It’s been another hard week in the corporate pressure cooker of a polluted and over-crowded Asian mega-city. Deadlines, late-night brainstorming, food on the run, the endless tide of e-mail and phone calls. But as your Friday evening flight eases into its descent path above the island-strewn glory of Phang Nga Bay, off Phuket’s east coast, you start to relax, perhaps allow yourself a knowing smile.
Once through the airport and into a waiting taxi, you open the window to savour the hot tropical air and scents of the island night. You can almost taste that first glass of champagne on your condominium balcony overlooking the marina in which your new toy is gently bobbing. Just 30 minutes later your dream becomes reality.
This is the reward, the payoff for all those years of corporate toil. You’ve put in the hard yards from university to graduate school, from climbing the corporate ladder to becoming a partner in your own successful consultancy. And now you’ve realized your long-held dream of a beautiful marina condominium with a new Sea Ray sports boat moored at your doorstep. Now the hard yards seem oh, so worthwhile.
Successful escapees from the pressure-cooker cities of Asia are increasingly opting for this marina-based lifestyle as both a reward and an antidote to the stresses and strains of modern life. Typically, these people are in their late 40s and making plans for their eventual retirement. They tend to buy today and then hold their property, rather than sell early and speculate (although, with marina property values rising rapidly, this would be an entirely reasonable option). They tend gradually to increase the weekend and holiday use of their new abode as they pull away from the rat race, smoothly managing their personal metamorphosis into a lifestyle of shorts, champagne and deck shoes.
Many Baby Boomers — successful, still energetic, and hungry for new experiences — are refusing to grow old quietly. They’re looking for the next great adventure. Airline pilots, for example, are prime candidates. And many of the buyers are single, or newly single, males aged around 50 who are embarking on a new mid-life bachelor existence. For all these pleasure seekers, the bounteous seas around Phuket are able to fulfill their wildest dreams of escape and adventure.
Phuket is abundantly blessed with all the features those seeking a marina-based lifestyle could desire. The seas are gentle. Phang Nga Bay alone has over 100 readily accessible islands that in themselves could provide a lifetime of exploration and watersports adventure. The local people, food and culture are among the most sought after in the tourist world, so much so that thousands of visiting boating enthusiasts fall in love with Thailand every year, many of them deciding to make it their home.
Another advantage — the housing, marinas and other boating facilities are as yet uncrowded and comparatively inexpensive. Fuel costs are among the lowest in the world (60 percent less than in Hong Kong, and 75 percent less than in the UK). Berthing, maintenance and labour are available at a fraction of their costs in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, the United States, or even other Asian boating centres. Last year the government removed all import duties on boats, so that you can now buy a two-bedroom condo and a speedboat, covering the first year’s running costs for about US$350,000. Try doing that in the over-priced south of France or in Hong Kong.

Chalong Bay looks set to follow with the planned Chalong Pier Marina and emerging property developments on the harbour beachfronts.

