Cross the Gulf of Thailand
Visitors to Pattaya and Hua Hin have long dreamed of travelling directly between these two resort cities which face each other across the Gulf of Thailand, only 110km apart.
Until recently to reach one from the other meant a four or five-hour drive around the Gulf coast via Bangkok.
Related: GUIDE TO THAILAND
Imagine no more - and yet Imagine is the name of the new fast ferry which now scoots at 17 knots across the Gulf, connecting two of Thailand's most popular resorts. The good ship Imagine runs from Pran Buri, 25km south of Hua Hin, to the Ocean Marina at Na Jomtien just south of Pattaya.
I try the new service on its easterly journey from Hua Hin. The purpose-
built, 18.5m catamaran Imagine soon comes gliding downriver, just in from Pattaya.
We take our seats either within the roomy, air-conditioned main cabin or on the various decks. Pulling away from the dock, we turn downstream to weave past the afternoon's returning trawlers, then the skipper points Imagine at the open sea and opens up her twin 360hp engines.
Operations manager Allan Curyer, a veteran tugboat master from WA, tells me the trip takes 3.5 hours, dock-to-dock.
"We started the service in November last year. Our schedule is three times a week, round-trip out of Pattaya, carrying up to 70 passengers plus five crew."
The sea today is smooth and the big cat skips over it with little vibration. Almost too soon we're back on dry land with transfer vans waiting to shuttle us straight to our hotels. The Gulf, leap-frogged at last.
• Imagine makes three Pattaya-Hua Hin round-trip crossings a week. One-way fare 1500 baht ($50). The service is suspended during low season, from late May to October.
• www.thailivingferry.com.
