Boxing Day Sunday 26th December 2010 Phi Phi Le Thailand 07:44.44N 98:22.43E
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Fai Tira blog
Boxing Day Sunday 26th December 2010 Phi Phi Le
Thailand 07:44.44N 98:22.43E We left Phi Phi
Don along with Jackamy, Blue Magic, and Miss Tippy on Boxing Day morning to go
to a dive site called Ko Bida. On route we passed by the Vikings’ cave which is
where locals harvest the nests of the Sea Swallow, to sell to the Chinese for
‘Birds Nest Soup’ purposes!
Collectors build
bamboo scaffolding to get to the nests, which are made out of saliva which the
birds secrete. When cooked in chicken broth they look like noodles. We
haven’t tried any but the Chinese think they are a medical food that imparts
vigour.
The dive
site. It was too deep to anchor so the boats had to stand off until we
had completed the 45 minute dive.
As soon as we
got down we saw a turtle followed by a Porcupine fish.
We saw some
lovely fish and a free swimming Moray Eel.
We headed to
our overnight anchorage at Maya Bay on Phi Phi Le which was made famous being
used as the location for the film “The Beach” made in 1998. Consequently
it gets crowded by tour boats and tourist until they all go home at about
16.00hrs. We had to remind ourselves that this was where the 2003/4 BWR
were when the Tsunami struck on Boxing Day 2004. The sea disappeared and
the wave came in. All the BWR boats survived but hundreds of people lost
their lives on Phi Phi Don. Jackamy, Blue
Magic and I decided to go diving to get away from the crowds, the second dive
of the day. Paul had kindly refilled my air bottle.
We had this
fantastic turtle experience. We saw it chopping away at the coral approached.
It was not fazed by us at all and allowed us to get in so close it was
unreal. Wow! what a way to spend Boxing Day.
Large shoals of
yellow fish and big sea fans.
Another turtle,
this one had red colouring.
Sea anemones, some
with Nemo and his siblings (aka Clown Fish!) hiding in them.
The evening saw
us BBQing on Blue Magic with John feeling a lot better. What a way to
round off Christmas. The next day we
headed off on our own to Coral Island (Koh Hi). |
