One of our favorite adventures was the Phi Phi Island Dream. It is an all day excursion that took us to three different beaches in the Phi Phi Islands.
We started at 8:00 am, which is early when you are on vacation! What is scarier is that they have the same excursion that starts at 6 am! Now that is just crazy talk!!!
Once we were picked up at our lobby, it was a 40 minute drive to the other side of Phuket to the Royal Marina. There we were given a specific colored bracelet depending on which excursion you were going on (we were team purple!). Once we donned our purple bracelet, it was to the lounge for food, drinks and so they could sell us stuff! It was crazy how many people were buying the water shoes at 400 baht a pair (that is 12 US dollars). They make mint off that! But honestly, they are needed in the coral and sharp rocks. (Hubby and I came prepared in our Teva’s which is what we have snorkeled in for years.)
Then it was off to the speed boat! Even in the speed boat, it took an hour to get to the first island. Then it was snorkeling in the lagoon. The snorkeling was AWESOME. We saw a ton of fish and coral. I even caught a school of squid! (Is it still a school if it is squid???)
Next was Maya Beach, made famous by Leonardo DiCaprio in The Beach. The actual beach he filmed on was closed thanks to the tsunami a few years ago, but we went swimming in the lagoon where Leo swam. I have to say, I was a little disappointed when Leo was no where to be found…
Then it was odd to the Viking Caves, where workers are using down nests of these birds that make them from spit. Yep. Spit. Apparently the Chinese and Thai use the nests for soup (bird nest soup anyone???) and medicine.
Next was a stop to Monkey Beach. We didn’t get off the boat for this one, as I’m sure the monkeys wouldn’t have been happy, nor would I really want to swim with them!!! It was really crazy to watch the monkeys jumping into the water for bananas!
Next it was a short boat trip to the main island for lunch at a hotel. We ended up sitting with two guys from our trip, one from the UK who is in construction, and his friend, who is originally from New York, but is living in Singapore working for UPS! We had a great conversation and then did a bit of shopping.
After waiting on the boat for 30 minutes when a few people couldn’t handle being on time, we were off to Bamboo Island. There Hubby and I spent time snorkeling right off the beach and saw some amazing fish. The sea shells we found on that beach were HUGE! It has been a long time since I had seen anything like it.
Then it was back to the marina during low tide. When it gets low tide in Thailand, they mean LOW TIDE. Our captain was fantastic though.
This was definitely a trip worth taking. It was also insanely cheap. The entire day was a total of $120 US per person! That included getting us there, all the water and POP you could drink in the boat, and lunch. It was totally worth it!!