Ko Phi Phi Don
(Phi Phi Islands)
Andaman Sea, Thailand
We booked a day trip to the Phi Phi Islands, booked through the resort for about $100 USD. It was the standard tourist tour - bus to the Marina in Phuket, tour of Phi Phi Lei, a visit to Leonardo De Caprio's "The Beach", buffet lunch, a snorkel, a visit to Monkey Bay, and a visit to a semi private island where overpriced drinks are served amid backdrops of fabulous scenery.
I presume that many on this board have had the opportunity to visit this part of the world, so I won't describe the whole experience in great detail. I'm including this part of the trip as it's the sights are a must do if you're in this part of the world, even if the journey to get there is a little rough and challenging. By rough, I do mean that the seas can be rough. We took Gravol Ginger (non drowsy) and it saved us. A poor family on the boat did not take any medication and they described their tour experience as "the worst family experience ever" due to the sea sickness involved.
The tour operator that Le Meridien used for this tour was unfortunately not as nice as the tour operator that was used at the JW Marriott Phuket. The JW Marriott used "Andaman Leisure Tours" and they were fantastic. I'd highly recommend them if you get the opportunity to use them. Our operator had hired some younger guides that made the experience feel as though you were on an extreme tour with artificial attempts to excite the travellers that a bumpy bobbing speed boat was indeed an awesome experience. A little Whitesnake rock music to go along with it highlighted just how extreme this adventure was. I am sure that the sick family didn't appreciate the rock accompaniment either.
You can't deny that this part of the world is easy on the camera lens. Even though part of the day was cloudy, we had a nice day re-visiting this touristed corner of the globe.
The spot that they chose for snorkling was, unfortunately, a high traffic area off the pier at Phi Phi Island. As a result, the visibility was not as good as it was on our last tour. A lot of sand was churned up by passing boats. We still got in some great fishes, and there were many more fish than our visit to Dahab, in Egypt last May.
Despite distances involved to get here, it's still a beautiful part of the world. We were pretty exhausted, sand drenched and sun kissed by the time we made it back to Khao Lak at around 8 PM that night. Regardless, we'd probably go again if we were by this corner of earth. Perhaps a quieter long tail boat would be better next time. . .