Phi Phi Island Boat Tour. When Liv and I booked our holiday to Thailand there were three different style of locations we really wanted to go to. The first was Bangkok. I absolutely love big South East Asian cities like Shanghai and Taipei so Bangkok had exactly the same appeal. I may have been brought up in the country but I’m 100% a big city person and I’m not talking London, I’m talking Bangkok sized city with 13 million plus people and a city that runs 24 hours.

Another location we wanted to do was the North and close to the mountains so we chose Chiang Mai, which I absolutely loved. Arriving in Chiang Mai I wasn’t sure what to make of it but a day of exploring the city and I loved it. More to follow in another article.

The final location we wanted to visit was the coast so we decided on Krabi which seemed a little less touristy but also when you google thailand islands, the islands that look like giant beautiful rocks standing out of the water are largely situated around Krabi. So we chose Ao Nang which is about 20 miles away from Krabi.

We had mixed feelings about Ao Nang. We stayed at the Phu Pi Maan Resport which was really beautiful and we loved our villa but Ao Nang is super expensive by Thailand standards (on a par with UK prices for food) and felt a bit disappointing. We wanted to do a boat tour and researched online but couldn’t find the right one but the hotel recommended taking a Krabi Ezy Trails tour, which cost more than some of the trips you can book along the seafront but was worth every penny.

First of all, the tour guides spoke great English. I communicated with them by Facebook messenger the day before and they were really friendly and accommodating. They do what’s called a Phi Phi Island Early Bird Tour which is 2500 baht per adult and 1800 baht per child, plus national park entry fees, which brought the cost to around 7500 baht (£183 / $236). They pick you up from your hotel around 7am and they do recommend the hotel pack you a breakfast then take you to the harbour, do a briefing, then you jump on a big powerboat and charge around 9 islands in 10 hours.

I was really surprised at some of the tourists in our group. I’m definitely not an early bird person but I was absolutely bouncing from being excited but on the way to the first island, which takes around 45 minutes, and coming back loads of people were sleeping and there were a couple families who did nothing. I don’t know if they found it boring or if it was too hot but we were seriously hot most of the day but frankly didn’t care.

So islands, we went to 9 islands in total and the first island was Phi Phi. We jumped off the boat, had a look around, had a pee, cup of tea, etc etc then back on. We then went around the other side of the island to Maya Bay but this is completely closed off to visitors now, so no visiting.

We then went to another island to snorkel in the ocean, back on the boat, went to another island and had lunch but we also got to stay on the island for 1.5 hours. The food they gave us was delicious, the sand was awesome (felt like fine flour) and the ocean was incredible. It was both completely transparent and really warm and you can literally see fish swimming around your feet.

After this we went to an alcove which has a big tsunami story which I’ll write about below followed by another snorkelling location. We also went to an island where monkeys live on the rocks and beach and you can feed them (you can actually kayak there from Phi Phi). We went to two other islands to enjoy the sand/water/food etc then we came back.

My last experience on a small boat in the ocean came from when I was a young child but the Phi Phi Island boat tour was awesome and worth every penny.

Also a note about children. My daughter was the youngest on the boat by a good few years but the guides were brilliant with her. They made jokes that made her laugh and along with our fellow tourists who were all really friendly the whole trip was an awesome experience!

Phi Phi Island. At night Phi Phi Island is absolutely packed out with partying tourists but as we arrived first thing there was absolutely no one around. Just peaceful beauty.

Maya Bay

Monkey Island. This was really cool. The boat floats past and you can feed the monkeys the sit on the cliff face. When you throw bananas in the water and they’ll jump off the cliff face which was really fun to watch. You can also kayak there from Phi Phi Island. We’re planning on going to Thailand (but this time Phuket instead of Krabi) so if we can get Amelia to learn how to swim properly we’ll probably do something like this.

Chicken Island. So called because the rock on the right looks like a chicken’s head.

Our lead guide. Spoke fantastic English and made everyone laugh while providing lots of information and basically looking after us. Yes this tour costs more than some others but it was 100% worth it.

I forget the name of the above locations, which are all the same area, but the tour guides told us that during the tsunami in 2004 this one area, which you can jump in and has the most beautiful waters, was completely unaffected by the tsunami. Literally there were as many boats as you can see in the photos but because people within were surround by the rocks/stones/cliffs etc the tsunami waves swept by. The tourists within had literally no idea a tsunami had just happened until the left and saw the destruction. Very lucky but also really fascinating.