If there is heaven on earth, we found it in the Adaman Sea!

Tuesday.

 Best birthday eve ever! Please don't excuse our goofy snorkel faces. 

 

On the morn of January 17th we set off on our adventure to visit the Phi Phi islands (about a 90 minute boat ride from our island, Koh Jum). As I mentioned previously, we decided to skip the big tour boats and hired our own long tail to get us there. I say "hired" because our boat also came with two Thai men to be our guides, captain, and providers of fresh fruit:). 

 We visited 3 of the Phi Phi islands starting with the high cliffed Koh Phi Phi Leh. That is the island with the famous Maya Bay (where the movie "the Beach" was filmed). We didn't stop there because there were about 500 too many people for our taste. The areas we did visit were gorgeous!! The rocks towered over us and the water.... That WATER!!!😍 it was clear blue and emerald over white sands. And warm and delightful to swim in. We snorkeled at several coves and enjoyed the rainbow fish. We even saw a sting ray. Here are some shots from our first stops.

My best attempt at a dive shot off the boat. Don't mind my behind 😆 

The best adventure buddy!

 

 

 

 

 

One of the most spectacular beaches we visited today was called Monkey beach. Because it was lousy with monkeys! They looked cute at first, but they're sassy little thieves and I ended up shooing most of them away. 

 

But did you notice that pure white sand??! It was soft as fresh snow and so beautiful!

 

Yes, my legs are really that blotchy from rookie application of sunscreen. 

But that water! And that jungle!👌

 

 

Heaven on 🌏 

 

 I wanna live here. In this water. With the monkeys. 

 

Ok, ok, I'll stop obsessing over the water and finish my story. 

After cruising around Koh Phi Phi Leh we circled Koh Phi Phi Don. Our guide offered to take us to go shopping... Pffff! No way would we waste good ocean time! I wanted maximized time to gawk at nature.

The trip got adventurous when our boat broke down in the middle of the water. Our trusty Captain and his liege fixed her right up, with the help of the chopping knife they used to cut our watermelon:). 

At least it was a beautiful place to be stranded for a while.

Later we went near Bamboo island for some more snorkeling. It was so relaxing just to glide along the top of the water, feeling that perfectly warm ocean around me, while watching the fish and coral beneath. I never wanted to leave the water. I have more sunburns to prove it...

The last adventure was our trip back to Koh Jum. We saw ominous dark clouds as soon as we started the crossing. When we were about 30 minutes from shore the torrential rain started. It pelted our poor captain more than us. The ocean was still relatively calm, so each of the thousands of raindrops created their own perfect splash as they hit the water. It was  lovely! And cold.

We weren't nervous until we realized that our guides were lost. The clouds in front of us had become so thick that none of us could see where we were going. And we definitely couldn't tell which way the island was. One of the guys said (in his heavily accented English) "Hallo!! Koh Jum, where are you?". That boosted our confidence... haha, we were all laughing and of course we found our island evantually. We came home and ate way too much at the local restaurant and watched the sun set behind the Phi Phi islands in the distance.