| Phi Phi Don is a beautiful island in the Ardaman Sea, south-east of Phuket. There is a bay on the windward side with a gorgeous beach and coral reefs worth some snorkeling. The wind protected bay on the east side is where most vessels will anchor. The isthmus in between has a couple hotels and other facilities. However, our first encounter with the island was along the east coast where this picture was taken. |
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| We had dropped the anchor just beyond the coral reef. It was marvelous to snorkel and see the fish, coral and the beautiful formations below. We had spent most of the afternoon doing just that a couple miles off shore in a shallow area. Then, like an old fool, I had to try my "skill" on the wind surfer and failed miserably. "But you had fun", my daughter told me afterwards. |
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| Some of the beaches were splendid, pristine and most of the time deserted. With all the sun and salt water, it was refreshing to "shower" in a sudden downpour; the only rain we experienced on the trip. |
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| T roy had brought along some climbing gear and he and Susan scaled a cliff overlooking the Phi Phi bay. Here are two pictures they took from their crows-nest. |
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Notice again that there were a few power boats in the bay but we had the only sailboat.
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| The following morning we continued on to Phi Phi Le, the smaller of the two islands and less accessible. There is one nice inlet with beautiful coral and a great beach. It was the scene of another movie "The Beach". Then we stopped in at this cave. There was a small dock and some fellows were there to collect bird nests. They would climb thin bamboo poles to the ceiling of the deep cave and "harvest" the nests for export to China. They claimed that the nests would cost as much as $100 a pound there. |
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We stopped and tried to help a poor bird lying on the ground. What could we do? We couldn't put it back in its nest; that was on its way to China. |
| The next couple days were spent at a few tiny islands. The wind had died down altogether, the sea was almost like a mirror, and we slowly had to motor our way back towards Phuket. Every evening we had beautiful sunsets but it was time to get back to real life. |
| In Phuket we decided to splurge and stay at a nice resort for our last night here. For five dollars we had a massage and a manicure/pedicure. A nice tip was extra but not expected. The following day it was off to the airport and a long flight home. |
