We took the boat from Krabi to Phi Phi in the early afternoon, which took about 2 hours. It was a really nice sunny day, and we went past a lot of small empty islands, but the water was a little choppy, so Amy spent much of the trip feeling sick. We managed to entertain ourselves along the way by looking out for flying fish that jumped out in the boats wake.

When we arrived and got off the boat we couldn't believe how clear the water was. When we looked over the harbourside we could see hundreds of colouful fish swimming about around the boats. Before we left Krabi, the owner of our guesthouse had arranged for someone from one of the local dive shops to meet us at the harbour and give us a rough idea of costs to dive that week. We expected them to be quite pushy, but the guy was really relaxed, and he let us leave our luggage in the shop whilst we went looking for accomodation (After a few days deliberating we decided it was too expensive for our budget anyway).

We eventually settled on a bamboo hut just yards from the beach. It was pretty cheap anyway, but they gave us an even cheaper rate as we paid for 5 days in advance. The hut was really basic, but it had a bathroom and a hammock, not to mention the pet monkey that was roped up outside, so we were happy with it. Once we settled in we went down to the beach for a quick dip, then spent the evening reading in our hammock. After less than an hour we had been bitten by loads of mosquitos, even with repelant on, so we decided to avoid the balcony during the evenings from now on.

At night we went into the centre and ate at a Thai food restaurant that gave us absolutely massive portions, before going for a few drinks in the bars. When walking through the centre of town you get bombarded with fliers for various bars, some of which give out free vodka or whiskey buckets at certain times. We had a flier for a free bucket down on the beach, so we headed to the Ibiza bar.

When we got there the barmen were swinging a big flaming skipping rope around on the beach for people to jump. After a few drinks Amy decided to have a go and, after a few successful skips, managed to fall over and burn her leg. Good times! We stayed out until the early hours then went back to the hut.

The next day was overcast and rainy so we spent it in the hammock reading and watching films in the bars. The highlight of the day was definately going to a restaurant where they let you customise a pizza with whatever you want for $5. We gave the bars a miss at night, but we couldn't sleep for ages as we could hear every word of the music from the beach until 4am.

The next day was even worse, with heavy rain all day so we slept in for a while, but our lie in was interupted by a couple of airhead posh girls in the next hut talking rubbish, so we got up and went for breakfast before watching more films and eating more pizza in between internet sessions. We went out to the bars at night again, where they were doing fireshows and fire limbo along with the skipping ropes.

The next few days were much the same as each other as we spent most of our days on the beach where I played kick-ups with the locals, and most of our nights in the bars. We had managed to get quite tactical with our nights out, and we found ourselves moving around between bars when the fliers told us there were free buckets to have. We even found that the bars have there own routine that they repeat night after night, including the same jokes, but we didn't complain as most of the fire shows were really impressive. Not learning from Amy's lesson, I had a go at the fire skipping and, sure enough, managed to burn my leg in the same spot she did.

We were also staring to get tired of our beach hut due to the bombardment of mosquito bites we were getting at night. One night I killed about 10 of them before bed and more still got in the net overnight!

At one point we had a walk up to the tsunami evacuation point, which also provided a really nice lookout over the islands beaches. There were a few pictures taken from the same lookout in the aftermath of the Tsunami, and the difference was striking. One side of the island has been totally rebuilt since then.

Our initial plan when we got to Phi Phi was to stay for about 5 days then go to the nearby island Ko Lanta, which is meant to be quieter and less developed. However, during the low season the ferrys don't run directly between the islands, so it was little trickier to get there. Coupling this with the fact that we had been rained off for a couple of days in our time here, we decided to abort the trip to Lanta, and stay on Phi Phi for a few more days.

We had reached our last day in the hut, which we were happy about as the mossies were too much, so we moved into a guesthouse just down the street that was insect free. When we went for breakfast that morning we spotted a huge monkey just sat on the roof opposite us. When it yawned we saw teeth about 2 inches long!

In the evening, after another day just moping around, we went to a bar that was showing Slumdog Millionaire. We were quite enjoying it, but after 40 minutes or so the grumpy barmaid decided it was too empty and no one was drinking fast enough, so she closed the bar mid-film. We were annoyed!

After a couple more uneventful days spent on the beach, reading and watching the little crabs digging dens and fighting each other, we decided it was about time we actually went out and did something, so we booked a trip for the next day.

In the morning we set off on a local fishing boat with 3 other people - two French Canadians and a guy from Trinidad. Our first stop along the way was the monkey beach, which was fairly Ronseal as it involved looking at loads on monkeys on a beach. There were absolutely loads of them and we fed them melon and pineapple. We thought the small cute ones were best.

After 20 minutes or so on the beach we headed out to sea to start snorkeling. We stopped on a reef a couple of hundred metres from shore next to a reef. There were hundreds of tropical fish around the boat, and the local guide told Amy to throw in some melon. They all went nuts and the melon was gone in seconds.

Just as we were due to dive a huge storm came in and the boat started flying all over the place. The waves were huge, but it didn't make much of a difference in the water, and was actually quite enjoyable, unless you were Amy who felt sick. We did see loads of fish, but the storm reduced visability so we didn't see any of the reef sharks that swarm the area, which was a shame.

The storm was still howling when we set off for the uninhabited island of Phi Phi Lay, and the boat was getting thrown all over the place. It was great fun! The guy from Trinidad was actually sick once we got there.

The storm had settled once we arrived in a small cove, where we had lunch then went snorkeling again. There were a few cliff jumps in the area too, so I tried a few along with the other guys. We managed the 5m and 7m jumps, but no one dared to do the 17m one.

Shortly after we left the boat and took a short walk through to Maya bay, which was used in the Leonardo De Caprio film 'The Beach'. When we first arrived in the early evening it was quite busy, but within 20 minutes everyone else left and the five of us were the only ones left to watch the sunset. The scenery was amazing, and we just mucked around for a bit before getting back on the boat after a really fun day.

As we were planning to leave the next day we wanted a quiet night, but we bumped into the Irish guys we'd been seeing since Laos, so we were obliged to go out for a few drinks. We weren't too late though and we were up the next morning to get the boat to Railay.