A couple of days ago we flew into Phuket, Thailand. We weren't expecting anything fantastic, and our expectations were not to be disappointed. Phuket is a very tourist infested island in Thailand that has taken just about as much wear and tear as possible. In it's prime day, it would have been very beautiful. It still is now, except the water is dirtier and has trash in it. The government is trying to control it from breaking down by moving illegal beach shacks including restaurants so that the beach is pristine again. The scenery south of Phuket in the gulf of Thailand is unbelievable, with towering limestone pillars covered in thick vegetation. These pillars can be up to 300ft high extending above the water. I'm not exactly sure how they were created. Maybe there were some volcanoes in that area long, long ago, but the pillars are relatively scattered in the ocean.
Koh Phi Phi, an island south of Phuket, is a very large destination for tourists. There are not many hotels on the island so you must take a day trip from Phuket to get there or you must rent a sailboat for several days. We rented a catamaran for 5 nights and were able to sail between the islands. You look above water around you and it looks like this would be a great place for coral reefs, but this is not so. The reefs are very badly damaged by people trying to anchor on them and the array of fish is very disappointing, although we did see one baby sea snake - black and white striped - which I have never seen before. Ten years ago a tsunami passed through Phuket and the Phi Phi islands which may also have caused destruction to a lot of the coral.
Luckily we were able to go on our boat during the low season, but this is also the rainy season so we experienced several thunderstorms throughout our excursion. This made it a lot more interesting, especially when the winds picked up and we could really get moving on our catamaran.
This is Maya beach where the movie "The Beach" was filmed.
Koh Phi Phi, an island south of Phuket, is a very large destination for tourists. There are not many hotels on the island so you must take a day trip from Phuket to get there or you must rent a sailboat for several days. We rented a catamaran for 5 nights and were able to sail between the islands. You look above water around you and it looks like this would be a great place for coral reefs, but this is not so. The reefs are very badly damaged by people trying to anchor on them and the array of fish is very disappointing, although we did see one baby sea snake - black and white striped - which I have never seen before. Ten years ago a tsunami passed through Phuket and the Phi Phi islands which may also have caused destruction to a lot of the coral.
Luckily we were able to go on our boat during the low season, but this is also the rainy season so we experienced several thunderstorms throughout our excursion. This made it a lot more interesting, especially when the winds picked up and we could really get moving on our catamaran.
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