• Christie MitchellRTW 2022Christie Mitchell
    On the catamaran - eventually were allowed to take life jackets off. Much nicer.
    Monkey islandView from lunch on Phi Phi DonLongtail boat - like taxis for the water hereCar engine mounted to back of the boat2No editing here. The water was just that beautifulPileh Lagoon. Too many boats. 😢Jordan loving diving thoSnorkeling - Jordan spends more time under the water than on top. 😂Red filter doesn't work so great near the surfaceFilter working, capturing the colors underwater!The line to get off of Maya Beach!! So glad we didn't go out thereWhere we were anchored waitingfor the group from Maya Beach - so calm and peaceful

    Phi Phi Islands

    November 14, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ 🌧 81 °F

    We took a tour out to the Phi Phi Islands (pronounced Pee Pee). Basically it was just island hopping in a basic catamaran for 7 hours. It was interesting and really glad I did it (but can say now, Vietnam’s Ha Long/Lan ha bays beat it hands down for beauty).

    Unfortunately, this area is simply “over-touristed”. In Vietnam they control how many boats are allowed out in the bay, but here, doesn’t look like any such control exists. The lagoons were FILLED with boats - too much. We did get to swim around the boat and Jordan did some diving off the top, which was fun!

    There is a “monkey island” here. Some tours go onto the beach, but tourists are getting attacked, so our tour only took us up to the beach to get a glance. After experiencing the monkeys in Bali, we definitely learned they can be far too aggressive. Fun seeing them from the distance of the boat.

    Leonardo DiCaprio did a movie here in 2000 called “The Beach” - all filmed on Maya Beach in Phi Phi. Sadly, they had to shut the beach down for two years to let it “rest” from over tourism. It’s open again, but not for swimming - you can just walk out on it. Our tour included it but when we saw the crowds and lines, we opted to stay on the boat and skip it. Actually really nice having the 40ft catamaran, anchored away from the harbor, to ourselves for an hour. 😂

    We also went snorkeling - not either of our favorite things to do. (Once you’ve Scuba dove, hard to go back). But, this site was actually really nice, fairly shallow, and had lots of sea life.

    We learned that if you put a red filter on the GoPro it captures the colors underwater so bought one in town and tried it out for the first time. The pictures turned out so much better. Can’t wait to try it when we dive next time.

    1.77 miles    Read more