is also some free time of about 30 minutes in which you can swim freely around the boat or to kayak yourself. The staff / tour guides are participating themselves as well, making a very fun interaction! The food was absolutely incredible as well. Both the lunch and dinner exceeded our expectations. The dinner with sunset in the background is a memory that someone will not forget easily. This tour was definitely one of our highlights of our trip to Phuket.

Well it was an awesome experience , a day spent well doing kayaking and people from management was quiet helpful and guided us well about the Lagoons , the day was full of adventure and the food served at boat was hygienic and delicious. I must recommend this Kayaking service in Phuket , you guy’s will definitely live it . Cheers !!

Eco-conscious staff! During dinner, the staff went out and picked up trash from the waters. The staff genuinely cares about the environment! The staff was hilarious, spoke English, and went out of their way to make sure everyone had a great time-and we did! This crew owned their own boat, so I'm not sure if I am speaking to ALL the John Grey boat tours- but this crew was beyond amazing! Great standard! The food was quite literally the best traditional food we have tasted in Thailand, they cook it right in the boat and water is provided. The coffee and banana cake is something I still dream about! Amazing!!! The sea caves were beautiful and our guide "Lou-ee" was great at explaining all the nature around and making sure we saw everything we wanted to see. During the time we were waiting for one of the caves to be low tide, they let us play on the canoes! It was a long day, but seriously a once in a lifetime opportunity!!

We did the Hong at Starlight tour. Everything about this tour is excellent! It is very well organized, and the food (lunch & dinner) is delicious and comes in a buffet, all you can eat style. The boat crew has friendly, knowledgeable guides who speak decent English. Exploring the sea caves and lagoons by canoe is an extraordinary experience. The evening/night program gave a chance to partake in a cultural Thai tradition, and to witness the bioluminescent plankton at night - so cool! We highly recommend taking this tour with John Gray Sea Canoe!