Pattaya-Hua Hin ferry to begin on New Year's Day

[Smiles]

If you think the South Pattaya pier is a mess you should take a gander at Hua Hin's downtown pier. It can hardly handle a two-man squid boat. There is no way it could handle a reasonably large ferry.
Most of the attempts at starting up a Hua Hin/Pattaya ferry service have used the pier(s) at Pak Nam Pran which is a half hour (+) drive south from Hua Hin.

Apparently there is a brand new pier being built on the beach between Hua Hin and Cha Am. (About a 15 minute drive into Hua Hin).
There's a amateur video showing a plane landing at Hua Hin Airport: at the start of the video and another peek at the 30 second mark in the video there is definitely a kind of pier being built out into the waters.




I have no idea whether this new pier is related to a ferry start-up, but ... it's being built for a reason and it certainly looks as if there's some serious money being spent.
More on this as we approach year-end.

I did however enjoy this post in llZ's link to that ThaiVisa thread:

Hot news: Sin City to Hurrah Hin ferry is a dead sperm in a condom, due to an expert study revealing that the water might be unsafe and needing stuff like lifejackets!

Nothing like a good old pile of rank cynicism. (But he's probably right )

[christianpfc]

On Jan 1st, I went to the pier (just south of Khao Takiap, about 7 km by air south of Hua Hin railway station; information by a Thai friend who lives in HH), and asked people there who confirmed that will be the place where the ferry will dock. On the picture, the ferry looks too big to dock there; or the pier too small, whichever way you see it; or rather the distance between pier and land (Khao Takiap) to narrow.

No signage at all at the pier, and without google maps I wouldn't have found the pier.

But there are pictures of a sign and a building on a pier, which is neither Bali Hai nor the pier I went to. (Will read the HH forum thread to find out more.)

If it had been running, I would even have taken the ferry to cross over to Pattaya, but with all these delays, I'm out for now (until my next trip to HH or Pattaya, but by then the ferry service might have stopped because they found the water is too wet).

[Smiles]

Latest on the ferry: nuttin', zilch, nada. Not a word, not an advertisement, zero on the Hua Hin channel, nothing in the local Farang Rag.
Supposed to be Jan 1 as the lift off day: you'd think there would be a parade!

Check out this space regularly for more scintillating news.

[arsenal]

It's a fine line with Asian ferry companies. Not enough customers and the company goes bust. Too many and the boats sinks drowning everyone on board.

[christianpfc]

I second Smiles' observations from the Pattaya side (8dec2016). No signs or stall at Bali Hai pier. Then I made the mistake to ask for the ferry in TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) office in Pattaya. They don't know anything. (Mistake because after 5 minutes of talking, I knew nothing more than when I arrived.) What I read on Thaivisa is not encouraging either: Bali Hai pier is not ready, and nobody has ever seen the ship.

[arsenal]

Christian wrote.
"I second Smiles' observations from the Pattaya side (8dec2016). No signs or stall at Bali Hai pier. Then I made the mistake to ask for the ferry in TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) office in Pattaya. They don't know anything. (Mistake because after 5 minutes of talking, I knew nothing more than when I arrived.) What I read on Thaivisa is not encouraging either: Bali Hai pier is not ready, and nobody has ever seen the ship."

But apart from that everything is ship shape and ready to go. Haha.

[Smiles]

The Hua Hin/Pattaya ferry escapade is like a Seinfeld episode: it's all about nothing.

[arsenal]

Yraen wrote:
"On the plus side, it was amazing at the speed with which maybe 2 dozen jet-skies came racing up to see if they could be of assistance." Wonderful.

It reminded me of a time (not remotely life threatening) when I was returning to Pattaya along Sukhumvit on my motorbike after heavy rain. At one point the water was a couple of feet deep and many bikes, including mine were just conking out. A few Thai guys had set themselves up as a rescue outfit and as soon as any bike stalled they immediately waded in and dragged the bike out while escorting the rider safely to the dry roadside. All tips from grateful rescuees were politely refused.

[gerefan2]

" it was amazing at the speed with which maybe 2 dozen jet-skies came racing up to see if they could be of assistance"

Not surprising considering the number of ferry accidents and fatalities on this ferry route.

[llz]

According to this news in Pattaya One ( http://pattayaone.news/en/pattaya-hua-hin-ferry ), the ferry service is set to begin on January the 12th.
Cost of the service is said to be about 1200 THB one way.