Island Cruising from Phuket to Phi Phi (Part III)Our fist class private sleeper cabin cost more than our hotel room in Bangkok so we assumed it would be a very nice and comfortable way to see the landscape and make our way back to Bangkok well rested. In reality, the room and train were at least 40 years old and well used. Yes we each had our own bunk with beddings and a private door we could close but you wanted to touch as few things as possible. Once Pranvera awoke from a nap we ventured 5 cars back to the dining car where all the open windows allowing various flying objects to enter randomly but to give one that very old school feeling of traveling back in time. Our set menu was tasty and the ice-cold beer even better. Not to mention the range of local and many tourist characters we came across. Pleasantly by the time we returned to our cabin the beds had been made for us to sleep in and we cozied up to one another to enjoy the jolting rock of the car till another early morning arrival. In a slight daze we emerged to jump straight in a taxi and race all the way across Bangkok to arrive at the Southern Bus Terminal and try and find a VIP heading the 12 hours to Phuket. Low and behold one was leaving within the half-hour. A seriously uneventful day but allowing us to make serious progress in our books. With my new friend Mr Ipod along, we arrived in just the nick of time to navigate our way around a new city and find a place to stay before we headed to our boat that next afternoon.
Fortunately now being with my wife and 10 years of experience to add from when I was venturing in Thailand last, we opted in enter the first nice (and large) hotel we came across to negotiate a fair price and drop our bags and get a shower in no time. A pleasant change when I’m sure I would have investigated several cheap backer places only to select a rather simple yet dirty place to bed just for one night. It’s nice to not even want to go there anymore. As the saying goes I guess, been there and done that…
We weren’t too fond of the city itself since it seemed to lack any personality or sights worth seeing. So we just wandered about doing internet and shopping of grocery goods so that we could cook some meals for ourselves on the boat. The grocery store was a welcome surprise, especially since I was able to purchase Oreo cookies for our journey. Everything was working according to plan except I was unable to reach on any phone number or by email the owner of the boat we were to meet that afternoon. Assuming he would somehow find us we finally negotiate a taxi to the town he said he was harbored and we dumped our gear at a nice beachfront café bar and started to ask around if anyone knew him. Suddenly my phone began to ring and it was him saying he had dropped his cell phone in the water but gotten my number from the email. Within 5 minutes our Dutch castaway was with us enjoying a beer and stories of island living for the past 11 years. You could kind of tell since he didn’t seem completely there.
None the less he carted us and our bags to the beach with his moto-scooter and side cart. Before we realized it we were speeding across the beautiful bay by ourselves in a dingy on the way to unload our gear and settle into our 30 foot private catermeran sailboat. Although it technically had all the amenities of a bathroom, kitchen and 2 bedrooms, it was as if they had been shrunk to child size. Perfect for our 3 day adventure but no more. As it turned out due to the heat and claustrophobic feeling of the beds, we slept up on deck under the main canopy. It was perfect except for the night it stormed or when we actually wanted darkness or silence to sleep late into the morning (not). Ironic that for a honeymoon which I thought would be nothing but sleeping in and stuffing ourselves on large meals we were up everyday by 7ish or so (not to mention my wife cannot sleep in anyway).
But the boat was perfect. For the first night we had it all to ourselves to swim around anytime we felt like it, enjoying wine and playing ‘house’ with no one else anywhere (or so we thought till another boat he hires received 2 families, with a 6 month old to also sleep in the harbor the first night—luckily we were unable to hear the crying). We ventured to shore that night in the motorized dingy to join our Captain to have a wonderful ‘island priced’ meal and plan our 3 day adventure. We mapped out the islands we wanted to visit and targeted certain ports to dock which would allow to go ashore for dinner and experience a bit of the island nightlife. Perfect in theory until you factored in the fact that the wind wouldn’t provide the speed that was needed, a couple storms suggested we head other directions, the ports were so packed with other boats and general activity that it never had that same remote feeling as we did the first night and last but not least our Thai skipper was a lazy pain in the ass who did not want to take us where we wanted to go and complained the whole way about the boat, the wind, decided to use the motor for large segments and was always around us (can’t go too far away on a 30 ft. boat). Since this was a new experience for the both of us we never could have anticipated these issues so we just made the most out of snorkeling and swimming almost whenever we wanted, taking the kayak out for little adventures to get to shore and part ways with our Skipper.
Day one was excellent with the novelty of being on the boat and the water seeing all the distant unique rock formations and arriving on a remote private beach for a fresh fruit shake, romantic swim and walk on the beach. That night we didn’t make it as far as expected so we docked at see near an exclusive resort beach with no other boats around. Although the meal at the resort was extremely expensive and of course upset our skipper since he wanted a much cheaper dish somewhere close to town where there were doing construction right on the beach. But for us it was a wonderful sunset walk, beautiful resort to check out and an excellent island fresh seafood dish. The paddle back to the boat always ensured we got a little wet but part of the adventure.
