Every day before sunrise, a small fleet of speedboats leaves Boat Lagoon Marina and heads south to the beautiful islands of Phi Phi. The boats belong to Simba Sea Trips, a company that has operated small-group tours out of local marinas since 2005, and whose current standards trace back to a career change that’s unusual even by Phuket’s standards: owner-operator Paul Chappell spent 23 years as a professional airline captain before turning his attention to the Andaman Sea.
Thai-licensed captains helm every Simba vessel, as Thai maritime laws require. Paul’s role today is closer to a flight operations manager than a pilot. He sets and audits the standard the crews operate under, drawing on the same checklists and pre-departure briefings that governed his cockpit, rather than piloting tours himself.
Where that background actually shows up is in the numbers. Simba’s Join-In tours cap at a maximum of 18 adults, at a time when several other Phuket operators are running the same routes with 30 to 60 passengers crammed aboard a single boat. Once a tour fills, the company doesn’t oversell to squeeze in a few more bookings. A full day is simply closed.
The clearest example is Simba’s signature product, the sunrise tour to Phi Phi. Boats leave the marina at 6 am, and guests catch the sunrise at sea during the roughly one-hour-ten-minute crossing before stepping onto Maya Bay around 7:15 am, about an hour ahead of the main flock of tourists arriving from Krabi, Koh Lanta, and Phi Phi Don. From there, the eight-hour day runs to seven stops: Maya Bay first (Bamboo Island substitutes each August and September when the national park closes Maya Bay for restoration), the stunning emerald-water Pileh Lagoon, two snorkel reefs chosen on the day for conditions, a drift-by at Viking Cave and Monkey Beach, and a final beach stop at Koh Rang Yai or Bamboo Island. Lunch is a sit-down buffet of Thai and Western food back at Soho Pool Club in the marina. The whole day runs all-inclusive from ฿5,310 per person, covering hotel transfers, a light breakfast and national park fees, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure.
“The early start is the entire point”, Paul said. “It’s the same islands everyone else visits. We’ve just built the day around beating the crowds.”
Every guest is issued a life jacket and snorkel gear, and the boats themselves are tour vessels built for comfort rather than repurposed longtails. Crew are hired and trained in-house rather than run as independent freelancers, which keeps standards consistent from one tour to the next rather than varying by whichever boat happens to be available that day.
The approach shows up in the review numbers too. Simba Sea Trips carries more than 6,400 verified reviews across TripAdvisor, Google, GetYourGuide and Viator — over 4,300 of them on TripAdvisor alone — at a 4.9-star average. It has also picked up a run of industry awards, including Viator Experience Award wins in both 2024 and 2025 and a Thailand Hospitality Award in 2022. The company holds TAT Licence 34/02111 and has operated continuously from local marinas since 2005. Bookings and enquiries: sales@simbaseatrips.com or +66 81 787 7702.
For guests, the upshot is simple. It’s the same eight hours on the same islands as everyone else, minus the wait behind hundreds of tourists to see them.