Ko Phi Phi Ley

We headed down to the pier with our guide who seemed a little crazy but a good laugh. We met up with the rest of the group who we would be spending the night with on the beach and all seemed like a nice bunch of people. We waited for about 15 mins while the boat was on its way over to pick us up. During this time the tour guides decided to throw themselves off the pier to cool down. Was pretty funny and it got a few of the group to do the same.

We boarded a big yellow boat and our captin "Jack Sparrow" as he was known started the journey off towards Phi Phi Ley and Maya bay. From a distance Phi Phi Ley just made you want to go and explore it, all the cliffs covered with green and strange rock formations making you to get closer and closer. As we came up to the rock face it was exciting to know that we were going to be travelling round to a bay where no one but us would be spending the night. As we sailed round the island we saw old remains of where pirates used to set up camp, there is a story behind it all but ill have to check the history books again to tell you the full story. We also saw remains of where thai's used to scale the cliff faces with bamboo rods to collect birds nests which they used to make birds nest soup.

We stopped off just before turning round the corner where Maya bay was to do some snorkeling, the water was so clear, pretty deep but you could still see to the bottom. Soon as Jack Sparrow gave the word everyone threw themselves off the side of the boat. It was a double decker so we got some good height and plenty of air to do front flips ;) We swam around checking out the fish when the guides threw in loads of bread making the fish go crazy and start sucking everones toes, legs etc, a few screams were heard from the girls and it wast long before everyone was back on the boat to escape the feeding frenzy of the fish.

We carried on round the corner of the island to see the opening of Maya Bay, i have to be honest it didnt look as impressive as i remember when i watched "The Beach" but as soon as we got to the sand and looked out from the bay you could see it and it looked amazing. We got told at night if we walked out into the water and disturbed the plancton they would light up the water bright blue, again like in "The Beach" so we looked forward to giving that a go. We quickly threw our stuff down and headed out to explore a little, by explore i mean go for a swim along Maya Bay. The sand was so soft, the water was very warm, the sun was setting behind us, it was silent apart from our voices and the view out the bay was lush. We all got to know each other a bit better over dinner, a mix of americans, ozzy and people from all over europe.

After dinner we played a few drinking games to break the ice more and then we were called by the guides for a trek into the woodland to see the crabs that come out to feed. We walked into the woods for a while untill we saw the crabs, they were the biggest ive ever seen, running around on the floor and climbing trees, check the pics! We took a few pics, scared a few people by grabbing their feet and then headed back to have our second part of the meal, a chicken bbq mmmm. After the chicken we had a fire show done by our guides and then chilled out for a bit longer.
After the fire show we all sat round the fire on the beach and a couple of guitars were bought out. One of the guides started to have a little smoke (not ciggys) and before long he was the highlight of the party, one of the funniest people ive seen with the best laugh, he had everyone laughing all night. Dan got his cigar out that he'd been saving for "The Beach", we had a few more chilled out drinks and played some guitar. It was a great feeling knowing you were the only people on the island, looking up at the clearest sky ive ever seen, sooo many stars. We headed to bed in the early hours but stayed up a bit longer just laying on the beach looking up at the starts talking, it was a one of the best feelings ive had! Carrie wanded out into the water to test what we were told about the plancton and it was true! disturning the sand and water caused the plancton to light up bright neon blue, it was crazy and beatifull.

Morning came, we were woken up by the sun coming into the bay from behind us. We were leaving the island at 10am back to Phi Phi Don and had a ferry booked for our next island hop over to Ko Lanta. After some tea and toast we set sail again and headed back to Phi Phi Don but got a few pics of the sun hitting Maya bay as it came over the cliff top which was really nice.

Next Stop Lanta.