Phi Phi island hopping

The ferry was at 9:30 am for about 2 hours. We, again, hadn’t booked any accommodation and once arrived in Phi Phi were bombarded with people promoting their hotel, guesthouse, hostel and whatever else that they had to offer. I can look at all the pics in the world of how a room looks but nothing will convince me until I actually see the place with my eyes. I want to see how it’s cleaned, how the sheets and walls look, check for bedbugs (it happens!) and all the other little things that really make me feel comfortable to stay there.

We walked about 10 mins along the path (there are NO cars here, such clean air!) and checked a couple of places before settling in one guestroom above a shop. For 20 euros a night we considered it a pretty good deal. Seaside, balcony, mini fridge, satellite television and nicely made up bed.

We had the day to choose anything we wanted to do.. and there seemed to be many options. First thing, we signed up to become certified PADI open water divers! It’s a 3 day intensive course that includes a half day in class, a contained dive in shallow water, and four open dives in the ocean. We bought the study book and vowed to read it over once we were back from the afternoon plan.

Next, we hired a private long tail boat and traveled to Phi Phi Ley, which is the scenic island just south of Phi Phi Don.

The day included a stop at monkey beach were tons of monkeys live and are visited daily by tourists. It was a scary experience since they are a wee bit aggressive!! If you get too close, they will run at you. Your only defensive is to run fast towards the water, since apparently they don’t like it much.

Mmm coca cola!

We then continued to a giant blue lagoon area where we swam in beautiful blue waters for a short while.

Next we moved to an area where we could snorkel and then we headed over to Ma Ya Beach where the movie called “The Beach” was filmed. It was beautifully scenic.

The day ended up being hugely exhausting and we made the mistake leaving the reading part of the dive course until 7pm… yea.. I was up until 12:30 am reading the text and answering the questions.

Tomorrow: Day 1 of dive school. Exciting!!