Day 15: Phi Phi Don & Phi Phi Ley

Our speedboat.  Vroom vroom

Today was the Phi Phi islands tour.  I got picked up around 9:00am and was driven to Nopparat Thara Beach.  I was confused because I booked the tour with Starlight Travel, but the tour guide was from Ao Nang Photo.  I guess Starlight works with this company for most of their tours.

There were around 30 people going, mostly Europeans.  It was still too large of a group for my preference, but it  is actually considered one of the smaller tours -- some boats had 50 or more people.  I rushed to the tour guide and managed to get a seat in the front of the speedboat.  I was worried about my motion sickness kicking in, so I sucked on ginger candies.  I was fine, except for the times the boat was just sitting thee, waiting to depart.  A lot of rocking around.

Bamboo Island.  Notice the fine sand!

Bamboo Island was the first stop.  The waters were clear, sand was fine.  When we arrived, there were just a few boats.  More showed up as we were leaving.  Snorkeling was allowed on one side, swimming on the other.  The total time here was 40 min, which actually goes by very quickly.  The downside of packaged tours!

We passed by Viking Cave.  So many boats were crowded around the small area.




I think the next stop was Lohsamah Bay, although we did not get off the boat.  The waters were beautiful, and the tall cliffs hid the lagoon from the outside.

Lohsamah Bay (I think).  Go away many tourist boats!

Jumping photo with Malaysian friends at Maya Bay!

Then, the main attraction for many -- Maya Bay. It was packed with tourists, but you could still see the beauty of the clear and emerald green waters.  The sand seemed the softest and most powder-like here.  I could stay here forever...would love to go back without all the crowds.  I ran into my Malaysian friends from the plane!  What a coincidence.

The monkeys of Monkey Bay were not to be seen.  They probably were all fed and full by the time we arrived.

Lunch was at Phi Phi Don, where Tonsai Bay is located.  The restaurant is reserved for all tour groups, and is buffet style.  Hoards of people here.  The food selection was small, white rice, a rice-noodle combo, veggies, a soup, fried chicken, watermelon.

Tonsai Bay

I walked around and looked at the shops.  They are all pretty much the same as any other shops along the beach.  Tonsai Bay has a lot of large rocks, but the waters looked nice and emerald green and blue.

I went snorkeling a couple times during the day, although I do not remember where exactly.  Maybe Maya Bay and somewhere else.  Lots of fish.  I was just happy that I could experience snorkeling at all, well, at least with a life jacket.  My first experience snorkeling was a failure when I went to Hawaii a long time ago, so this time was my first successful time!

Pineapple fried rice.  Maybe I should have also eaten the pineapple.

After coming back to Ao Nang, I went to the shops at the beachfront to look into what tour I should join tomorrow.  I met a Korean- Australian couple in a tour shop, and we booked a tour together to get a discount.  The 9 Islands Sunset Snorkeling Tour for 900 THB.  We had dinner at some Thai restaurant along the beachfront, 210 THB for pineapple fried rice and a drink.

Long tiring day...another one to come tomorrow!