Phi Phi Islands

Our first real excursion away from our hotel took us to the Phi Phi Islands. These are a small group of islands about an hours ride east of Phuket in the Andaman Sea. We took a speedboat excursion there to swim, snorkel, and enjoy one of the most beautiful places on earth.
The trip out was pretty uneventful. Daniel liked the whistle on his life jacket though:Gracie didn't like the roar of the engines:
In the morning the skies were overcast, so much of the surrounding islands were just shadows in the distance:
As it turned out the trip was a series of short excursions, but they enabled us to see many parts of the islands. After our boat ride, we arrived at the Phi Phi Islands. Our first stop there was at Monkey Beach: Here, as the name implies we were able to see some wild monkeys. There were only about six or seven, but they were fun to watch. They could be approached and fed by hand. There were some babies, and were fun to watch. If you look carefully there are 2 monkeys in this picture, one is wearing a red hat! We spend only about 15 minutes here, and then were off to our next destination. To get to our next stop we travelled past some incredible cliff faces on the islands: We stopped at some caves in the cliff faces where some people have lived from time to time: The crew from the boat threw pieces of bread out into the water and dozens of tropical fish swarmed around them: Then we stopped in this cove:
where we were able to jump from the back of the boat and swim. The water was the saltiest sea water that I have ever tasted, but it was so clear that you could see the bottom 20 feet below! At this point only Gracie, Kevin, and I were able to swim:Then after that 15 minute swim, we were off to our first snorkeling spot: Patrick had difficulty putting on his snorkel gear, and only stayed in the water for a few minutes. We tried to let Daniel swim in the water, but his life jacket kept turning his face into the water, and he only swam for a few minutes. The goggles didn't fit Gracie's face, so got in and out quickly too. So most of this snorkeling was done by Kevin and I. It was amazing. There were all kinds of colorful fish, including rainbow colored Parrot fish. We swam for 30 minutes: Then our next stop was Phi Phi Lei. This gorgeous beach was the location that the movie "The Beach" staring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed, and it was easy to see why: This was incredible. The white sand matched with the blue water and sky matched with the grey and green of the islands. It was amazing. We walked along the beach, and the kids played in the water: Patrick's sunburn from yesterday was still bothering him, and it was evident: As it turns out, Kim was also not feeling well, from a combination of seasickness and the fact that a couple of people were smoking on the boat. However, both of them still enjoyed the beautiful scenery:
Then we were off to another snorkeling spot. This time Kim was able to get in the water: This spot was over the largest coral reef in the Andaman Sea. There were all kinds of fish and coral to see. Once again, it was amazing!
After that we stopped for lunch. It was a buffet lunch on the island. Then we were finished with the Phi Phi Islands and off to our final destination, Khai Island. It was about a 40 minute boat ride back towards Phuket. And at first my initial reaction was, why go to "Chicken Island", why not just stay at the Phi Phi islands. However, it was possibly the coolest part of the trip. We were able to walk out into the water and there were hundreds of fish there. I was able to get Patrick's snorkel on better, and he and Kevin were really able to enjoy the fish:At the same time, there was a huge rock formation next to the beach that Daniel really enjoyed: There were crabs to see and some strange bugs that hung around the barnacles attached to the rocks. We played here for 30 minutes, and then went back into Phuket. It was a really great day!