Thailand Oct 28 2013

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Oct 28 2013
Today when we woke up Sam R. was not feeling too hot. In the last couple of days his ears were not feeling too well. We all figured that he just had water in his ears because of all the swimming we have been doing in the last few days. But after going down to the local pharmacy he discovered that he most likely has an ear infection in at least one of his ears. Today his ears were feeling even worse, and unfortunately today was the day we were going deep water soloing. After eating some breakfast Sam R. decided that he was not feeling well enough to go with us. We also all agreed that jumping into the water from tall rocks would not be too good for his ears. So Sam P. and I headed off to do some deep water soloing on our own. We went to the climbing shop to meet up with the guide and the rest of the people going with us. After paying, signing some papers and trying on some climbing shoes for the day, we headed to West Railay Beach to catch our long tail boat out to an Island where the climbing is located. There were 8 other people joining us for this adventure and of course our guide Robin. Robin is a skinny but strong Italian guy with some pretty good dreadlocks. He did not speak the best English but we were all able to understand him. The rest of our group consisted of three other Americans, a dude from Chicago and a married couple about my age from Washington. The others were all Australian, three guys and two ladies. So we left West Railay Beach and headed West toward some islands in the distance. It took us about 15 mins to reach the island. We ended up passing by one of the islands where we were going to climb because Robin said that the tide was too far out and we would not be able to reach the ladder up to the rocks. So we continued on to another Island where we did some snorkeling and walked on the beach. Sam P. and I did a little snorkeling but the masks we had did not work very well which made it difficult. I was really not that into it anyway and just really wanted to go some climbing. After about an hour of snorkeling and such we headed back toward the other island where the climbing was. Upon arriving Robin went over a few safety things and gave us a few basics about deep water soloing. He then jumped in the water and swam to the ladder and showed us how to do it. Then one by one we jumped into the water and headed for the ladder. The ladder that we used to get up onto the rock took us to the easier climbing. There was another ladder not too far away that you used to get up to a bit harder climbing. For the most part the climbing was pretty easy, the hard part was jumping off into the water. I have done some cliff jumping and done a few high ones but of course in this case the higher you climb the further you had to jump. So the first couple of jumps were not that bad but the impact on the water would hurt my nose and ears a bit. Sam P. was not really into it and stayed in the boat to take pictures. He did try to get up the ladder to the rocks, but it was a little difficult and he had a tough time getting up the ladder. I tried to get on a bit of the harder rock but the fall and or jump in the water kept freaking me out, so I did not end up going too high on the harder stuff. We then headed off to another spot just around the corner. There was another boat already there, so we sat and watched three guys climb and bit then jump in. After they jumped, a few of us got off the boat and up on the rock. Again it was pretty easy climbing but it was the jump that scared me. I think the tallest jump that I did was about 35-40 feet. After everybody that wanted to go, Robin got on the rock and climbed up a pretty good distance. And every time Robin climbed he was in his bare feet and of course he was a pretty good climbing. I think the height that he jumped from was about 50 feet. It was pretty incredible to watch. Over all it was a pretty good day, we did get rained on a few times, but it was warm enough so it did not bother us too much. The wind picked up on the boat ride back which made it a little rough but our boat man had it under control.

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