Phi Phi island tour - it was supposed to be 3 hours - 2018

I had avoided this trip for about a year and a half. I didn't want to do the tourist thing. I'm glad I succumbed. It is so beautiful and even snapshots showed the beauty. These remarkable dramatic mountain islands were everywhere. There were several stages to the journey. We were picked up near our house. This was a big deal to begin with. We had to tell the tour operator where we are located. That's no easy task. We had to identify a location that would be easy for the driver to find. Finally we were satisfied that we clearly knew where the pickup location would be. The driver took us to the marina where we had a light breakfast. We boarded the triple motor speedboat and we were off. We road in the front where we had a great view. It was 45 minutes to an hour before we got to our first stop. There we were at an island where we were surrounded by cliffs. I floated in the shade for about an hour. Even though the boat was pretty crowded it did not feel at all crowded in the water. Next we rode in the boat for another hour to where we snorkeled. The masks and breathing pieces were included in the trip costs. There were spectacular fish in the water in all sorts of exotic patterns and colors. I didn't see spectacular coral but the fish were amazing. Next we went to lunch. The final stop was an island barely above water. On the next trip we found out that there were huge monitor lizards on the island.

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	I have never been so relaxed in my life. We had a bumpy two hour ride after a drive to the port and breakfast. It was a big fast open boat full of people. We were protected from the sun and the temperature was comfortable. Space was tight for storage but it was all very well planned. We made our way into this cove between tall steep cliffs and anchored. The water was spectacular. We were protected from the sun and waves. I just floated in the water for 20 plus minutes. Heaven on earth
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	This is a private farm of sorts. The harvest is birds nests that they make soup out of in China. The guide pointed this out as we passed by. I'm not sure what it takes to be a birds nest cultivator. They have a little wobbly looking dock made of bamboo and a boat. It looked like they had some kind of ladders to access nests.
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	Below are photos of the coral reef we snorkeled in. The photos do not do justice. The next time we went here I bought the zip lock container for my phone. It didn't take great pictures, but it was a little better. We saw some phenomenal beauty.
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	We arrived at the reef for snorkeling. It was beautiful but the coral looked desolate. I didn't see anything of note... until I put on the goggles and went below the waters surface. It was amazing. A huge school of yellow fish with black vertical stripes stayed with me the entire time. I saw what I think was a parrot fish which was spectacular. That alone was worth the trip. There were lots of sea urchins. There were lots of different angel fish shaped fish with different stripe. As I practiced breathing thru the snorkel I just feasted my eyes. I wish I knew the names of the fish. I couldn't see the coral very well, but it was abundant and different varieties. Then there were occasional beautiful glowing turquoise spots that looked like it might be coral. I floated there for about an hour and the boat was ready to leave.
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	The pictures below show there a storm on the horizon. Rain is coming down. We arrived at this island from the direction of the storm. We stopped for lunch after a couple of long boat rides from Phuket.
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