Showing posts with label Phi Phi Island. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Phi Phi Island. Show all posts

Monday, 26 October 2009

Relaxation Day on Phi Phi

The last full day on Phi Phi was a tough one for me. I should have booked myself on another dive, but thought better of it at the time (should have trusted my instinct). I'm not very good at relaxing on holidays. Living in Perth, I get every weekend to relax by the pool or beach It just looses it's appeal on holidays. Kerri's more than happy to sit by the pool & read a book. I can't do it.I found a few things to keep me busy. I splashed around in a pool a bit doing my best impression of Shamu the Killer Whale. The camera was also my friend. Being that it was a nice bright day I set about taking photos of the scenery around the limited area of the resort.
The local wildlife were camera targets as well. The dove below made showed itself early before I even got out of bed.An interesting comment about the part of Thailand is that the usual scavanger birds that you see around the world such as ravens (Crows) & seagulls (we even saw them at 4500m above sea level in the Bolivian desert) were nowhere to be seen. It was very odd & I can't explain it. These Asian starlings (below) were the only annoying scavengers around. And they were very cheeky!I was intrigued by the huge, mainly black bees that were buzzing around the gardens.Late in the afternoon, while I was lazing by the pool, this olive tree skink started rustling around in the bushes.
I went for a wander up the hill through the resot to see what I could see only to find the sea on the Western side of the island and a very shear cliff.
I couldn't help but notice this odd hibiscus along the way.
The day passed soon enough, but I do regret not going for another dive. Never mind. You live & learn.

Stormy Waters

After our dive we decided a nap for a couple of hours was in order. We were on holidays after all. When we woke up the cloudy day was then threatening something a bit more wet. The storm clouds were building & by night fall the lightning had started. We sat at the outdoor restaurant having a nice curry watching the light show in the distance. Eventually the rain did hit us, but not until we were tucked up in bed.

The photo below is the hotel pool with the indoor restaurant in the background. Oddly, the dodgy looking beach side outdoor restaurant had better food than the more expensive fancy indoor version. They're the same hotel & same staff, but different food. Weird.

Sunday, 25 October 2009

Dive Phi Phi

We lined up a dive for the second day on Phi Phi. The two Brazilian girls who run the Leisure Dive Centre we very friendly & seemed a bit more switched on than the local Thais who ran the shops from the resorts. They were quite a bit cheaper too. The best part is that they have a proper dive boat (the white boat pictured above) instead of a dodgy long tail boat (foreground). Long tails are all well & good for snorkeling but trying to get back into it with full dive gear looses it's appeal a touch.The weather & tide conditions meant that the day's dives would be off Mosquito & Bamboo islands. The Islands were very close to our hotel (Mosquito Island is the one in the top photo) which meant the travel time would be minimal. Always an advantage. You can see the two islands to the top of the map. Our hotel is the beach next to the big white dot near by. Apparently there are some very nice dives around Phi Phi Leh but the travel time is around the hour mark instead of 15 mins. The hotel cluster & day tourist area is to the south of Phi Phi Don so the near by dive sites get hammered. The first dive was the shallow atoll just off Bamboo Island. We Suited up & hit the water. I must say it was a nice change to be able to dive without a restrictive wet suit. It was very shallow & the sand very white & powdery (and easily stirred up). I wasn't getting good vibes early on but it got better. We had been promised a leopard shark so everyone was on the look out. We weren't disappointed.

The dive continued to improve as we descended. There were all kinds of brightly coloured fish living in the reef & a few not so bright. I think we saw 3 stone fish including one that Kerri didn't see until she's almost put her hand on it!

We were collected by the boat and ferried to Mosquito Island where we stopped and had a nice lunch. Once we'd been on the surface long enough, we were back in the water. This time the reef was very close to the island & dived away sharply providing us with an ideal habitat for loads on different creatures.We saw 3 different types of clown fish including the one above (Ocellaris Clown Fish) made popular by the Finding Nemo movie. There were also a number of families of a bright orange species I've never hear of called the Fire Clown fish. It's the orange one in foreground below. The other one is Kerri.We also saw three lion fish (below). I've logged heaps of dives on the Great Barrier reef & have never actually seen one. I was very excited.The list continues including a moral eel and countless other fish species. The Harlequin fish below (related to clown fish) are very territorial and this one I thought was just curious until it gave me a nip on the knuckle.

Unfortunately there was a distinct absence of any species you could eat because the concept of national park isn't too clear in Thailand and us rabble tourists just encourage it.

In all a couple of really nice dives & in hind sight should have gone out again the next day.

The underwater photos are courtesy (well we had to pay $10 for them) of the Leisure dive centre.

Saturday, 24 October 2009

Phi Phi Island

The next day was fairly uneventful. We were back in a van early to take us to the ferry terminal on the other side of Phuket Island. After about an hour we reached Phi Phi Lay, the more southern and smaller of the two islands. The ferry does a lap around Phi Phi Lay on the way out to give tourists & hotel guest a look at this beautiful Island.

Phi Phi Lay is uninhabited but is very popular with divers & the one beach/cove is popular with tourists who want to go for a swim & sun bathe.
There is a strange cave on Phi Phi Lay. I can't remember the whole story but I think the ancients of the area used to harvest bat guano from the cave. Bit of a tourist trap by the looks.
The ferry's first stop was Long Beach (below) on Koh Phi Phi. It's the main hub on the island. There are a myriad of speed boats, long tail boats & seemingly endless dive boats.

The Ferry left long beach, made a brief stop at a cluster of hotels half way along the island before pulling up in front of our hotel (and 2 others) to empty the remainder of the passengers onto long tail boats.
We settled into our room & set out to explore the hotel & find some lunch. I can't recall us doing too much interesting other than having a swim in the pool, relaxing & investigating the scuba diving options for the next day.