Gotta Go Phi Phi

Water Entry

My last day of diving instruction in Phuket was at the Phi Phi Islands, a 3 hour boat trip from the Chalong Pier.  For those who don’t know, Phi Phi is actually pronounced “Pee Pee”.  The Phi Phi Islands are known for a few things. 

I Found Nemo

First off is the diving.  There are limestone cliffs that drop straight down from a couple of hundred meters and keep going down under the water.  There are also shallow bays that are filled with aquatic life—fish, coral, and moray eels.  There is a lot of variety of dive sites in a small area.  The area is protected because it is a National Park.

Barrel Sponge

Secondly are the getaway hotels that dot Koh Phi Phi.  They are not over the top expensive and many look to be a nice place to just get away from the rat race.

Blue Starfish
(yes, that's the name)

Lastly is one that is bragged about a lot in Phi Phi (and in Phuket in general).  Phi Phi is where the movie “The Beach” was filmed.  Now I am not the biggest movie goer so it’s no surprise that I haven’t seen it. But I haven’t been able to find anyone who has actually seen it, even if it did star a young Leonardo DiCaprio.  I checked on Rotten Tomatoes and it scored a 4.4, so no surprise.  Here is a scene from the movie shot at Maya Beach.

Giant Clam

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Our first dive of the day was also the last of my certification dives.  We dove at Koh Bida Nok, the southernmost of the Phi Phi Islands.  We stayed mostly on the west side and finished the last of our tests.  Mike, our instructor, also made sure we hit our 18m depth (the maximum of Open Water Diver certification).  Visability was pretty good at 10-20m.

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Our second dive of the day was one that Mike was looking forward to.  Despite having almost 5,000 dives logged, this was going to be a new dive site for him.  We went to Hin Klai, which is a site that doesn’t break the surface so it feels like you are in the middle of the ocean.  The dive starts at about 5ms and goes down from there.  I think the timing was not the best for this dive as there was (at least for a beginner) a pretty good current that also stirred up particulates which left visibility at about 5ms.  Probably timing a dive at slack tide would be best.

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Green Eel

Lionfish

Our last dive of the day was my favorite: Phi Phi Ley at Tuttle Rock.  Well named for as soon as we entered the water we saw a Green Hawksbill turtle.  It was surrounded by people (all making sure to give him/her enough space).  It then swam up to the surface to get air.  Mike tracked it and when it went down again we were there with it alone--very cool.  I also entered a massive school of fish.  It was like a wall that wrapped around you.  And lastly, we did a “swim through tunnel” which was exciting.  (Prior to entering the water, the boat captain took us for a little excursion into Maya Bay—no Leonardo sightings.)

And these dives were why I decided to get certified again.  The beauty under the water is spectacular and its something that takes work to do, so few people do it.  To me it’s similar to my back country backpacking trips.  Knowing that few see it makes it much more special.