Shore Excursion: 2008 Star Clipper Far East (710 KB)

In the soft hour of dawn, a faint breeze brushes the surface of a glassy sea…

A vision glides out of the mists, the tall foremast bearing five ghostly white square sails echoes the symmetry of a Buddhist pagoda. Offshore, a myriad islands stand on end in the sea, rocky sentinels that look as if they were dropped down by a giant hand. A throaty temple gong sounds through the swirling mists, greeting Star Clipper as she slowly makes her way into the harbor. This is the beginning of your journey to the ends of the earth in Thailand’s Andaman Sea, a voyage into the mysteries and marvels of a far-eastern land little known to the western world.

We’ll take you to a hidden corner of the Orient that adventurous travelers treasure for its unspoiled beaches and dream-like natural beauty.

The little ports and scores of islands dotting the Andaman Sea along the west coasts of Thailand and Malaysia have long been stopping places for traders from India, Indonesia, China, Burma, Arabia and Europe. Here, indigenous peoples traded for goods they could not obtain locally.

So it’s not surprising to see temples that look Chinese and wooden fishing boats that could be Portuguese. The people are friendly and their smiles are genuine, perhaps because they haven’t had to cope with crowds of tourists. The clarity of the water and the variety of coral and marine life are amazing.