Life's a Beach... and yet still I have no tan

I think maybe I'm a little too sunsafe.
I came, I snorkelled, I played, I swam, I rock climbed, I scuba dived (dove?)....
I did many things in the sunshine in Southern Thailand - just always with SPF 30. Okay and not usually during peak sun hours (I hope you're proud mom!).

What heightened my ultratight UV precautions was seeing all the sunburned tourists when I arrived there. I promised myself that I wouldn't let it happen. Not to me.
I would be smart! I would slowly increase my sun exposure to allow my pigment time to adapt.

But I think I would have needed another 8 weeks for my plan to finally pay off!

Regardless I had an amazing time.

Here are some pics for now.


This is "The Beach". Though there was no Leo, and I didn't see any sharks. I did go scuba diving around the cliff at the edge of the bay and we played soccer on the beach. It's called Maya Bay - just like our dog! =)

Yup you heard it - I went Scuba diving! This is me with my scuba diving buddy - she was a little crazy (and taller than me!). We had an awesome time. We did our Open Water Certification so we can dive to 18m. I didn't find any sharks here either, but I did find Nemo! He was cute. Also saw a big ol' sea turtle that looked at least 175 years old. I've still got about 10 pictures from my underwater camera that I'll have to finish in the bath or something - but I should have some good fish pics.

Ko Phi Phi - this island got hit bad by the tsunami. Twice too! A direct hit the first time and then the wave cruised around the edge of the island and hit the bay on the other side. It's been rebuilt.... mostly. But it's still got a ways to go. There's still big open areas where hotels used to be. It's pretty amazing how well people have rebounded - most of the residents living there now lived through the tsunami and lost friends and family.

On a lighter note - me rock climbing!! Nothing like climbing cliffs over the beach.

This is the view looking back at the beach from the top of the climbing route.


This was the sunset we saw on the boat after a day of diving.

Freakish coincidence: this girl was staying in my dorm room in the bunk right next to me. Turns out she's from Salt Spring! Not only that - he aunt is my mom's long time friend Priscilla (who lives in England!). Weird....

These caves are famous for birds nests. In Asia, birds nest soup is an expensive delicacy and these oceanside caves are prime nesting areas - it's huge money (like enough to keep tourists off the island!).

That big piece of rock is what I was climbing on - not bad huh?

The night life was pretty good on Phi Phi (pronounced Pee Pee. hee hee). Many of the bars sort of spilled out onto the beach and they had fire shows pretty much every night. This is me trying my hand at it ;-)

Looks like I'll be coming home on the 18th, so see you all soon.