The trail from a jet ski, swimmers paddling in the almost translucent sea, beach towels, sails on the near horizon - it's a beach scene like ones at any resort around the world. Except this is Patong beach where scores of people lost their lives in the St Stephen's Day tsunamis.
More than a week after the disaster, the beaches are certainly not full but sunbathers and tourists are creeping back.
It's difficult to look at the heads bobbing up and down in the gently lapping waves and not think about the horrific images of the day the tsunamis struck, but many beaches are slowly getting back to normal.
To those who lost people in the disaster on December 26th, it must seem incredible that anyone could ever venture into the water again.
But the tourism industry is central to Thailand's economy and in Phuket nearly everyone works helping visitors in some way. The Thais have been working tirelessly to bring things back to normal.
The tsunami struck at the height of the tourist season, when the northern winter is at its worst in Europe and when many people's thoughts turn to spending some time on the beaches of the country which sells itself as the Land of Smiles.
Thai Prime Minister Mr Thaksin Shinawatra said the plan to rehabilitate the beachfronts would continue apace, and the government believes it is time for the tourists to return.
The front page of the Bangkok Post showed Mr Thaksin talking to a group of tourists at Surin beach about what was being done to revive the resorts. Some of the local beauty spots, such as Rawai, Kata, Karon and Nai Yang, are due to reopen soon.
In some ways it makes sense. One of the most striking things about the damage is how localised it is: restaurants and hotels and shops within reach of the wave are completely smashed but just behind the destroyed area, everything is normal.
It's not just the beaches. The bars in Patong were doing a roaring trade on New Year's Day. Transsexuals danced on the bars of the red-light district and hordes of people walked through the entertainment district.
It's hard to tell whether this was fatalism, a way of dealing with post-traumatic stress. People talk of the wave constantly but they are still partying.
Local chamber of commerce chairman Pamuk Atchariyachai said that 40 per cent of hotel bookings had been cancelled, but he predicted that tourists would start coming back to Phuket within a fortnight.
The head of the local travel agency association, Patthanapong Ekwanit, said that damage to tourism-related businesses was at least 10 billion baht (€190 million) because the waves struck right at the peak of the tourist season and said it would take at least a month to recover.
At Patong, 3,000 beachfront hotels were damaged but there are still around 30,000 rooms available.
Narong Chaidum, who lost his two tourist businesses in the waves which hit Nai Yang beach, is trying to get back to normal.
"I've set up a table, that's the first step. That way I can get business from people passing by. What can you do?" he asks.
This is not a sign of callousness and the Thais are deeply respectful of what happened on the day and are mourning along with the farang, or foreigners, who perished in the waves. But people have to live.
Some of this attitude appears to be cultural. Buddhists and Muslims alike in Thailand strongly believe that the dead go on to a better place - reincarnation for Buddhists and paradise for Muslims.
No one is expecting a quick recovery for the most devastated areas, such as Phi-Phi Island and Khao Lak, where most of the tourists died.
"Khao Lak will take a long time to recover, it's true. And many Thai people will not stay the night there because of ghosts - they will go during the day but won't stay once it gets dark," says Mr Chaidum.
There is a feeling that the wave was a freak accident and not one that will be repeated. It's not like September 11th, when the attacks on the United States prompted a war in Afghanistan and a hunt for Osama bin Laden. Thais have nothing to do but get on with rebuilding their livelihoods.
To assuage any residual fears, Mr Thaksin has promised to get a system to warn against future tsunamis up and running in six months.