Sailing Day 3 - Dec 30 - Ko Pharya Nak & Bamboo Island

On the third day we went to Ko Pharya Nak where they filmed the movie the Beach. It was very beautiful. The first cove we visited had some tourists, but it didn't keep us from enjoying the incredible scenery. Gillian, Charles, and Chip snorkeled and John wasn't feeling well so he and I decided to go kayaking. I immediately flipped us both into the water but John was a good sport and climbed right back on. We met up with the others and ventured to the beach where we hung out for a while. We even saw a toilet plumbed right into the ground.  Weird.  Next we visited monkey beach where the kids fed some monkeys - mom might never get over that one! Scary!!! We ended the day on Bamboo Island where there were loads of tourists. We walked away from them and had a nice time shelling. Charles found a large spikey one that was really beautiful. We headed back to the boat and John started  to feel really sick. He spiked a fever and we took him to the "hospital" where they gave him Tylenol and nausea medicine. He threw up most of the night but felt better in the morning.  Poor little guy. As soon as he felt better he jumped up and asked to go fishing... What a guy!

This was the first cove we went into.

Chip saw a couple of these starfish while he was snorkeling.  It was bright purple and apparently poisonous.

This was where they filmed The Beach.    Its a little hard to see from this distance. There must have been 1000 people on the beach.  This was a close as we decided to get as we don't like crowds.

This was our fearless captain Nong driving us on the dinghy to anther Monkey beach.

This was the end of Bamboo beach where there weren't any tourists.  The other end was a whole nother story.  By the evening they had all cleared out though.

The beach is that way!

Sailing Day 2 - Dec 29 - Ko Yao Yai to Phi Phi

Our second day gave us a better feeling about our trip.  We arrived at Phi Phi and Kayaked around Camel Rock for some beautiful views and better snorkeling.  We went to a beautiful beach surrounded by rocks.  While snorkeling we saw lots of worms (that we think were clams), huge brain coral, and John saw a purple eel!  We anchored for the night at PhiPhi and went into town for a bit of shopping.  Later that night, we went into town to see the fire dancers.  While it was a little entertaining, there was a lot of drinking and smoking going on at the areas of the fire dancers and was a little wild for our taste.

 

 

Here is a shot of our vessel.

The water around Camel Rock was beautiful.

Some of us rode by Dinghy to the beach.

This was a view from the Kayak.. the water was gorgeous.

 

This was one of the large Brain corals that Gillian spotted.

Chip tried to climb to a ledge on Camel rock to jump off...  didn't quite get to the top though...

Kayaking was awesome!!  This was a good warm-up for the rest of the trip.

 

 

Sailing Day 1 - Dec 28 - Chalong to Ko Yao Yai

We were dropped off at a commercial dock on our new home for 7 nights.  It was a 48 foot Laguna Cataraman with a Captain (Nong), Cook (Oy), and deckhand (Ming).   After staying at a large resort it was tough figuring out how we were all going to stay on the boat.  We were nervous as we sailed from Chalong to Ko Kahi Nok and Ko Khai Nai where we snorkeled.  It wasn't anything fabulous, and there were lots of tourists.  We were starting to get more nervous about our adventure.

 

The food on the boat was amazing.. Even Gillian liked it!

 

This was our approach to Ko Kahi Nok 

There were tons of fish swimming around us while we snorkeled.  A few jellyfish too!

 

After a few jellyfish stings, we moved on to Ko Khai Nai for some Kayaking.

We liked the reverse Mohawk on this island.

Finally some evening cocktails to take the edge off!  We spent most of our cruising time on this part of the boat.  It was comfortable and cool with air coming from below.

Still enjoying Thailand..

We are still enjoying our sailing trip in the Adaman Sea.  Brandy is trying to figure out how Chip can work from a sailboat next summer.  John fished a little last night while we were at our best anchorage yet.  We'll post more when we can.. Still no wifi ..

Happy New Year!!!!!

We are a little ahead of everyone.. While we miss celebrating with our friends and family, we are having the trip of a lifetime.   Happy New Year!!  Bring on 14!  Got my swim in as well. 

The floating candles made our night.  We tried to buy one earlier in the evening but the police shut them down .

PhiPhi

We are on the boat with no wifi.  Stopped at PhiPhi island today... These pictures  are no where near the beauty of this place.

We arrived at Phi Phi after a 2 hour ride.  We started by kayaking and snorkling in a beautiful bay among the rocks and cliffs.  Right now there is a lot of haze that they claim is smoke from Indonesia.  It reduces the views of the outcroppings from a distance, but once we are close it it amazing.

We went into town to get ripped off on sun screen and had a couple if beverages.

After shopping the kids fed monkeys on the beach.  One if them stole Gillian's pink sunglasses and tried them on.. It was hilarious.. Gillian may never wear them again.

The kids are getting their sailing legs.  Going from a huge first class resort to a sailboat was a tough adjustment, but we are settled in now.  Our crew is wonderful.  We don't have to lift a finger.  Multi-course meals at each sitting help keep the body moving!

John tried to catch some squid in the Harbour,but got skunked.  I think that is the first time he hasn't caught anything.

At night we went back on the island to watch the fire throwers.