Thale Waek sandbar at low tide

Thale Waek, the "separated sea", is a sandbar off Ao Nang that rises out of the water between Koh Tup and Chicken Island at low tide, so you can walk out between the islands with the sea on both sides. It is above water for only a couple of hours around low tide, which means the tide table sets the plan, not the clock: on one day of your stay the low water falls at dawn, on another in the hardest light of midday.

Most visitors reach it on the four-island boat trip from Ao Nang, and not every boat times its stop to the tide — ask before booking, or let the photographer arrange a boat around low water. The earlier low tides beat the midday ones, for the light and for the crowd. The frames are simple and strong: the two of you, or the whole family, walking the strip of sand with limestone islands on either side; small children treat the shallow water at the edges as the main event.

The islands lie inside a national park. Foreign visitors pay the park's entrance fee, and a professional shoot there can need the park's permission, which the photographer clears in advance. Sunscreens containing oxybenzone, octinoxate, 4-MBC or butylparaben have been banned in Thailand's marine national parks since 2021, so check the label. A drone would make the obvious picture, but it needs registration with both NBTC and CAAT and approval for the flight, with park rules on top — ask whether the photographer flies a registered one rather than bringing your own.