Phang Nga Bay

Phang Nga Bay lies in the Andaman Sea between the island of Phuket and the Kra Isthmus mainland in southern Thailand, covering roughly 400 square kilometers and holding about 42 islands built from limestone karst, with cliffs cut by caves and collapsed cave systems. Its best known landmark, Ko Tapu, popularly called James Bond Island, is a needle-shaped limestone rock standing about 20 meters off the main beach. Around 10,000 years ago, sea levels were low enough that the area between Phuket and Krabi could be crossed on foot, and the bay's present drowned-karst landscape took shape as post-glacial sea level rise flooded the lower ground between the limestone towers. Caves around the bay preserve paintings more than a thousand years old, evidence of long human presence alongside the karst scenery. This entity documents Phang Nga Bay specifically as a geological formation, a limestone karst bay drowned by post-glacial sea level rise.