First, sorry about the last blog. the computer started typing in Thai and I didn't know how to change it, and no one seemed to know... and then I forgot I hadn't finished it!
SO... what we've been doing since then. Well, the next morning, I guess July 4th?? (happy late July 4th to everyone!) I went diving again. First dive at Bida Nok again and second one at Bida Nai. Again I saw some amazing things: GIANT jellyfish, leopard shark, blacktip reef shark, reef octopus... The jellyfish was really amazing. It was about a 1 1/2 feet across and you could get really close to it because it's tenticles weren't out. The octopus was also quite cool because it would change colors to blend in to the surroundings, instantly.
After that I met up with Julia and we found Dan & Nouey, the English girls from the first day, who had gone to Ko Lanta, didn't like it, and came back. We sat on the beach/in the VERY low tide (4 inches of water?) in the bay. We went to dinner at our new favorite bar/rest./people watching place in town, and then went and watched part of "the beach" being played in another bar.
Next day the girls left, and Julia & I hiked up the hill to the viewpoint where you can see both bays/the isthmus. It was an amazing view and well worth the heat/hike. Julia and I took mini innertubes out to float in the bay for the afternoon.
The next day, Sunday, was our last day on Phi Phi. We both went out on the boat again and I went diving and Julia snorkelled a bit. Bida Nok was again the first one and then Maya/Palong Bay -- we had lunch in Maya Bay (the Beach) which was LITTERED with tourists. We snorkelled during lunch and found the same (type) massive jellyfish from 2 days before, and another really pretty smaller blue/purple jellyfish. The second dive visibility was a lot less than I've had before -- I've been spoiled, but still amazing. We did some swim throughs and saw a HUGE trevaly (fish). That day, I went diving through a different company I had been using becuase I had made friends with some of the guys that work at that shop, from them being on our boat the previous trip. It ended up being just me and Ash (the divemaster diving with me). He's 23, so it was nice to have someone my age! The second dive he was pointing out a type of clownfish to me and was about 2 1/2 feet away from it (his hand) and the fish darted up at him and bit him! Obviously, it was a tiny fish but still really.... funny. :)
After the dive, Julia & I got on the ferry to Phuket, 1 1/2 hours away. We spent the night in Kata, a town on the west coast that we heard had surfing during rainy season. It was small and MUCH more touristy/resorts everywhere than we would have liked, but still a good place.
TODAY!~
nothing. i mean, NOTHING opens until 10. So we had a late start... we finally went to the beach around midday and rented surfboards to learn. Well, I was going to learn and Julia was going to try to surf, because she has done it before, but never actually stood up, until today!! yay! I only ever half made it up, but still a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the time we tried was close to high tide so you had to wait about 7-10 minutes for a set of 3 waves to come through that were big enough to surf, so I couldn't really try to learn too much. We decided to rent a waverunner and take that out....
I drove. about 5-10 minutes into our half hour we were going fast, turning, hit a wave wrong and went flying off. My hip collided with Julia's head. We're both in pain from our bumps, but nothing serious. Still really fun. oh, except for the fact that we BROKE THE KILL SWITCH!!! luckily, we found the other half and I was able to pinch it together so that we could drive the waverunner back to shore. they gave us a new one (luckily didn't charge us!!) and we went back out. We were about 10-15 feet from shore when this massive wave was coming at us and about to break... Sitting on the waverunner this wave was 2-3 feet above our head (the biggest we'd seen all day) I gunned it to try and make it over the wave before it toppled us into the sand and up on the beach. THis was definitely one of the sweetest things I have ever done. We went FLYING over the wave, literally the wave runner was about 10-11/1-2 o'clock in the air and you could hear the engine still trying to suck water through it for the couple seconds we were airborne. When I say that, I mean Julia & I were at least 7 feet in the air. It was one of those type of things you would see in a movie. We landed perfectly..... and obviously have no proof of it. Best thing we did.
After, we got fruit to eat and sat in some beach chairs until 4:30 when we got our luggage and took a tuk tuk to Patong Bay.
Patong bay/Bangla Road is Khao San Road on acid. Absolutely mental. WAY to touristy, but it will be interesting for a night. Anyway, tomorrow Julia flies back to London and I am going back to Ko Phi Phi for more diving... I've heard from several that Ko Tao's diving doesn't compare to Phi Phi's!
