February in Phuket - Hot and Dry

February is the driest month in Phuket. On average you expect between 20 - 30mm of rain in the whole month and only a handful of non-dry days. From the records I have going back to 1998, I can see there have been several years when no rain fell in February. And 2012 (so far) is one of these. No rain in February 2012 so far. It's been HOT too. I mean, that's normal for Phuket, but when the locals are saying it's HOT, then you know it's HOT! There has been some breeze blowing from the east, but it seems hotter than a normal February. Busy at the dive shop (Sunrise Divers) with limited time for getting out and about. Low season is much better for my explorations!

On February 6th I stopped at Kata Beach after work to take a few sunset photos. Another gloriously beautiful evening. Hard to take an ugly photo at Kata Beach with the small island (Koh Pu) just offshore and all the longtail boats in the water.





(above) Sunset at Kata Beach, 6th February 2012

After a hot week, we did manage some time out on Saturday (11th February) - took a drive up to Mai Khao Beach, right in the north of Phuket. Been a long time since I was there. Very glad we made the effort, as it's very easy to fall asleep on a hot Saturday afternoon! From our house near Phuket Town, it's around 35km. We drove down the road past Anantara, JW Marriott, Sala Phuket and Renaissance resorts, ending up right on the beach, parking the car in the shade of some trees. A small group of Thais were having a picnic, and aside from them, nobody around. Although I am not really a beach person, I loved this. I think we'll go again next weekend with a picnic. So quiet, no beach chairs or jet skis, great ....





Well worth the drive through the traffic to get to Mai Khao .. well, the traffic is only bad on the main road north of Phuket Town up to the Heroines monument, after that it thins out. Phuket has some very busy roads and some crowded beaches. But also many quiet areas, and really Mai Khao Beach is like 10km long with minimal development aside from a dozen resorts which between them maybe take up 2km of beachfront. Like many tourist areas, it's easy enough to beat the crowds if you make a small effort and get up off your lazy behind! Saturday reminded me of this.