Ko Phi Phi

What a beautiful place! As soon as we got there, we noticed something that couldn’t be ignored. In the bay, there was something that looked like a huge party boat. It had 4 water slides, a diving board, and a rope swing. We were tired, but we just couldn’t resist! And let me just say, we got pretty good and yee old rope swing! I did a back flip off the diving board for the first time in I don’t know how long. Watch out, Cherry Valley! We just pretended that we were not thinking about big sharp toothed sharks everything we landed in the deep blue water. It was a good thing that we did this the first day we got there, because the next day it was gone! Never to return…
That night we took a long tail into town and watched some pretty good fire dancers. They put up a jump rope, doused in kerosene, lit it on fire, and encouraged people to join in. After a lot of watching, I got up the courage to try it for myself. And the first time, I fell… in front of everyone. And the second time… I got my feet caught up. But the third time, I was good! I was admittedly a bit scared of the fire, but I’m so glad I did it! Even if I might have embarrassed myself a bit.
Now I know what you are thinking, this entire island hopping IS rest in relaxation, but truly, we needed a day to do nothing. It worked out that we were on a beautiful beach with fantastic views (Mike would say both the vistas and the topless sun tanning women). So we spent a day laying on the beach, reading, playing cards and swimming in warm waters.
The next day, we took a morning trip to the national park of Ko Phi Phi Ley, which ended up being one of our top 2 places in all of Thailand. Our first stop in the long boat was “the Beach.” (As in Leonardo DiCaprio’s “The Beach”) We got there before many other people arrived and it was so cool to take it in. The bay is almost completely surrounded by cliffs, and the beach lies just in front of jungle that seems to lose people in it very quickly. I decided to do some snorkeling, and Mike breathed in the beauty on the sand. Pretty cool. Hordes of people started to pull up, and we knew it was time to go.
Next we did some of our best snorkeling just around the bend. Clownfish of 4 varieties, beautiful coral, tons of fish, giant clams and close enough to just see with our snorkels! We were lovin’ it! The last stop was this shallow lagoon surrounded by a semi-circle of cliffs. It looked unreal; like a huge wonderful bathtub. But we didn’t have time to swim in it, which sealed it—we were extending our time here to come back for the snorkeling and the bathtub!
So again, the next day, we hopped in the long tail and headed to Ko Phi Phi Ley. First we went snorkeling in the same place, but this time a few million jellyfish had drifted in. The boatman said that they weren’t the stinging kind, but I say, “Ney!” Ok, so 1 or 2 isn’t so bad- they don’t pack that much of a punch. However, when you are swimming through thousands at a time, those buggers get to you. So after a short while we were ready to get back in the boat. Just before we hopped back in, we saw a whole school of squid going for the jellyfish. And then we saw a sea turtle going for the squid AND the jellyfish! The circle of life… wicked cool, I say!
Next, we went back to the bathtub. There was actually a rather deep part that we had to swim through, and I kept thinking about the shark that attacked the Swede in “The Beach.” There are no sharks stuck in the lagoon from the last high tide. There are no sharks stuck in the lagoon from the last high tide. There… We loved watching the little guppy fish guard a hole while a shrimp cleaned out the same hole. It was just so easy to personify these characters!
Because snorkeling was cut short, the boatman suggested we go swimming with some sharks. Of course we jumped at the chance! So he dropped us in the middle of the water and pointed us in the direction of the black tipped reef sharks. As it happened, the waves ran me into the coral and I got a small cut on my foot. Within a minute, we saw 1 shark, then 3 more, than a bigger one, then 2 more, then a really big one. It seemed like they were starting to circle us—they were in every direction! That’s when our excitement turned a bit to concern, and we decided that we were done swimming with sharks for today. But wow, what an experience! Swimmin’ with the fishes. Ha ha ha! Arg!
That afternoon, we caught the boat to Koh Lanta. We sat on the side of the boat with our IPOD or book, watching the wonderful sea pass us by. It was one of the most enjoyable boat rides of this trip. Certainly different than the ferry ride from Stewart Island to Invercargill…