Long tail boat to Ko Phi Phi Lay

We hired a long tail boat to take us across the sea to Ko Phi Phi Lay which is an uninhabited small island about 15 minutes away.  It’s claim to fame is the film “The Beach” was filmed there.  Our resort had told us we had to go early as it gets very busy by about 10:30am.  So we left at 8:30 and arrived at “The Beach” within about 15 minutes.  We were in a wonderful little bay with only a few boats.  Our Captain anchored and we went for a snorkel around the bay.  The fish were amazing, very colorful and we saw different ones than we had at Khao Lak, but again the coral was bleached and not very colorful.  As we were heading out of the bay after snorkeling about 5 speed boats full of people arrived.  We continued around the island looking at the most amazing rock formations.  It was like nothing we have ever seen.  Huge cliffs of colorful rock formations coming out of the middle of the sea going straight up for hundreds of feet.   They were very rugged, it was as if lava had flowed upward out of the sea and froze as it entered the air.  As we rounded the southwest corner of the island we sailed into an inlet.  The Captain anchored again and pointed to a set of rickety looking steps.  He said “swim” and we said ok.  So we loaded some things into the dry bag and jumped in.  As we reached the steps grasping onto the ropes we were both bitten by fish (I think).  Anyway we made it up the stairs and into a cavern that lead to a path that went across the small island to the beach we had just come from.  By this time the tourists had definitely landed and there were hundreds of them.  By the time we walked 10 min to the beached there were about 50 speed boats, long tails, and privates boats all anchored and the beach was completely full and it was only 10:00am in the morning.  That was enough for us so we headed back to our boat.  The swim back was much more difficult as we were swimming against the current.  An ocean swimmer I am not, but we made it back safe and sound.  We continued along the island again in awe of everything we saw.  Along the east side of the island we again entered another inlet.  The water color was the brightest colors of blue and green I have ever seen.  The water wasn’t very deep and the bottom was all sand with crystal clear water..  We had the option to swim again but we choose to suntan on the boat.  As we left the Island there were all kinds of caves that looked like you could climb in if you were so inclined.  By this time there were a lot of boats all around the island.  Apparently they run tours from Phuket and Krabi.  So we headed back to our wonderful beach for an afternoon in the sun.  The weather has been perfect.  No rain, sun shine and a nice sea breeze to keep you cooled off enough to stand the heat. The landscape we are seeing is almost impossible to describe so I will attempt to include some pictures.  We should also have some pretty cool video that I will post on Facebook.  Our Internet is limited on the island.  We were purchasing it but they ran out of codes to sell so we are out of luck until we get to Railay Beach.   We have decided to leave first thing in the morning as there are a number of cool things to do in Railay Beach.  So we are schedule for another long tail boat at 8:30 and then the ferry to Krabi, another long tail to Railay Beach.  This will be our final destination prior to going back to Bangkok.

Chow for now