Trip to Thailand - Day 2

Our second day on Phi Phi Island. BTW, my posts will be devoid of photos, for two reasons, I haven't got them and I will create a fotopage to place the photos and link it back here.

Naturally we started the day early. After a short breakfast, we headed out to the 'town' to find a snorkeling package that suited our budget. We then decided to rent a traditional 'long-tail' wooden boat for the day. The boats were unique that they have their non-marine engine perched right on top of the propeller shaft. We were quoted THB3500 but Anis managed to negotiate it down to THB2500 only.

The Beach
Our first stop of the day, the ever-famous Maya Beach at the adjacent Phi Phi Ley Island. This is where 'The Beach' was filmed. And, if you Google for Phi Phi Island's pic, chances are you'll get a pic of this beach. My first impression, the water was not so clear. But the sight was breathtaking. The terrain around the island is different. The island is like a big rock that fell from the sky to the middle of the sea. It is made of tall rock walls and towers.

But before we set our foot on the beach, we had to pay conservation fee, which was THB200 per person! That's like 4 times then what is charged in Malaysia! But to our dissapointment, the beach was strewn with sharp rocks. And there was no fish at all, so no snorkeling.

Just spent like 10 minutes in the water and decided it was not worth it. Walked around the island and found a passage that led us to the opposite part of the island, to Lo Sa Ma Bay. We had to clim a slippery wooden steps to see over the rock. And the sight was simply amazing. A natural lagoon with crystal clear water with a rock tower, right in the middle, facing the open sea.

Lo Sa Ma Bay
After the dissapointing visit to Maya Beach, we asked the boat man to take us to Lo Sa Ma Bay, which seems more promising. There's no beach here so we had to snorkel off the boat. But it was not easy as sea current was quite strong. And the marine life was not as much as I expected. After about 30 minutes and many photos later, we were off again.

Deep-shallow-deep
We made our next stopover at Piley Bay. This is simply an amazing place. The boat was guided further into the island, between tall rock walls. Suddenly we reached a part where the water is shallow and greenish. But go forward a bit more, at the end of the passage, the water is so deep that it is deep blue! It's like a lake, but with no edge. Since the shallow part is sandy, so we spent time swimming here instead. But again, the place was devoid of any marine life, which rules out snorkeling.

Lunch
For lunch we headed back to Phi Phi Don Island. The boat man took us to a resort at Phak Nam Bay. Only salad lunch for me. Eventually, we spent more than 2 hours here to relax under the trees on the beach. Very relaxing, while Marco was busy tanning himself in the hot sun.

Snorkeling
Then we continued our journey. On the way back, we stopped at a snorkeling spot. For me, this was the only proper spot to snorkel with a lot of marine life. I noticed the fish around here were different that what I used to see around our Redang or Perhentian. Andaman Sea vs South China Sea. I just wish there was no current and the water was clearer. Visibility was only about 3m at best and fighting the current without flippers are not fun at all. Nevertheless, we spent quite some time here snorkeling.

Harmless sharks?
We then were brought to a spot where 'harmless' black-tipped reef sharks can be sighted. Harmless? Mmmm... The boat man anchored at a spot and pointed the general direction where we should head to, about a good 50m away, along some rocks. Both Fahizam and myself, jumped into the water, eager to see some sharks.

But in the water, it was different story. Visibility was bad (about 2-3m only), the sea was quite choppy and current as usual was strong. With no fins and life jacket that was constantly seeping in water, leaving us only half afloat. That was like someone took us to a jungle safari, at night. Stopped at a spot. Blinfolded us, tied our hands behind our back and then ask us to go out of the jeep expecting to see some 'harmless' tiger. We decided, not to proceed. Not worth the risk. We should at least have been guided and accompanied, equipped with proper equipment.

'No'-Monkey Bay
We then stopped at Monkey Bay, where supposedly there were a lot of monkeys. But when we were there, no monkey at all. Only rotten fruits by the beach, the only sign that indeed there were monkeys. Not that I cared of. Not when I can see monkeys even at my office's disaster recovery center. So instead we just 'monkeyed around' swimming in the sea and took more photos.

Sunset
It was already quite late. And we were all tired. But there's still one more thing to do, viewing the sunset. Apparently, it was not just us, but there was like 20-30 boats floating in the gap between Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Ley, to view the sunset. It was stunning view indeed.

Dinner
Later at night, we were all exhausted. Again, we had a scrumptious dinner of seafood tom yum, grilled white snapper, tiger prawns and barracuda! After dinner we were all too tired and retreated back to the rooms.

Mineral water - THB40
Snorkeling - THB500
Conservation fee - THB200
Lunch - THB320
Dinner - THB480