Today we went on a snorkelling adventure to the Phi Phi Islands. It started with a rough boat ride for about an hour. The front of the speedboat was like riding a roller coaster, while in the back of the boat, everyone got drenched while watching the Korean families get seasick one at a time. We all took plenty of Dramamine and were fine, although wet and a bit bruised from all of the bumps.
First we stopped in an idyllic cove surrounded by cliffs on all sides. The water was a gorgeous blue green, and we stopped to swim in the cove for a few minutes. Next we headed to Gibbon Beach on a nearby island to feed the monkeys. When the boat reached the beach, the monkeys all ran over and we fed them bits of bananas. It was definitely strange to be on a tiny beach full of people and a few monkeys to feed them, but got only weirder when people started giving the monkeys bottles of Pepsi. Yes, Pepsi. When I mentioned my shock at this to our tour guide, he said "Yes, we give them Pepsi because when we give them beer, they fight."
Next, we went snorkelling for about an hour. We saw a ton of sea urchins in different colors, as well as other types of marine animals that I can't name, and it was great to see them in action in the ocean instead of in an aquarium.
After snorkelling, we headed to another part of the island for a delicious lunch over looking the sea and then had a few minutes to relax on the beach. The sand on the Phi Phi islands is incredible-it's very fine and soft. After lunch, we got back on the boat for a rough ride back to Egg Island, a tiny day-trip island, for more snorkelling and beach time. The snorkelling was not as good there since the water was a bit cloudy, but I did get to see some different types of coral there which was treat.
After Egg Island, we headed back to Phuket, and took the shuttle van home. Even driving on the streets here is an adventure because of the apparent lack of traffic laws. Coconuts from god knows where ended up on the road in front of us, and we ended up hitting one. Of course our driver didn't stop, but kept on with his cell phone conversation, and we were happy to get back safely to our hotel.
