Koh Phi Phi
13 September 2024
Koh Phi Phi is a small island group in Thailand’s Andaman Sea, known for its clear waters, limestone cliffs, and popular beaches. The main island, Phi Phi Don, has accommodations, restaurants, and boat access to nearby attractions. Phi Phi Leh, a smaller uninhabited island, is home to Maya Bay, made famous by the movie The Beach. The islands are accessible by ferry or speedboat from Phuket and Krabi.
Día 1
A small bus picked us up from our hotel in the morning, arriving late. It took us to a ferry with incredibly cramped seats and less legroom than a Spirit Airlines flight. The 2 hour boat ride was awful.
We arrived, and it was raining pretty hard. I walked to a 7/11 and found the guy from our hotel who was there with a cart to take our luggage to the hotel. It was a strange coincidence. I still don’t know why he was outside of the 7/11 instead of waiting for us at the ferry. He gave us umbrellas and loaded our things into the cart. We walked for around 15 minutes until we got to the other side of town (it’s a small town) and began to climb stairs ascending a hill. Later, Brandon told us he counted over 200 steps. Our room was at the very top of the hill. It was a long climb, but the view was great.
We got two rooms and chilled for a bit before going to a late lunch. I got panang curry, which was pretty good but not great. Indi and Brandon got Kao Soi, which was quite good but not as good as in Chiang Mai.
Because it was raining fairly hard, there wasn’t much to do besides walk around the island. That’s what we did for most of the day. We had nothing planned so we took it in stride. Brandon had found a gym close by, so the two of us went to workout. It was a pretty sad garage-style looking place next to a man-made pond. Brando is a fitness nut who worked out every single day he was in Asia. He would find gyms that offered day passes or go for a run if there wasn’t a gym nearby. I only went with him a few times but he was religious about it. If you could see the two of us standing nect to eachother it wouldnt be hard to guess which one of us works out every day!
We asked around at a couple of different places to see how much a boat tour would cost for the following day. We ended up signing up through a place close to our hotel. Despite the fact that the weather forecast called for more rain the following day, we wanted to give it a shot anyway.
Día 1
- Early Bird Full-Day Tour
- Maya Bay
- Pi Leh Bay Snorkeling
- Pi Leh Bay
- Phi Phi Lay Island Snorkeling
- Viking Cave
- Monkey Beach
- Bamboo Island
- Yung Island Snorkeling
Maya Bay
Maya Bay, located on Phi Phi Leh, is a well-known tourist attraction famous for its appearance in the 2000 film The Beach. Due to environmental conservation efforts, access to the beach itself is restricted, meaning visitors can only view it from a distance. I like conservation, but only entering a short distance into the bay was disappointing.
Pi Leh Bay Snorkeling
We stopped at a lugar near the mouth of Pi Leh Bay to snorkel. The advertised main attraction of this location was the chance of seeing juvenile black tip reef sharks. I saw two very small black tips, but nothing too impressive.
Besides the sharks, I also saw a group of clownfish in their anemone. I saw my first sea snake of the day at this location. The banded sea krait is a highly venomous but generally non-aggressive sea snake. Its venom is 10 times more potent than a rattlesnake’s. The coral was very damaged here and in the whole Phi Phi island area.
Pi Leh Bay
After snorkeling near the mouth of the bay, we got back in the boat and entered Pi Leh Bay – a stunning lagoon surrounded by towering limestone cliffs. As we sailed through the mouth of the bay, it started pouring rain. Despite the hard rain, the boat dropped anchor near the end of the lagoon, and the guide told everyone to jump in the water. I expected this approach, so I wasn’t bothered. We swam around in the rain, and it was beautiful. Still, it would have been nice to experience the bay under better conditions.
Phi Phi Lay Island Snorkeling
We snorkeled again somewhere around Phi Phi Lay Island, I’m not sure exactly where. I saw a Crown-of-thorns starfish, which I had seen before in nature documentaries but never in person. The crown-of-thorns starfish is a large, spiny sea star with multiple long, venomous arms covered in sharp, toxic spines. This one was purple. It was cool to see in real life.
After this stop, the captain sailed the boat back to Phi Phi Don Island to take back those who had chosen the half-day trip. After leaving them at a dock, we set out again with those who had chosen the full-day trip.
Viking Cave
We looked at Viking Cave from the boat, a limestone cavern on Phi Phi Leh, which was included as a stop on the tour, though it barely felt like an attraction. We simply looked at the cave’s opening from the boat for a couple of minutes before moving on.
It’s called Viking Cave for its ancient cave paintings resembling Viking ships. The cave has long been used for harvesting swiftlet nests to make bird’s nest soup.
Monkey Beach
Monkey Beach, located on Koh Phi Phi Don, is known for its population of wild macaques. The white sand beach and clear water make for a beautiful location, but humans are not welcome. Visitors are advised to keep their distance, as the monkeys can be aggressive.
Our guide attracted a baby monkey with food and got it to jump on his shoulder. He then passed it off onto anyone’s shoulder who wanted. Some tourists got too close to the monkeys, who were not happy about it. They would chase off anyone who stepped on the sand.
Bamboo Island
Bamboo Island is a small, sandy island surrounded by shallow coral reefs. For some reason I was reminded of Cayo Icacos in Puerto Rico. Hoping to spot a leopard shark, I searched the water, but poor visibility and a restricted swimming area made it difficult. Instead, we laid out towels, and I took a nap on the beach. When I woke up, a storm front was moving in, and just as we reached cover, the rain caught up with us.
We saw another water monitor on the island that had climbed up a tree. I had seen one on Hong Island near Krabi, Thailand. It wasn’t nearly as big as the Komodo dragons we saw in Indonesia, but it’s still a massive lizard. It’s the 2nd largest lizard in the world. It tolerated the group of tourists taking pictures of it. Someone even walked up and touched it. I couldn’t believe the level of disrespect towards wild animals that I encountered on this trip. As our tour guide in the Cameron Highlands would say, we saw a lot of “human monkeys” monkeying around.
Yung Island Snorkeling
We sailed to our last destination to snorkel. I can’t be sure, but I think it was located on Yung Island. It was pretty weak, like all of the snorkeling in the area. But I did get to see a bucket list animal for me – a seahorse! It’s hard to see in the photo, it’s right above the yellow coral. It was bigger and less curly than I had imagined.
Next time
On our next adventure, we fly over the Malay Peninsula to the island of Koh Samui.
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