[Grace] Exploring Phi Phi Islands

Yesterday, my family and I rented a speed boat for the morning so we could explore some islands around Phi Phi, the island where we had been staying. We were surprised by the fact that our speedboat was apparently named "Marijuana" and was proudly decorated with a marijuana leaf on the side. While this boat wasn't highest on our list, it still did the job. Different cultures, different traditions I guess?

Our first stop on the boat was Maya Maya Bay. Apparently this beach was made famous after the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach" was filmed there. I have not seen the movie, but I have seen Leonardo DiCaprio's face & the beach, both of which are beautiful, so at least the movie has that going in it's favor.

As we rolled up to the beach, the views were stunning. The beach is in a little cove, and as our "Marijuana" boat entered the cove, we were able to see the stunning, high rock walls.

The cliff walls when boating in.

The cliff walls as seen from the beach.

There were some beautiful long boats docked at the beach.

Cannon got some great action shots of him falling back into the water. It almost looks like he is making a snow angel in the water, which is ironic because he is more like a snow devil than a snow angel.

The beach was crowded. And it was only 8:30 in the morning.

After we left Maya Maya Beach, we went snorkeling! My siblings, my dad and I all went snorkeling while my mom took pictures from the boat. The water's visibility was the best I'd ever snorkeled in before; the water was crystal clear so all the fish's color stood out super vibrantly. 

Snorkeling!! You can tell where I am because I am the best-looking.

After that, we went to our third location. It was a beautiful inlet with the same dazzing water and majestic rocks framing us and our homely drug boat ;). We all swam in the water off the boat, and most of the family even jumped off the front! I tried (and failed) to dive into the water headfirst, not because of lack of effort; in fact, I even tried to dive into water, but bailed halfway through and belly-flopped instead. I'm pretty sure that as I lay there, face down and spread eagle in the air, looking down at the water, I regretted every life choice that led me to this moment of shame. (And while I still haven't perfected my dive, I went back to the hotel and got mango ice cream so I'm really not that mad about it anymore.) 

I would sell my soul to the devil to live here (you wish I was joking but I'm not).

Someone is having a little too much fun...I'll leave it up to you to guess who.

This was taken right after I learned how to fly.

Cannon doesn't allow pesky things like gravity to stop him from doing what he wants to do.

After playing in the water some more we decided to move onto our next location. So off we went to more snorkeling! This time, Mom joined us so we didn't have a designated photographer. So sadly, no one was able to document how attractive I look in fins and a snorkel. But, at least I learned one very important lesson snorkeling: if you are really quiet in the ocean, and the water is not too deep, you can actually hear parrot fish eat aglae!!!!!! They make a really quiet crunching/eating noise and it's adorable. I hope you treat that knowledge well.

When we were done snorkelling, it was around 11:30 and we were all tired. It's a hard life when you have to ride around in a boat all day in the Phi Phi Islands and go to beautiful places and swim in the ocean. We could have gone to Money Beach, named apropiately for its abundance of monkeys, but as a family we made the joint-decision to skip it and head back to the main island. 

Right before we ended our excursion on the boat, we took one last brief stop at another beautiful inlet. We didn't stay for long, and we stayed in the boat the entire time, but the pictures were too beautiful not to share.

I hope that after reading this post and seeing all these beautiful pictures, you are already looking at your calendar to see when you can buy a plane ticket to Thailand. If not, then I am a failure (what's new) because everything here is SO GORGEOUS!!!!! My parents told me never to write in all caps online because it looks like you're yelling - but yelling is exactly the vibe I want to get across. The Phi Phi islands (pronouced Pee-Pee with a /p/ not an /f/) are the number one islands in Thailand, and maybe in the world. I believe everyone should see them before they die, even if that means riding a boat called "Marijuana."