A holiday isn't a holiday without a boat trip. Lots of my favourite holiday memories have been at sea: sailing on a catamaran in Cuba, staying on a yacht in the south of France, island-hopping in Greece, bobbing around on a bottom glass boat in Jamaica, hiring our own speedboat to go along the Cinque Terre coast in Italy, going out through the canals to the Markermeer lake when my brother used to live in Amsterdam, being on a junk boat in Hong Kong, sailing around Corfu on a private boat - and plenty of boating fun in the UK too, spending five days on one for my Competent Crew course, racing on a J/109 at Cowes Week and zipping down the Thames on a RIB in London. Being by the coast is one of my favourite things ever - one day I'll have that dream house by the sea - so when we were in Thailand last year it was a given we'd go on several boat trips. This was my favourite.
Our day started with a minibus collecting us from The Surin in Phuket and taking us to Rassada Harbor to set off on the 40km, hour-long journey to reach Phi Phi Islands. We snorkelled with colourful fish at Coral Bay, stopped off at Maya Bay where The Beach was filmed (stunning but very touristy and spoilt by the crowds), passed Monkey Beach and Camel Rock, watched people collecting bird's nest at Viking Cave, dived off the boat into the stunning aquamarine Pileh Lagoon and marvelled at the dramatic cliffs, white sand beaches and clear turquoise waters. When it's cold and raining in England I think back to this day, sat at the front of the boat in the sun with the wind in our hair, grinning from ear to ear, sailing past some of the most beautiful sights nature has to offer. Bring on the next boat trip!
Read other Thailand features and travel posts
Read other Thailand features and travel posts
