After a whirlwind month in Chiang Mai, it was time to head South for some fun! We flew to Phuket via Bangkok for a couple of days of beach bliss! Our hotel for the next 4 days was owned by a Washington State University alum on the beautiful Kata Beach which had 6 months prior been hit by the Tsunami (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_and_tsunami).

Flying into Phuket in the evening was exciting for a Northerner, who typically had only been to the beach a handful of times. A couple of those visits were to the cold beaches of Washington, while the others were California & Hawaii. Our long drive from the airport to the hotel was worth it, the view from the hotel room was amazing, on a hill overlooking Kata Beach.

Our first day in Phuket took us on a speedboat in Phang Nga Bay with stops at James Bond Island, Panyee Island, & a snorkel trip on one of the smaller islands in the bay. The boat ride to our first stop, James Bond Island took us through some incredible monoliths doting the bay. We stopped for a short time at James Bond Island, every Bond fanatics dream to see a place where a Bond movie was filmed. It was amazing to see the various spots you can pick out in the movie. Next we continued North and headed into a mangrove river near the Northern part of the bay, we twisted through the various routes and came out near the floating village of Panyee.

While at Panyee, we got to sample the local fresh caught fish at the cafe on the island as well as tour around the village. Little did I know at the time, Panyee is famous for their floating soccer field, but was on the other side of the village from the restaurant so didn’t get to see it at that time.

Our final boat stop of the day was to a little island to snorkel. It was a beautiful little island in the Phang Nga Bay. After a short snorkel and walk around the island to bask in the beautiful sand and water, we headed back to Phuket with our final stop on the tour Promthep Cape. It was beautiful to watch the sunset from the cape!