Location: Similan Islands, Thailand
Today was incredible! Half of us started the morning with a short trip to shore. The beach we arrived at was stunning; it almost seemed like we were walking inside the pages of a travel magazine. There were swings on the beach, and when we sat on them, the waves crashed over our feet. It was so relaxing. After a few minutes on the beach, we went exploring and found a trail to a viewpoint that we decided to follow. The trail was unexpectedly vertical. There were ropes to help avoid sliding, ladders, and even a mini cave we hiked through. Besides the hike being enjoyable in general, the view at the top made it more than worth it. We could see the entire island as well as the beach we started at and our sailing yacht, Argo, a little further offshore. After taking in the view and holding a photo shoot for each other, we hiked back down. Instead of heading back to shore, we decided to continue our adventure and went to the other side of the island. Then we had the bright idea of traversing around the entire perimeter of the island over the rocks and shoreline. During our adventure, we saw tons of crabs and were attacked by hordes of fire ants that must’ve fallen from the trees (no worries, we survived). After lunch, we went diving, the deepest we’ve gone yet ” up to 35 feet! It was really clear, and we saw a ton of marine life, including Christmas tree worms, which are really fun because if you flick your hand in front of them, they disappear into their tubes! Scuba diving is starting to feel almost natural now. Breathing through the regulator no longer feels abnormal, and seeing all the super neat marine life makes me completely forget about any of my fears that I had before. After dinner, we left the beautiful Similan Islands to head back to Phuket so that tomorrow we can clear customs and move on to the next destination!