Day 2 and 3 were a collection of many unnamed islands including a beautiful national park with perfect white sand beaches, ice blue water and a huge lizard dragon walking on the sand. Not to mention all kinds of exotic colorful birds flying from tree to tree. The unrelenting sun on the boat caused us to take shelter in the deckside cabin for a number of hours but still plenty of time to read, nap or jump off the back of the boat to cool down. Although this is a little bit exaggerated since the water temperature averaged 28C. Almost like a bathtub with a current…
Fortunately now being with my wife and 10 years of experience to add from when I was venturing in Thailand last, we opted in enter the first nice (and large) hotel we came across to negotiate a fair price and drop our bags and get a shower in no time. A pleasant change when I’m sure I would have investigated several cheap backer places only to select a rather simple yet dirty place to bed just for one night. It’s nice to not even want to go there anymore. As the saying goes I guess, been there and done that…
We weren’t too fond of the city itself since it seemed to lack any personality or sights worth seeing. So we just wandered about doing internet and shopping of grocery goods so that we could cook some meals for ourselves on the boat. The grocery store was a welcome surprise, especially since I was able to purchase Oreo cookies for our journey. Everything was working according to plan except I was unable to reach on any phone number or by email the owner of the boat we were to meet that afternoon. Assuming he would somehow find us we finally negotiate a taxi to the town he said he was harbored and we dumped our gear at a nice beachfront café bar and started to ask around if anyone knew him. Suddenly my phone began to ring and it was him saying he had dropped his cell phone in the water but gotten my number from the email. Within 5 minutes our Dutch castaway was with us enjoying a beer and stories of island living for the past 11 years. You could kind of tell since he didn’t seem completely there.
None the less he carted us and our bags to the beach with his moto-scooter and side cart. Before we realized it we were speeding across the beautiful bay by ourselves in a dingy on the way to unload our gear and settle into our 30 foot private catermeran sailboat. Although it technically had all the amenities of a bathroom, kitchen and 2 bedrooms, it was as if they had been shrunk to child size. Perfect for our 3 day adventure but no more. As it turned out due to the heat and claustrophobic feeling of the beds, we slept up on deck under the main canopy. It was perfect except for the night it stormed or when we actually wanted darkness or silence to sleep late into the morning (not). Ironic that for a honeymoon which I thought would be nothing but sleeping in and stuffing ourselves on large meals we were up everyday by 7ish or so (not to mention my wife cannot sleep in anyway).
But the boat was perfect. For the first night we had it all to ourselves to swim around anytime we felt like it, enjoying wine and playing ‘house’ with no one else anywhere (or so we thought till another boat he hires received 2 families, with a 6 month old to also sleep in the harbor the first night—luckily we were unable to hear the crying). We ventured to shore that night in the motorized dingy to join our Captain to have a wonderful ‘island priced’ meal and plan our 3 day adventure. We mapped out the islands we wanted to visit and targeted certain ports to dock which would allow to go ashore for dinner and experience a bit of the island nightlife. Perfect in theory until you factored in the fact that the wind wouldn’t provide the speed that was needed, a couple storms suggested we head other directions, the ports were so packed with other boats and general activity that it never had that same remote feeling as we did the first night and last but not least our Thai skipper was a lazy pain in the ass who did not want to take us where we wanted to go and complained the whole way about the boat, the wind, decided to use the motor for large segments and was always around us (can’t go too far away on a 30 ft. boat). Since this was a new experience for the both of us we never could have anticipated these issues so we just made the most out of snorkeling and swimming almost whenever we wanted, taking the kayak out for little adventures to get to shore and part ways with our Skipper.
Day one was excellent with the novelty of being on the boat and the water seeing all the distant unique rock formations and arriving on a remote private beach for a fresh fruit shake, romantic swim and walk on the beach. That night we didn’t make it as far as expected so we docked at see near an exclusive resort beach with no other boats around. Although the meal at the resort was extremely expensive and of course upset our skipper since he wanted a much cheaper dish somewhere close to town where there were doing construction right on the beach. But for us it was a wonderful sunset walk, beautiful resort to check out and an excellent island fresh seafood dish. The paddle back to the boat always ensured we got a little wet but part of the adventure.
Day 2 and 3 were a collection of many unnamed islands including a beautiful national park with perfect white sand beaches, ice blue water and a huge lizard dragon walking on the sand. Not to mention all kinds of exotic colorful birds flying from tree to tree. The unrelenting sun on the boat caused us to take shelter in the deckside cabin for a number of hours but still plenty of time to read, nap or jump off the back of the boat to cool down. Although this is a little bit exaggerated since the water temperature averaged 28C. Almost like a bathtub with a current…
Our first night was on the famous tourist island of Koh Phi Phi where we were able to do our first snorkel adventure. A bit cloudy from all the boats and winds but still a fun way to spend our happy hour. We docked among a ton of other boats and were unfortunately assaulted by the music and lights of the party island but we were able to partake in a little bit of it with a nice seafood dinner, a visit to all the tons of shops and to check out the bar scene a bit. Unfortunately we felt obligated to return to our boat on the earlier side since we in fact had to paddle our kayak from the beach to the boat in darkness. And then the winds and the rains were so strong that night we didn’t get much sleep. Our final night and port was spend in Railay Beach Krabie the rock climbing capital of southeast Asia and a place I had been to 10 years back. We started off by kayaking around the bay and beaches to orient ourselves and gaze up the amazing cliffs, even seeing some climbers. But the protected bay we needed to dock in had one of the worse high/low tide drifts which forced us to drag our kayak across a half mile of mud and rock before we could paddle our way back to the boat to sleep. Fortunately we had a couple cocktails in us before then and had enjoyed an average meal at an overpriced resort restaurant. A good reminder why I had opted for us not to make this place one of our destinations but rather just a stop over.
Before we had set upon our cruise, we had opted to pay an extra fee to allow us to get off the boat in this port rather than return all the way to where we started on add many hours of travel to our next island on the opposite coast. Although this should have been a simple no brainer our skipper insisted he could not sail to the boat to the dock and we needed to pay for another boat to pick us up and shuttle us there. Fortunately for cell phones we reached the owner and he agreed that the skipper pay for this ‘necessary’ additional transportation which involved a simple fast ride in a traditional Thai long-tail boat. Certainly all and all a fun unique experience but one we won’t do again unless on a bigger boat and with a Captain that we could tolerate.
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