My friend is married to a Thai woman and he just got back from Phuket where she was living. He said the beach is beautiful and the water is clear- you can see to the bottom from chest deep. He said you would never know that a tsunami hit Patong although there is a little bit more construction than you would expect...

His wife was living in Kamala beach area which is just near Patong but more undeveloped and he said there it still looked pretty wiped out.

I agree that now is probably the best time ever to visit Phuket.