Phi Phi

The Phi Phi Islands are a small collection of islands about 45 km’s Southwest of Phuket. It takes around 2 hours to get there by ferry or 1 hour by speedboat. We booked the tickets online at www.phuketferry.com and decided to take the budget option of the ferry. The advantage of this (in addition to the price), is more space to move around and some outside space, although the seating is airline like. We paid around £45 for two return tickets.

Getting from Phuket Town to Rassada Pier, where the boats to Phi Phi depart from, is a very easy 10 minute taxi ride. We have been using Grab for taxis, the Asian Uber, and it works well.

The pier was a bit chaotic but after showing our tickets on the phone, we were given stickers to wear and sent to the gate inside. Before the gate however, we had to check-in with our “agent” which involved writing our names on a list and receiving a paper ticket.

Once through the turnstile and onto the pier it’s a simple matter of clambering over one ferry to get to the next one across. 

The journey was fine with flat water and before long we were pulling into the pier at Phi Phi Don Island. There is a small tourist tax upon arrival and once you are paid up and off the pier you land directly into the narrow streets of the islands main town, which provides welcome relief from the blazing sun.

Fortunately our hotel, the curiously named Chukit Resort, is easy to find, just a 700m walk down the coastline from the port and Ton Sai pier and we are soon checked in and ready to explore the island.

First stop is the hotel’s infinity pool looking out over the ocean, the only one on this side and maybe the whole island. Not bad for a budget hotel!

The side of the island we are on is the busier side with lots of longtail boats coming and going and the biggest concentration of shops, restaurants and hotels.

I didn’t waste a lot of time signing up to go diving the next day with an outfit called PKT divers, but this was only one of at least a dozen dive operators that I saw. I think the majority of divers in Phi Phi are doing courses or have just learnt as the operator seemed to want to do everything for you.

We left the dive shop for a five minute walk to the dock where the boat was moored. All the dive kit was already set up on tanks and the guides even set up the weight belts for you. I’m not sure that the dive guide was very impressed when I took the kit apart and put it back together again to make sure it was ok. There was only 180 bar in my tank which is apparently fine!

It was only about a 30 minute ride to the first dive site which was in a small bay on an uninhabited island in the Phi Phi group of islands. As we were arriving we had a very minimal briefing which was basically follow me. I was to be diving with two girls who had only done a handful of dives and they were to buddy up so I was loosely buddied up with the Spanish dive guide who had only been in Thailand for a week.

We entered the water with a giant stride and after meeting up on the surface descended to the bottom. Neither a depth gauge or a timing device was offered as part of the equipment hire so following the guide, who had a computer, was pretty essential. We made are way along a broken reef with relatively sparse coral but large schools of small fish. The visibility was ok but the biodiversity was pretty limited and there wasn’t much macro life in evidence.

After just over 30 minutes one of the two girls had run out of air so it was time to surface. I checked my gauge and still had over 100 bar left so this was disappointing.

The boat was around 100m away from the island and we had to swim to it before taking off our fins and climbing up a ladder to the back deck.

After quickly de-kitting and changing tanks, despite the guide suggesting he would do it, there was time for a short surface interval as the boat moved to another island for the 2^nd dive.

This time there was no briefing at all but the dive was much the same, although with a slightly nicer wall. Again at just after 30 minutes the dive was over as one of the girls was out of air.

There was a quick 20 minute run back to the dock and the diving was over.

Phi Phi is meant to be some of the better diving in Thailand and on this evidence I wouldn’t dive in Thailand again as it was very average. The operator, although mostly safe, had rented poor quality gear (one of the girls inflators barely worked and my gauge was fluttering the whole time), didn’t deliver on their promise to match me with similarly experienced divers to ensure better dive times and particularly for the novice divers, did not deliver adequate briefings.

The other side of the island from our hotel is the main beach, called Loh Dalum beach. This is a lovely beach with lots of beach bars and even a couple of clubs. At one end is the Ibiza Beach Club which has a big swimming pool and holds big pool parties.

The beach although lovely has very shallow water and its very difficult to go swimming as you have to wade out a long way to find deep enough water.

Perhaps the nicest beach on the island, that I saw, is Long Beach. This is about a 30 minute walk from Ton Sai Pier but is a long sandy beach with less people than Loh Dalum beach. However the water is still shallow and not brilliant for swimming.

I walked back across the island and via a viewpoint of the island from Long Beach. The way up from the main town is a super steep flight of stairs and I’m very glad that I’d climbed up the back way which was longer but much easier.

We were only on Phi Phi for a few days but it’s a really nice island. It’s very busy and there were a hell of a lot of people around. It really has a feel of somewhere that would have been very special 20 years ago but is a bit well known now.

The journey back to the mainland was easy enough although did involve a 20 minute queue in the strong sunshine without shade to check-in, which was a bit unpleasant. We had a slightly smaller boat going back which had a bit less space on board but it was fine.

We arrived back in Phuket town and jumped in a shuttle bus to our next destination, Kata Beach.