Thailand Trip: Day 3 – Phi Phi Island Hopping

Thailand Trip Index:

• Introduction
• Day 1 – Tigers, Elephants, Erawan
• Day 2 – Chinatown, Krabi
• Day 3 – Phi Phi Island Hopping
• Day 4 – Massage, Hike, Beach
• Day 5 – Cooking Class, Sunset Island Hopping
• Day 6 – Back to Bangkok, Siam Niramit
• Day 7 – Ziplining, Night Bike Tour

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After a wonderful slumber we woke with the rising sun and started getting ready for a  day of island hopping.  We went for morning breakfast buffet – one of my favorite traveling conveniences.  It’s so nice to wake up knowing an amazing, delicious breakfast is waiting for you.  They’re especially fun abroad because the resorts provide a wide range of ethnic options.  We had Thai stir fries, Japanese breakfast soups, French pastries, unique fruits, brilliant jams and marmalades smothered on all types of fresh baked breads, and every Western breakfast item available to us each morning – whenever we were ready and as much as we wanted.  Oh, I loved that!

We had arranged the previous evening to do be picked up at 9:30 on our resort’s beach for a 7 island boat hopping tour around the Phi Phi Island chain. Ko Phi Phi was used as a location for the 2000 British-American film The Beach. Island hopping is probably at the top of every Krabi visitor’s to-do list: this coastal area has more than 100 islands and dramatic rock formations, which makes for a thrilling boat ride.

Waiting for our boat to arrive…..

Our first stop was at Bamboo Island. It was beautiful with white, soft sand and clear, warm turquoise waters. It was crowded in the main area so we walked further down the beach and took a few pictures. I wanted to get them out of the way so I could put the camera away and enjoy the rest of the day.

We took a break and enjoyed the shade at this washed up gazebo for a few minutes.

After that I didn’t take many pictures so I’ll just summarize the rest of the tour. We went to Hin Klarng for some open sea snorkeling.

After that we went into Pi Leh Bay which was one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. We were surrounded on all sides by these tall cliffs and snorkeled in some of the most turquoise, glowing water. Actually the scenery above was even more beautiful than the scenery in the water so I spent a lot of time above water staring at the cliffs and water and taking it all in. I offered numerous prayers of gratitude to God for blessing me with that moment. It was literally one of the happiest moments of my life. I was in awe of God and it was a bit of a spiritually high moment for me.

We went to the famous Maya Bay which I think was the most beautiful place I’ve even beheld with my two eyes. It was crowded but STUNNING! I mean, jaw-dropping stunning! Heavenly genius beauty. It was such a feast for the eyes that I was a little drunk with happiness. We found a quieter area to swim which we happily did until we were forced back onto the boat. I considered abandoning our tour group and pitching a tent for a few days, but Ben assured me the resort’s comfy bed would be calling to me come bedtime.

We were taken to the town on Phi Phi Don and ate lunch, wandered through some shops (I was happy to find a hat for some shade), and held a monkey.

After that we went to Losamah bay, I think? We were surprised how the sand and water color differed from spot to spot. These waters were full of fish. Our boat guides gave us watermelon and we snorkeled and fed the fish by hand. It was another very happy moment!

We had a 45 minute boat ride back to our resort’s beach where we arrived around 4:30. We were sad the day was over but it was even better than we had expected. We made some really happy memories that day!

We showered and went to the Thai restaurant at our resort. It wasn’t open yet so we took a few pictures and watched some rock climbers to help pass the time.

At 6 we were seated at our table. There was only one other family in the restaurant and they were in a private room. We choose the open air area overlooking the beach. The sun was setting as we ate our delicious vegetarian green curry and lobster red curry. I think this was Ben’s favorite meal from the trip. We both agreed the restaurant had the best ambiance of any place we’d ever eaten. The good food, beautiful scenery and a satisfied sense of tiredness left us so relaxed and happy. 🙂 It was a really lovely ending to a really amazing day!