The Phi Phi Islands are quite a bit further than the other ones so this tour went by speed boat. As you may or may not know it is rainy season right now in Thailand (until November in the south where we are, and it even rains in what they call their "dry" period). With the worsening weather conditions it is getting more difficult to find a cloudless and windless day for touring. This day was no exception and the ride to the islands was extremely bumpy. And because of the big waves the driver had to go a lot slower than usual which made the trip a bit longer. There was this adorable little girl that instead of being scared would have these giggling fits whenever we hit a big wave, while everyone else just looked worried. Don and I were sitting in the back where we got soaked! I tried to focus on the flat surface of distant waters but on arriving to the first island I had to scramble to get off the boat just in time to throw up on the beach. I didn't feel that bad until he started to slow down approaching the island and then it hit me. I felt a lot better afterwards - but a lot of other people didn't. One girl spent the entire time by a tree bent over while her friend rubbed her back. Another girl asked if she could just stay on the first island and get picked up on the way back after the tour (which they couldn't). The hard part was basically over - the first long trip to get to the islands. I remember after my first longboat trip that even the day after it still felt like (when I sat still) things were rocking, so I was worrying about how I was going to feel after this one (yup - everything kept rocking the day after).
After the first island we stopped for a quick peek at Vicking cave (which I didn't even know was Viking cave, one of the places on the tour agenda, until later - so I didn't bother taking any photos cause it wasn't really that spectacular) then we entered this beautiful lagoon with a turquoise green coloured water that was soooo inviting (photo on left). Quite a few of us asked if we could stay there, or even go snorkelling there, but they told us there was no coral and no fish to see so after a couple minutes we were on our way.We past by a part of one island where there were some monkeys in trees drawn out by the food that people were throwing up to them. It was quite the show watching these monkeys catching these big pieces of watermelon. Performing such acrobatics there were quite a few times we thought the monkeys would fall right into the sea, but miraculously each time they would manage to grab on to a tree branch at the last moment and you could hear the "ooohs" and "aaahs" from the people watching in their boats.
Then we went and did some snorkelling which I don't think I can ever get tired of. Then we went and had some lunch at Phi Phi Don. Right on the beach where we anchored is the restaurant, buffet style, and the tables. What I didn't realize until I went looking for the bathroom, and when we were almost about to leave again, was that there was a whole lot to see on this island! Now I understood why people always talked about it, and why it is so famous. There were hotels and bars and shops and tour centres .. and I didn't have enough time to explore any of it. In retrospect I would have loved to have spend a night or two on this island - maybe next time.
We were supposed to make a stop to Maya Bay where they filmed the movie "The Beach", but because of the horrible waves we couldn't go. I have to say I was a little disappointed.
Finally we made one more stop at Coconut Island. A little dip in the sea, some relaxing on the beach, and a little show by some extremely well camouflaged white crabs that, crawling sideways, moved soooo fast it looked as if they were skating. Then we made our long trip back to the mainland.
I decided that I would try sitting in the front of the boat for the return trip because a couple of people said it was better than sitting in the back. It was not better at all!!! It was a violent ride and I thought that either the boat was going to split in half (at least that's what it sounded like when it would hit back down on the water) or that I was going to lose my organs. I was literally being thrown off my seat, but I held on tightly to the bars and, even though I was given the option to go to the back, I stuck it out.
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