Day 14 - Maya Beach: Phi Phi Leh Camping

My hotel last night didn't end up being close enough to the nightlife for me to comfortably walk to. I started heading around the bay, but it was pitch black out, and I was passing shanty towns as I went. I decided that it wasn't worth risking my safety, especially if I ended up staying out for very long. I opted for barbecue Lays and a blue drink of some kind from a corner market. Just an FYI; if you find yourself in Thailand and you are selecting potato chips, make sure you grab regular barbecue, not barbecue squid. Weird. Crashed out early after "dinner" because I had no internet, tv, or books, as I've read everything that I had originally downloaded to my iPad. Book recommendations, anyone?

I woke at sunrise, walked to get a smoothie (which I've discovered is just whatever singular fruit you choose, and ice - really just a fruit slush), and packed my bag. After checking out, I walked to the tour office and thankfully they had decided that the weather was good enough to go. I left my bag with them, and decided to get a Thai massage while I was killing time before departing. What fun that was! Lol. It was a mix of awesome tension relief, sheer pain, joints cracking that I didn't even know could, and a boob massage. Apparently, I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Ha!

I boarded the boat at 3pm, destination: a snorkeling cove, and then Maya Beach.

The water was so clear and warm. The fish were plentiful too; all brightly colored and beautiful.

After snorkeling, we made our way to Maya Beach, best known as the setting for Leonardo DiCaprios movie "The Beach". We hung out and waited for all the day trippers to depart - at sunset, everyone is required to leave the island. It's uninhabited, but there is one company that offers small groups the chance to be there past sunset, sleep on the boat just offshore, and then be back on the beach at sunrise hours before the people start arriving. Pricey, but so worth it. Below is a shot of the beach before the day visitors left...

 

At nightfall, we had a barbecue in the sand, rum and coke's in buckets, and the 6 of us headed back out to the water to skinny dip with the glowing plankton that hang out in this cove. When it started to rain as we were floating around in paradise, with the shadows of the cliffs visible on all sides, and the sound of the waves breaking on the shore, I had to pinch myself. A memory that I will cherish forever. It was so magical.

 

Sipping on my rum and coke bucket as we played drinking games at the campsite.

The storm that rolled in was creating dangerously choppy water, and actually prevented us from being able to get back to the boat to sleep, so we had a rare (and illegal) opportunity to sleep on the island. The rain was so heavy that sleeping on the beach was out of the question, so we slept under the barbecue lean-to structure, with the mats we had sat on to eat out dinner. The structure was not entirely rain proof, so we were all a little damp and sleepy in the morning, from the relentless rain and lightening all night. Again, a priceless memory!!!

Making our way back to the boat in the morning proved to be challenging too. The water was still too rough for the boat to come anywhere near, so we hiked to the back side of the island where there was a net to climb down through an opening in one of the cliffs. The small motorboat would pick us up from there, and transport us out to the main boat.

It was a little hairy, and a lot of yelling from our tour guides, but we made it!!!

Such an amazing experience!!!!