Phuket is host to more than four million visitors a year and, with its highly developed infrastructure, is already established as Asia’s key yachting destination. As the venue for the Phuket King’s Cup Regatta, the region’s most prestigious sailing event, as well as for a growing array of smaller sailing events, Phuket has become a magnet for the global yachting élite. An almost endless stream of bluewater sailors plus many of the world’s 3,000 superyachts, each measuring 50 metres and up, are slipping into Phuket waters every year. Many visitors decide to stay in these waters for an extended period often running to years.
It was these factors that convinced the enigmatic Indian billionaire Gulu Lalvani to build the Royal Phuket Marina (RPM) on Phuket’s east coast, beside the 12-year-old Boat Lagoon. Lalvani’s dream, which he officially opened 23 December last year, will include over 400 luxury apartments and villas encircling a 350-boat marina and “Horizons” — a world-class shopping, restaurant and entertainment complex. With a stunning array of moored yachts as a backdrop, a planned 200-metre boardwalk is to become an upscale social centre drawing tourists and residents alike to the marina for shopping, dining and entertainment amid the bright lights, beautiful people and gently bobbing pleasure craft.
Lalvani believes that, to retain his high-flying target audience, it’s important to keep the marina lifestyle vibrant and ever-changing. It’s not a case of just selling them a property and then forgetting about them. It’s rather about selling them a property, then a boat, then all the services and equipment that go with the sailing and leisure lifestyle.
This rush of well-heeled urbanites seeking a sea-change that includes marina living is a worldwide phenomenon, and RPM has already discovered that a good half of those buying into the marina lifestyle have never even owned a boat. The property marketing and sales team headed up by Warwick Barnes work in close harmony with the boat sales team of Craig Murphy and Andy Stevens. The former displays a jovial streak of mild cynicism about some of his customers. “We have to teach some of these guys how to have fun,” says Murphy, “how to light a Barbie. Let alone teach them that their new toy doesn’t come with a hand brake! They’ve been working flat out for so long they’ve lost touch with real life. Now they want to kick back and reap the benefits.”
To this end RPM offers an easy step-by-step path into the sailing and watersports lifestyle. You can start by having a fully crewed yacht charter delivered to your door, providing the opportunity to sample the delights of nearby islands with fishing, windsurfing, scuba diving, sea-canoeing and sailing lessons thrown in.
Some hard-core boating purists would have us believe that RPM is essentially an upscale retail and housing development with a boating option on the side — that, lacking a deep water access channel and fully equipped boatyard, it isn’t the real thing. For the sailing junkies or owners of seriously big, deeper draught, superyachts, say the big-boat boys, the Yacht Haven at the northern tip of the island’s east coast is the only game in town. Here the serious money hangs out on their 50-metre-plus superyachts (or, rather, their 10-man crew hangs out, waiting for the imperious arrival of the Big Guy). The honchos who own these vessels tend to jet and helicopter in at a moment’s notice and expect to be heading off to the Similan Islands before the Crystale is poured; and they’re not about to put up with annoyances such as waiting for high tide just to get out of the marina channel.
But even among this heady crowd of super-rich owners, Phuket’s low fuel, berthing and labour costs, combined with the abundantly varied cruising grounds, mean that more and more of them are staying longer in these waters. Nick and Zara Wyatt, managers of the Yacht Haven, report that they’re now planning the expansion of the 160-berth marina plus the future development of hillside condominiums for sale or rent to visiting boatspeople. A fully equipped boatyard for maintenance and repairs is also on the drawing board, which will bring the Yacht Haven up to full international standards. While December’s tsunami scaled back the planned expansion, they’re still running at over 100 percent occupancy, and therefore need the extra berths and accommodation to come on stream as quickly as possible.
The Boat Lagoon has been in operation since 1993, and is the longest-established marina in Phuket. Here again, houses and condos are both available close to the water’s edge and, while the Lagoon has a lot less retail and entertainment outlets than RPM will have, there are shops, a spa, restaurant and clubhouse. The Boat Lagoon also is running at over 100 percent occupancy, and currently building more boat moorings and houses to accommodate their largely Hong Kong- and Singapore-based expatriate clientele.
Given such current and future demand, it’s no surprise to find a new development currently at the final planning stage on Cape Yamu, north of the Boat Lagoon on Phuket’s east coast. With phase one of the project already underway, the 800-rai Paradise Bay Marina Resort plan comprises up-scale residences in a hillside, bayview estate (Paradise Heights) plus an international standard full service marina to accommodate over 500 boats up to 40m in length with a fully equipped boatyard. The development will also provide a marina village, a five-star beach resort, retail & leisure facilities, plus a state-of-the-art technology park.

In addition, another new boat mooring and servicing facility with a beachfront residential property development is planned for Ao Po, on the northern tip of the east coast.
Chalong Bay looks set to follow this emerging trend of marina living with a project whispered to be in the pipeline for residential and boat mooring facilities at the northern end of the bay. The first stage (63 rai) of the 130 rai Phuket Beach Lagoon plans to offer land sales and property management rights for 10 beach front villas, 18 lagoon villas, and an option of 36 townhouses or 58 condominiums, all surrounded by water channels with direct access to the Andaman Sea. Perfectly positioned for the development of a boutique marina, the property developers are currently attracting interest from potential marina developers in expanding the project to include an east coast mooring facility in the popular boating harbour of Chalong Bay in the south of the island.
In addition, to this area of southern Phuket, the government backed marina facility plans for the existing Chalong pier are now with the prime minister awaiting approval. The project will incorporate the established structure of Chalong pier with floating pontoons to accommodate boats currently moored around the harbour. The area, close to Phuket City and facilities, already is a hub for multiple marine service industries and new property projects.
Both the Thai and the Malaysian governments have recently discussed a future vision of spacing a series of marinas all around their coastlines at about 90-mile intervals — an average day’s sailing — between each marina. While realization of this dream may still lie a few years off, there’s no question that savvy Baby Boomers’ investment dollars are already pouring into the marina-based lifestyle. Unlike those adolescent fantasies of a James Bond adventure in an exotic island paradise, this is one dream from which you’ll never have to wake up.

Royal Phuket Marina:
paradise@royalphuketmarina.com

Boat Lagoon Park Residence:
property_sale@phuketboatlagoon.com

Phuket Beach Lagoon: Norbert Witthinrich,
info@sea-property-phuket.com

Paradise Bay Marina Resort: Ian Mitchell
ian@intproco.com