Krabi by Sea (Pt. 1)

The whole gang was complete when Gang A (Belisle parents, Teresa/Steve/Gabriella, Peterson parents and Britt) met Gang B (Lexie) at the Bangkok airport. After some great airport food it was off in the air to the Southern “mermaid fin” of Thailand—more boringly known as Krabi, Thailand. We all stayed in one villa right on the Andaman Sea. This prime location created a great discussion topic for Brian and Larry: the tides timetable. During our week stay in Krabi there were some great adventures had via the Andaman Sea.

Our very first sea adventure was on a longboat. These are commonly used as fisherpeople boats and ours looked like it was on its last leg. However, the S.S. Falling Apart proved us all wrong and brought us to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We lounged on white sand, ate Seaweed flavored potato chips, and swam in warm salt water. On this trip we were also able to go in a secret cove full of monkey families and hunt for crabs scuttering around in the low tide. A more solemn part of our longboat trip was walking through wreckage from the 2004 Tsunami. We saw longboats, similar to our own, ripped apart; a pile of wood where there used to be a lunch spot; and signs telling us where to go if another tsunami were to strike. It was an amazing trip.

Our next sea adventure was a bit different. We were on a speed boat with 20 other tourists. That was one of the most interesting parts, watching the others. We had an older white man with a young Thai woman, a group of Malaysian bf/gfs, another older white man with a young Thai woman, a solo woman who we almost left on an island, and a British family...all led by Khun Bill. We slashed, nauseatingly, through the sea and made several stops to snorkel and lay on beaches. We made a lunch stop at a big tourist island Ko Phi Phi (“yeah you know me”).

The contrast of the two tours was interesting. Our longboat tour was much more intimate: the boat, the beaches, the thoughts. Our speed boat tour was filled with people and noises. Despite their differences I am so glad we did both of them.