The infamous tour in Phuket is the James Bond Island Tour. The tour consists of visiting 5-7 islands, depending on the water level, as well as canoeing through caves. So, today was the day to do it!
We were picked up from our hotel in a bus at 9:30a. We drove about 45 minutes to the pier where the boats depart from. There were about 50 people on the "luxury" boat for the day. The first stop was a private island where we could swim and lie on the beach. The beach and water were beautiful! We ate lunch on the boat - very interesting lunch of onion rings, fried chicken, fish, rice and soup.
View from Beach Number 1
Our transportation from our boat to the island
The next stop - kayaking in the caves. We stopped at these caves in the middle of the Adaman Sea. We arrievd to the caves, and there were tons of kayaks ready for us to go in. Our guide couldn't speak, but that didn't stop us from talking and chatting away.
On our way to kayak in the caves
Kayaks waiting for us
Mom and me in the kayak
Rock Formations were gorgeous
This is where we entered the cave.
On the other side of cave 1. We then were able to walk around and take pictures.
Back in the Kayak. So beautiful!
Cave Number 2
Back on the Boat!
On Our Way to the Floating Muslim Fishing Village
We transfered from the luxury boat to this long tail boat - our crew is in front
It started raining or as our crew called it "free shower" so they put these blue plastic shields up. Didn't do too much!
Panyee Island - Floating Muslim Fishing Village. There is no land anywhere in sight. They are literally in the middle of the sea with rock formations on both sides. There is a school, hospital, stores, and restaurants in the village. This is the side where the people live, and is much more of a "local" feel.
This is more of the "tourist" side where there are restaurants and stores for the tourists. They depend on these boats and tours to bring tourists there.
The long tail boat that took us from island to island. Check out that motor. On our way to Panyee island our boat broke down. Another boat from our tour came to help, after about 20 minutes of them banging around, we were back up and running.
On our way to Phang Nga Bay, or better known as James Bond Island where some of the shots were filmed for "The Man with the Golden Gun"
Aunt Judy talking to the ladies at the store on James Bond Island
James Bond Island
Back on the Boat on our way home. We were quite the social butterfiles of this trip. We literally talked to 90% of the boat. By the end spending the entire day together (9:30a - 8:30p), we became friends with everyone, so we had to get our pictures taken with all of these people.
This is Alan from Switzerland. He only had one leg, and would hop up and down the steps for each stop, hop from one boat the next, walk around the islands, up steps, etc. He was amazing, and got around as well as anyone else on the trip.
Alan and Erick from Kansas City
I can't remember his name, but he is from Israel, just finished his 3 years in the Israeli army, and loves the U.S.
Sunset on our way back to the pier
Our tour was supposed to drop us back off at the pier between 6 - 6:30... interesting that we didn't get back until 8:30p. It was a fun day, and one of the best excursions I have ever been on. So beautiful, the crew was awesome, and the people on the boat were really nice!
