Day 2: Phi Phi Islands

This was the day to explore Thailand's most beautiful islands, Phi Phi (pronounced as pi-pi). We choose Simba Sea Trips for this excursion.

Phi Phi Islands

Simba's speed boat

It was around 50-60 minutes speed boat ride from Phuket to Phi Phi and the first stop was stunningly beautiful Maya Bay at Phi-Phi Leh. Remember the beach surrounded by 100 meters high cliffs from three sides in the movie The Beach (1999) starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Long tail boat at Maya bay

Maya Bay

The trip started early and it is a good strategy to beat the crowd. As the sun rises, it really gets crowded here. We enjoyed some fresh fruits and the Simba specialty 'Banana cake' before heading for snorkeling.

My joy and excitement of doing snorkeling for the first time instantly washed away with a big splash the moment I jumped into the water wearing a snorkel and a pair of fins. Nose, eyes and mouth filled with seawater and I went breathless. I had to swim back to boat to catch some breath. Finally Jenny, one of the owner who runs Simba Sea Trips, helped me snorkel until I was able to continue on my own. It needs some practice to train mind perform breathing with mouth.

Once I got comfortable with 'How to snorkel...?', there was whole different world waiting to get discovered. Corals, covering almost the entire bottom of the sea, with fishes of different sizes and colors luring you to touch them. Hold a banana inside the water and hundreds of fishes will surround you to bite their share. Realizing the amount of fishes you are surrounded with, it really requires courage to hold the banana until its very end.

Corals

In all this fun, one thing was missing. Mansi does not know swimming and hence was unable to accompany me to make this more enjoyable. Despite several efforts by Jenny and Geoff to help Mansi float using a life jacket, she did not feel comfortable and choose to return to boat and capture me having fun.

Pileh Lagoon

Next stop was Pileh Lagoon, famous for swimming in its turquoise water with no waves. Some of the group members started jumping off the boat and gave it a form of competition. Unwilling to win the 'biggest splash maker' critic award, I decided to use the ladder.

Monkey beach was the next destination. Famous for it blue shallow water with bed of white sand. Famous among Chinese for another reason. In the words of Jenny... 

"...and this is the place where Chinese snorkel. Because they can't swim. They don't get to see any fish or coral but thats okay!!!"

Monkey Beach

It is named so because of presence of monkeys there. You can be brave and feed them peanuts but be ready to run to water once you show them the emptied pack.

On the way from Monkey beach to Nui beach (nui = small), we stopped to see the Phi-Phi island resorts which were completely destroyed by 2004 tsunami.

These resorts were rebuilt after tsunam

On the day of the tsunami, 26th December 2004, the sea receded to an unprecedented low level from a middle to high tide in a matter of minutes. Fishes were left high and dry, confused as their home disappeared. People gathered at shore to watch what was happening right before a 7 meter high wave devastated the entire settlement. As a natural phenomena wave multiplies its hight as water gets shallow. It took us 50-60 mins by the speed boat to travel from Phuket to Phi Phi and tsunami waves covered the same distance in just 10 mins.

Nui beach

The Nui beach is a small beautiful beach, inaccessible during a low tide. It is famous for its rock formation, caves and snorkeling just off the beach. A couple of our group members went to explore the caves with Geoff leading them and a few preferred snorkeling. While I was deciding whether to go for snorkeling or not, those who went for snorkeling returned feeling itchy through their body. A crew member discovered the presence of jelly fishes who's touch causes allergic reactions on the skin. The remedy was readily available on the boat. A spray of household vinegar is used to lessens the severity of this allergic reaction.

Camel rock opposite to Nui beach

School of Sergeant Major fishes off Nui beach

Guess what was next in the trip... my favorite one... it was lunch time!!! And to my surprise we went to a kind of place which I always wanted to go. Powdery white sand surrounding the island and shallow  turquoise water so clear that we can photograph the corals beneath. It was nothing less than a paradise and I felt like I have just entered a desktop wallpaper.

Bamboo island

Turquoise water and corals underneath

If it were possible, I would have filled my stomach with the sheer beauty that I was enjoying at Bamboo island. 

After having a gastronomical delight and some rest, it was time for a quick round of snorkeling off Mosquito island. This time I decided to accompany Mansi and captured corals from above the surface.

Corals from the surface

Making a way home to Phuket Marina we got a real thrill of speed boat by zipping through a zig-zag strait.

Phuket Marina