Plan your inbound flights all the way to Phuket. Most inbound flights go to Bangkok and you will have to transfer there after clearing immigration and customs. Most North American flights land late at night, so plan on staying over in Bangkok one night before. Take Thai Airways Bangkok to Phuket. One flight leaves at 8:30am (check schedules in advance). It's only an hour flight to Phuket from Bangkok. There are earlier and later flights on Thai Airways and other airlines.

There are many new budget airlines now with fares as low as US$50 for a round trip Bangkok-Phuket. Check airasia.com, Thai Airways, Nok Air, Bangkok Airways and others for best fares. Thai Airways is about US$60 each way.

The important thing is to arrive in Phuket on January 28th no later than 12 noon if you want to travel with the group to the island.

You can also get to Phuket by overnight train and/or bus. It's cheaper and will take 8-12 hours. The express bus is 800 baht each way (about US$20). The train is slightly more and involves a 3 hour minibus ride at 5am from the train station to Phuket - not the most pleasant trip.

Koh Yao Yai is an island in the Andaman sea directly east of Phuket Island, about 1 hour by ferry. There are two ferries each day, except on Fridays when there is only one at 10:00 am. Many of us will take the 2:00 pm boat.

On January 28th, we'll travel by bus from the Phuket airport at 12:00 noon to the ferry pier. If you are traveling by rail or bus, please plan to arrive at the Tien Sin Pier in Phuket Town before 2:00 pm.

If you are not traveling with the group from the airport on January 28th: the ferry leaves from Jian Wanich Pier at 10:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Click here or see below for maps to find the pier. Tell your driver / motorbike boy you are going to "Tha Jian Wanit" or the Jianwanich Pier for the Koh Yao Yai boat to "Loh Jak Pier". The ferry boat takes about 1 hour and the fare is 150 baht (US$4.50) per person.

There are two piers from Phuket to Koh Yao Yai: Jianwanich pier and Bangrong pier, but I would recommended only Jianwanich pier as the ferry goes directly to the gathering place. The ferry from Bangrong pier mainly goes to Koh Yao Noi, and only stops at the other side of Koh Yao Yai which is 25 kms away from the gathering place.

Ferry Boat Schedule:
from Jianwanich Pier (Phuket)
to Jak Pier (Koh Yao Yai)
Sun-Thu: 10:30, 14:00
Fri : 10:00
Sat : 05:30, 10:30
daily speed boat: 16:00, 17:00 (200 baht)

Ferry Boat schedule of Bangrong pier please see the following link:
http://www.rocknrowthailand.com/koh_yao.html

Jianwanich Pier on Google Maps is at http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=7.8822588,98.413836&z=18&t=h&hl=en

Loh Jak Pier and the bungalows on Google Maps is at http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=7.9328912,98.575231&z=14&t=h&hl=en

Plan on 3 hours to get from Koh Yao Yai to the Phuket airport. Don't book a morning flight out of Phuket unless you are prepared to spend the night before in Phuket away from Koh Yao Yai.

from Loh Jak Pier (Koh Yao Yai)
to Jianwanich Pier (Phuket)
Sun-Thu: 08:00, 15:00
Fri : 14:00
Sat : 08:30, 15:00
daily speed boat: 08:00

The regular ferry service to and from the island runs twice per day and costs about 60 baht. Travel time is about 75 minutes.

There are other boats from other piers on Phuket to other piers on the island.