Lipa Noi Beach

A day of R&R. That is what we planned for today. No touring this time around … we did that when RTW2017 stopped here. Just a day at the beach, we said. And that’s what we did.

Insignia arrived at its anchorage for this tender port around 7:00a. In no hurry, we let the tour goers disembark while we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast.

Local boats are used to take passengers from ship to shore. They are bigger and can transfer more people. Fast, they are not. No, it was a leisurely — and bouncy — cruise from the ship’s tender platform to Nathon Pier. I didn’t exactly time the transfer, but about 30-40 minutes sounds about right.

Negotiating with one of the many taxis at the pier, we were soon on our way to the Nikki Beach Club … 15 minutes from town. We arrived just before the club opened at 11:00a. Only one other couple was already poolside, so we had our pick of the daybeds. We selected one that faced the Gulf of Thailand, had the pool attendant adjust the umbrellas for maximum shade, and settled down for some R&R.

The temperature rose quickly when the sun came out of hiding, but there was a very nice breeze to keep us comfy. The turquoise color of the water beckoned Mui, who lost no time in going for a swim in the bay. I took out my book and was soon lost in some mindless bit of reading.

Cold Chang beer … grilled sea bass… fish tacos made with local snapper. That was our lunch … served at the daybed at our request.

Then it was time for some massages … ahhhh … wonderful.

Aches and pains eased, we returned to our daybed and decided to go for a dip in the pool. Good thing we did so when we did. About 30 minutes later, a fast-moving storm that seemed far off in the distance at first was blowing strong, shade umbrellas taking flight. Seconds later, it was pouring. We managed to escape that bit of mayhem without getting wind blown or wet by moving to the restaurant in the nick of time.

We watched the pouring rain come down in sheets as we sipped refreshing drinks. By this time, it was getting on towards 4:30p, so we decided to take fellow-passengers Tom & Pat up on their offer to share the cab that was scheduled to return to pick them up. Except that the driver was a no show. No worries. Mui spoke with the front desk and arranged for their transfer van to take us back to Nathon Pier.

A quick sojourn into the shopping street near the pier yielded a couple of “elephant pants” … the comfy pants so named due to the pattern of the fabric that usually has a parade of elephants on it.

We caught the 5:30p boat back to the ship. The return ride was an adventure, with the boat making slow headway against the incoming tide and the increased swells. Changing our heading to go around Insignia was going to put us broadside to the swells … a maneuver we were not looking forward to. That’s when we spotted Insignia on the move. The ship was repositioning so that the small boat could stay the course and deliver us to the ship without too much rolling. Thank you Captain Brajcic!

All in all, we had a great day on Koh Samui and feel like we’re ready to face whatever Bangkok has in store for us over the next two days.Read more