Boxing Day Sunday 26th December 2010 Phi Phi Le Thailand 07:44.44N 98:22.43E

Fai Tira
pete.callis53@googlemail.com
Wed 29 Dec 2010 08:06

 

 

 

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!

 

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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.

 

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The dive site.  It was too deep to anchor so the boats had to stand off until we had completed the 45 minute dive.

 

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As soon as we got down we saw a turtle followed by a Porcupine fish.

 

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We saw some lovely fish and a free swimming Moray Eel.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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Large shoals of yellow fish and big sea fans.

 

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Another turtle, this one had red colouring. 

 

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Sea anemones, some with Nemo and his siblings (aka Clown Fish!) hiding in them. 

 

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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).