Day 61, Year 4: The Phi Phi Islands-Stunning Scenery and More
Date: Monday, December 22, 2008
Weather: Partly Sunny Day
Location: Ao Ton Sai Bay, Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand
So far Thailand has been such a wonderful treat. The scenery is really stunning and each island has had something different to offer. This morning we left Ao Maya Bay on the west side of Ko Phi Phi Leh, motored around the south side of the island past another beautiful small bay, and then up the east coast. Like magic, a mooring ball appeared in the entrance to Hong Pileh, so we attached our lines to the five-gallon bucket that served as a mooring ball and took the dinghy into the Hong. I had
read that a hong is a cave, but it in this instance it is a long, narrow inlet with limestone cliffs rising straight up from the sea on both sides like a fiord. We started getting the picture of just how many tourists there are here as boat after boat full of tourists passed us going in and out of the Hong. There was no coral inside the little bay, so when we got back to entrance that is littered with coral, I jumped in to see if it was worth all of us snorkeling here. There was nothing spectacular, so there seemed no reason we should tempt fate by snorkeling where so many boats are going in and out. So we went on up the coast to what is called the Viking Cave. It is called this as there is very old graffiti on the walls, but it was not left by the Vikings. The characters are actually Chinese. But the entrance looked unbelievably difficult, so we just admired from afar. Swiftlets, whose nests are edible, nest in this cave and there was all sorts of scaffolding built in the entrance that would allow the retrieval of the nests. But nothing looked sturdy enough to entice us inside, so on we went.
We motored on to Ko Phi Phi Don as it was less than five miles. We arrived in busy Ao Ton Sai Bay and anchored right next to our friends Tory and Piet Hein on Double Dutch. It was noon, so we got in the dinghy to go over to say hello to our friends, and then headed to the town dock. This place is the heart of Thailand tourism and it is crawling with tourists from all over the world. Yet it really is just a little village with lots of little shops and even more restaurants. We picked a seafood restaurant for lunch and each of us was very pleased with our choices. If you are going to eat your way through paradise, you want to make sure the food is good! We then went back to Windbird to prepare for a short snorkel trip not far from where we are anchored. Claire spotted pipefish, something we had not seen before which was exciting. The coral was okay, but not very colorful, and the fish life was the same-okay, but certainly not as spectacular as the above water attractions.
We went back to shore for dinner and chose a beautiful location on the ocean front. Unfortunately the location was more luscious than the food, but we really enjoyed the setting. We had started our day with waffles and we ended it with Thai pancakes at a little stand on our way back to the dinghy. These pancakes are more like a crepe, filled with your choice of chocolate, pineapple, banana, and many other choices, or any combination of these things. These were great and topped off another wonderful day. Tomorrow we will make a couple of snorkeling stops and then head to Ao Chalong Bay on the island of Phuket. We’ll do a bit of land exploration and then head back out to explore the bay on the east side of Phuket. If the postcards are any indication, the scenery just gets better and better.
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| 081222 Day 61 Thailand–Ko Phi Phi Leh to Ko Phi Phi Don |
