Found Nemo!! Saturday March 29

Another day- another adventure! Last night we booked ourselves onto an island hopping boat tour for today (Saturday). It was a fabulous day!!

We got picked up from our hotel at 7:30 am, loaded into a van with a bunch of Aussies,whom we got to chum with all day. He delivered us to the Phuket pier about 30 minutes away. After we acquired our snorkel gear ( that Terry was sure was sanitized and soaked in bleach before she used it!) we loaded onto a beautiful 42 foot speed boat with three 225 Honda motors and out into the ocean South of the main island.

Our first landing was at Khai Nok island, tiny but with some of the best snorkeling Norrie-Shan has seen (had to use her as a reference point since she is the only experienced one between the three of us). This is where Terry had to learn the ropes from Norrie, as there was no instruction included with this tour. The hardest thing for Terry to do was to spit in the mask- Norrie told her, but she wasn't so sure it was right until someone else told her to do it. It is very hard for a public health nurse to imagine doing this, let alone how many other people have done it!! After a few mouthfuls of salt water Terry quickly learned to relax and enjoy the scenery down under.

Amazing color. Rainbow, clown, angel, spotted, neon, purple, yellow and black, huge, small, you name it we saw it .There were supposed to be nurse sharks here but we were unable to find any. And sound - you can actually hear the fish gnaw off the chunks of food off the rocks - that blew me away. And the fish coming right up to your mask was so cool. It was a first for Terry! Norrie-Shan was in her element. At this spot we got Esther as far as her knees to enjoy the clean, clear water - baby steps!Although Esther got a good view of the smaller cyclid fish as they swim in schools close to the beach. We got to snorkel for 1 1/2 hours here, it was stunning.


Next we stopped at monkey beach/ island and watched their antics. Our guide gave the leader a glass of coke- I'm not sure that is its normal diet, but they all came to look anyway. We were allowed to get fairly close but most of us stayed at the waters edge- a safe distance away. One of the dads kept putting his younger son close to the monkeys so he got a picture- instead the monkey tried to bite the boy!! Yup they are still wild animals!

Then onto the next reef where we once again jumped out to snorkel. Esther stayed in the boat this time because there was no shore. The ref was farther out into the middle of the ocean. Unfortunately this is where Esther started to feel motion sickness- due to sitting in the boat while it rocked in the ocean as we snorkeled.

Again more beautiful fish. Then we had lunch on Phi Phi island - looks just like Gilligans Island. Served us a great buffet Thai/Seafood lunch, and off to some more coves and islands to swim. One was surrounded by tall cliffs, the water was pure turquoise, felt like we were in the Blue Lagoon. And that was Esthers big stretch! She got in and swam with a life jacket in 20 m of water! Esther had never used a life jacket before- but she jumped off the boat like she had done this before. This was huge for her, as she had been feeling "seasick" an hour earlier. She found being in the water better than floating on it!

The sand on these beaches were the texture of cornstarch, and almost as white.
The boat staff kept us well hydrated and lots of watermelon and pineapple for snacking. All this for $36 Cndn. We were delivered back to our hotel around 4:30. A little redder than yesterday!Only we burnt the reverse side today.

We are headed out for our evening entertainment now - will stay away from the "strip"on Bangla Road. We landed on it by happenstance last night. Had our eyes opened to what the foreigners come here for. It was our first taste of sleaze since we arrived. And it was enough for a while.
After our hot and over-stimulating walk on the wild side we ended the evening with a midnight swim in our rooftop pool. Glorious!!!! This is the Good Life.