Ko Siboya

Koh Siboya (เกาะศรีบอยา) is a small island 20 kilometers south of Krabi in Krabi Province, Southern Thailand.

Understand

Rural life goes on

Koh Siboya (see-boy-ya) is off the regular tourist trail. Other than the island's three resorts, you will find only a few local stalls selling household supplies, snacks and petrol as you explore the local culture. Koh Siboya is home to about a 1000 or so residents whose work is mainly in the rubber plantations or fishing. Dirt roads and foot paths connect the 4 or 5 small communities on this 3 x 10 km island. The lack of easy access to the island has limited transportation to either motorcycles or walking. A new community clinic is able to handle minor medical problems, but the medical staff is there only during daytime hours.

Koh Siboya escaped the destruction of the crushing tsunami of December 2004, as it was in the lee of Koh Jum, but it did have to deal with the high water surge which devastated the island's fishing fleet.

Get in

From Krabi Town there are three possibilities:

• The easiest is to go to the Siboya Office in Krabi Town [1], they will make sure that a songthaew will take you to Laem Hin (100 baht PP); from there take the on-demand longtail public ferry (daylight hours only) to Laem Soma on Koh Siboya (20 baht PP). A truck should be there to meet you.

• On you own, take a songthaew to Nua Klong (on the southern highway towards Trang), where you can transfer to another songthaew to the coastal village of Laem Kruad; from there hire a longtail or wait for the somewhat scheduled ferry over to the east shore of Koh Siboya. Then hitch a ride with a local, walk the 3 Km or call Siboya Bungalows for a pick-up.

• charter a private longtail boat (about 1500 baht one way)

Get around

Since there is only a pedestrian/motorcycle ferry to the island, you will find only a very few working pick-up trucks. Most transport is by moto or on foot.

You can also rent a scooter in Krabi, then drive to either ferry pier, take the ferry across, and drive to your resort. This is a great way to save on money, as the scooter tariff rate is very low and they don't consume much gas.

See

Rural life goes on with little effect from tourists. About a third of the island is planted with rubber trees. Dirt roads connect the 5 small enclaves of population and 2 primary schools.

Do

It's great to sit at one of the 2 or 3 coffee shops (someones front porch) at about 7:30 AM and watch the Thais come to life. Workers finishing in the rubber plantations, children getting dropped off for school or just people catching up on gossip. We also advise catching the sunset with a cold beer or coconut from one of the local hammocks along the coastline.

Thai-West Resort has kayaks for rent, a great way to explore the coastline or even paddle out to Koh Kah, a small island just offshore. It has superior snorkeling to that found along the shores of Koh Siboya.

Eat

• Siboya Bungalows [2] has a very popular restaurant serving very good traditional Thai fare and many western choices. (Copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth: 7 53 1.45 N, 98 58 42.67 E)
• Thai-West [3] has a restaurant and an oceanfront snack and drink shop (Copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth: 7 53 26.86N, 98 58 34.54E)

Drink

• Siboya Bungalows [4] has a full service restaurant on the island.
• Thai-West Resort [5] has a restaurant that also serves beer, wine, and a variety of Thai alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Sleep

• Siboya Bungalows [6] has 7 bungalows (350 baht); 2 larger bungalows (500 baht) each has private western toilet/shower. In addition there are 15+ private houses for rent and managed by the resort. (600-1200Bt) Wifi available in restaurant area, 100B/day. Very poor mobile reception for some networks. (Copy and paste these coordinates into Google Earth: 7 53 1.45 N, 98 58 42.67 E)

• Thai-West Resort [7] offers a range of accommodations from economy bamboo-sided bungalows to deluxe stucco houses perched over a river that runs through the resort. There is also a place called RS Home Stay that operates on the northwest portion of the island but it turns out that one of the local politicians sold them some government land that the politician didn't even own, so their status is up in the air. It seems that as of January 2018 the place is closed for repairs and remodeling and might stay closed the whole year.

Contact

Telephone: as of December 2006 most mobile phones will work here.

Thai-West Resort [8] has Internet access, it is a satellite connection and fairly slow. (browsing and email only) Siboya Bungalows [9] has high speed WiFi available.

Get out

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