Board the long-tail at Ao Nang as late afternoon light tilts across limestone cliffs and the boat cleaves a bright wedge through the Andaman Sea. You pass Chicken Island’s beaked silhouette, slip into warm water to snorkel coral gardens, and step onto Poda’s fine white sand while a receding tide reveals the sandbar that links Tup Island. By evening the cliffs at Phra Nang throw long shadows; the cave’s spirit shrine—stocked with carved offerings—is a living piece of local belief. After a seaside seafood set at a Railay restaurant, the return ride traces a painted horizon while the last sunlight picks out karst towers.