The boat to Koh Phi Phi

We’ve scheduled a private speed boat for a day tour of the islands in between Railay and Koh Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee). The sky looks like it is going to work with us so we all excitedly board our boat, The Seagull, and head for our first stop at Chicken island about 15 mins from Railay.

We enjoy a swim and feed some tropical fish (interestingly enough all we have to feed them are goldfish crackers).

The beautiful white sand is a sand bar that is only accessible during the lower tide.  However, we see something moving in, what you can clearly see in the first picture above…rain.

Our captain, Yat, stows away our bags best he can and we load up to head to the next destination just as the rain arrives.  It pelts us as we move through it and for the first time in over a week, we are all feeling the strange sensation of being cold.

It’s about another 45 minutes to the island, where we decide to unload our bags and give the tour another try.  Rain clears out and things are looking up!  Next stop, Monkey bay.

It is easy to see where it gets the name.  Monkeys are everywhere!  There are a few other people already there snapping pictures and everyone in our boat jumps into the crystal clear water. I hesitate a little and Yat decides to give me an incentive to jump in. He grabs a fresh watermelon out of the cooler and slices a wedge of pieces for me.  He tells me to carefully give it to the monkeys.  I’m not so sure about this, but I decide to give it a try.

Turns out that Monkeys love the watermelon!  Then one curious little guy actually jumps in the water and starts swimming to me for it.  I’ve seen and even fed monkeys before in Bali, but I have never seen them swim!  Almost too cute for words.

We all have a good time sharing watermelon with them while reserving a few sweet morsels for ourselves after the swim.

Next stop, Maya bay in Koh Phi Phi Le, the smaller island on Koh Phi Phi.  Gorgeous!

 

We do a short hike through the island to the other side, but decide not to swim as we didn’t bring snorkel equipment with us.

I snap a quick picture of all the people on the beach burying someone. I guess we missed the memo on this 🙂

Then onto Pi Ley Bay, a small lagoon with stunning water where we can swim and climb the limestone for a high dive off the cliffs.  Warning: You must have water shoes for this or your feet will get severely cut!  Mark is the only one with his shoes and takes the challenge.

Last stop is Viking cave.  This cave is currently closed for swimming because the swiftlet birds have built their nests and the locals, on shakey bamboo platforms, collect the bird nests for soup; a delicacy we did not sample.

We finally arrive on Koh Phi Phi.  All in all, even given the rain, this was a spectacular day.  🙂