Lt Sakkarin Sangjaroen of the Chalong Police was notified at 10am that a beach vendor had seen a body floating just offshore.
The beach vendor had notified lifeguards, who responded quickly and recovered the man, reported Capt Suthichai Kongkangwankietkul of the Chalong Police, who investigated the scene.
The man was later identified as Anuchit Palumpol, 27.
Police estimated that he had died at least six hours earlier.
As is standard procedure, Mr Anuchit’s body was taken to Vachira Phuket Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Mr Anuchit and friends went fishing near windmill viewpoint at 1am, one of the friends told police.
“Anuchit went down onto the rocks, despite us telling him not to,” the friend said.
“At that time the waves were very strong, and Anuchit was hit by a wave and fell into the sea,” he said.
“We tried to reach him to pull him out, but we couldn’t and he disappeared into the waves,” the friend added.