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Published: January 1st 2009
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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!
After spending a fantastic New Year here 2 years ago we felt compelled to return as we were in the area.
Last time we were here things were beginning to get back to normal after the Tsunami that had hit the region on December 26th 2004 and we were hoping that development would not have gone completely crazy.
Well, it seems much the same as it was just a bit more development in the middle of the village. One thing that really shocked us though was the number of tour boats bringing hoards of holidaymakers from Phucket to Long Beach. The shore was lined with speedboats from around 11am until 3pm when they all finally went away and left us in peace to enjoy the view over to Phi Phi Leh. One of our favourite pastimes here was to swim out to Shark Point and look for eeerr --- shark! We thought there would be no chance of seeing the creatures with all the boat activity but we waited patiently for them all to go back to Phucket and then swam out, it was worth the wait Stan saw an octopus and was able to
Sailing from Ko Lipe to Ko Phi Phi
A journey of 8 hours but it didn't seem so long due to the stunning scenery. watch it swim from coral to coral changing colours as it did so. I spotted a shark and we were fortunate enough to be able to swim over it for several minutes as it meandered about below us.We had a brief encounter with 2 others.
One day we visited Ao Moodee Beach, a short walk over the headland, we were pleased to see that no development had taken place here. The sea however had come right in up to the vegetation at the back, leaving no soft sand whatsoever, so it was no longer the paradise beach we’d been hoping for. In addition to this after returning from a swim out to the reef for a snorkel, we spotted signs on the beach warning of a red substance on the sand and in the sea causing skin problems. On close inspection there was indeed a red silt evident on the beach.
Sad to say but we won’t be returning to this beach again, at least not on this trip. It was nice though to see that a totally natural undeveloped beach remains on this island.
On New Year’s Eve itself the heavens opened around 6.30 pm. The
Where is Everyone?
Can you believe we booked this ferry 2 months earlier as we wanted to be sure of getting seats! rain continued to fall down for about an hour, we sheltered in our room at Don Chucket Resort wondering what would be happening to all the preparations for the 'Gala Dinner'. Fortunately the rain stopped just in time for the bar-b-que to begin, so after enduring the compulsory Gala Dinner, we spent the rest of the evening at Carpe Diem again and the fire shows were as good as ever. In addition they were skipping over ropes on fire and limbo dancing under flaming bars! Crazy!
At the stroke of midnight thousands were crowded on the beach jigging around to the music and kissing everyone and anyone with in a 2 metre radius, not to mention dodging huge fireworks!
Just like last time we were here, we spent New Year’s Day climbing to the viewpoint, the view was amazing as ever. We then clambered down the jungle path to Rantee Beach. No sooner had we got there and the heavens opened again and the rain poured down causing us to retreat into a nearby bar. It soon cleared and the sun came out again. Stan snorkelled out to the drop-off zone but I didn’t as the sea was
quite rough that day. We didn't linger too long as the hard, very damp sand wasn't the best for lazing around on.
We scrambled back up the now muddy path to the viewpoint being constantly attacked by mozzies, probably out in force due to the recent rain.
On our last night here the rain began just as we were venturing out for an evening meal, it carried on all evening putting a damper on things. As we left for the ferry next morning it was still drizzling, but thankfully still very warm.
Oh well, I guess it’s getting us used to the damp weather back home!
Hope you all had a good new year, wherever you may be in the world!!
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