 |
| Longboats |
Just this morning, we arrived in Ao Nang after a 12-hour overnight train ride from Bangkok and then another 2.5 hours traveling by minivan. Our hotel,
Ben's House, is sparse but near the beach. We quickly decided that we needed to get out on the water after so many hours traveling. Our choice: a four island sunset boat tour.
 |
| Longboat motor. Yes, there's a Lipton Tea bottle keeping this working! |
During our discussions, I heard "speed boat" and assumed that our boat would be like those back home in the U.S. that pull water skiers and tubers. Imagine my surprise when we're dropped off at the dock of wooden longboats. The speed boat is for a different option to visit the Phi-Phi Islands.
 |
| Our first island stop |
Like all boats that we've encountered in Thailand, getting in and out is always interesting. On this long boat, our guide wedged an aluminum ladder against the side; and, we waded into the water barefoot and clambered aboard the slippery metal tube rungs. We had to rinse our sandals of sand before bringing them aboard.
 |
| Fish in the water |
The long boat did have a motor...a very loud motor that our guide siphoned gasoline into to get going. It spit a cloud of exhaust as we backed up to get out of the harbor. Then, we were off to our first island stop, our guide attempting to shout above the motor.
 |
| Monkey on the rocks of the island across from Isla Tup |
Our first stop was the island of Isola Tup. It is a small island with gorgeous, clear, shallow waters. We waded into the water and watched as schools of tiny fish, clear with an iridescent streak through the middle and eyes bugging out slowly passed. There were schools of white fish with black vertical stripes wandering by, too, seeming to be as curious about us as we were of them. The tide was low, allowing us to wade through the water across to another island, where monkeys hung out on the rocks.
 |
| View from Poda Island |
Our next stop was to Poda Island. Here, our driver anchored the longboat while our guide encouraged us all to put on life jackets and snorkels and follow him into the water. It took the ten of us a bit to get our act together, as we one by one cautiously climbed down the aluminum ladder while the rest of us rocked with the boat and tried to balance out the weight. Did I mention that the guide had to have six of us sit on one side and four on the other almost the entire trip to balance out the boat? Once in the water, we could look down into clear water, watching curious fish swimming up to us. Our guide found some sea anemones with "Nemo" type fish living among them. There were also more of the white with vertical black striped fish and a beautiful black, white, blue and yellow fish with one long white fin.
Island four was simply a drive by of Chicken Island for a photo.
 |
| Ao Phra Nang Beach |
The final island is actually a peninsula of Krabi, Thailand, that can only be reached by boat. This is Ao Phra Nang Beach. We disembarked and wandered the beach for a few photos of the gorgeous scenery before settling down on the sand to watch the sunset. It was a great way to end our first day of beaches in Thailand!
 |
| Sunset |
No comments:
Post a Comment