A longtail is a wooden boat with a car or truck engine bolted to a pivot at the
stern, driving a propeller on the end of a shaft several metres long. The
helmsman steers by swinging the whole engine. It is a design that exists because
it is cheap to build, cheap to fix, and it works in water too shallow for
anything with a fixed shaft — which describes most of the approach to Koh Madsum.
Here is the honest version of four hours on one. It is loud, in a way that makes
conversation across the boat difficult. It is slow: forty minutes or more to Koh
Tan against the speedboat’s twenty. It is open, so you get sun and you get spray,
and in a short sea you feel every wave through the hull rather than over it. There
is no cabin, no seats worth the name, and the shade is a canvas roof if there is
one at all.
People book it again anyway. Partly because it is genuinely cheaper — the lowest
price on the south coast that still includes transfers, guide, gear and the island
entrance fees is a longtail ticket. Mostly because it does not feel like a
shuttle. You sit low enough to put a hand in the water, the coast goes past at a
pace you can look at, and the arrival at a white-sand island in a wooden boat is
the picture people came for.
What longtail tours include that speedboats often skip
The island entrance fees, on the better tickets. Most speedboat operators exclude
the 50 baht at Koh Madsum; several longtail itineraries fold both islands’ fees
into the price, which narrows the real gap further than the headline suggests.
The viewpoint walk, which is the genuine differentiator. Koh Madsum has a short
climb to a lookout over the sandbar, and it appears on longtail itineraries rather
than speedboat ones, largely because a slower boat is already committing more time
to the island. It is optional and it is steep. Wear shoes.
What longtail tickets often skip is lunch. The cheapest ones include no meal at
all, with food available to buy on the island. That is part of why they are cheap,
and it is fine if you know in advance.
When not to book one
When the sea is up. An open wooden boat in a choppy Gulf morning is an
uncomfortable ride and the operators know it, so longtail departures are the first
to be cancelled or shortened in marginal weather. October through December is when
that bites; the best time guide
has the month-by-month picture.
Also when time is genuinely short. The extra hour of crossing has to come from
somewhere, and it comes out of the water. If you have one free morning and want
maximum reef, take a speedboat. The
full comparison sets the two
side by side.
