Plenty of hotels in Phuket have Thai cooking lessons. Others teach wine appreciation or Thai-style fruit carving. But to our knowledge, The Pavilions, a high-end all-pool-villas resort in the Layan area of Phuket, is the only one that has a perfume-making course.

Sign up for a belly dancing course at the Royal Phuket Marina.

Japanese musician and resident of Phuket, Tetsuo Suse, has scored a countrywide first for the island with his new microbubble spa. In fact, he may have scored a world first with the two microbubble steam rooms he’s installed at his MB House spa, which opened in January.

The Observer was invited to the official opening today of the shiny new Splash Jungle water park at West Sands, next to Mai Khao Beach and the airport. We hired a guinea pig to test out the rides. Here’s his report on the Big 5 rides.

On January 29, the Splash Jungle water park at the West Sands property development, next to the airport, will be opened by Thailand’s Minister of Health, Jurin Laksanavisith.

After many false starts, Phuket will finally get a state-of-the-art water park when West Sands Water World opens to the public at the end of January.

Everyone knows about coral reefs in the waters around Phuket, and the gorgeously coloured fish, starfish, crabs, prawns and anemones – even worms – that make a living in or on the coral. Certainly, anyone who has not dived or at least snorkeled around the reefs is missing a great deal of the wonder of Phuket.

But far fewer people know about the mangrove forests that are inextricably connected to the reefs, and which are just as important to the marine ecology as the coral.

Yes, you can go snorkeling around Phuket, or diving, or canoeing. But there’s only one place where you can go Powersnorkeling: Banana Beach on Koh Hei, or Coral Island.

Powersnorkeling is a sort of cross between snorkeling and diving, and requires about 30 seconds training. Swimmers on mask, fins and a weight belt, and are then tethered to a floating, battery-driven air pump with a ten-foot hose and a mouthpiece.