Koh Naka, Thailand

Did you ever imagine what the most perfect place in this whole wide world looks like?

I haven't until we landed on the shore of Koh Naka.

Speeding up to the island you can see the water getting clearer and bluer.
And I was just thinking to myself "I would so much love to stop here..."
The boat slowed down, we dropped anchor, and I almost jumped off the back of the boat with excitement.

We had about 45 minutes in the most beautiful place in the world and I wasn't going to waste a second.

While I swam and played in the perfect waters, of the perfect island, with the perfect man, the perfect man was asleep.

So I laid down next to him and tried to sleep.
But I just couldn't.
I was too excited to be someplace so beautiful.
So I sat on the beach and waited patiently (apart from the occasional poke) for my darling to awaken from his slumber.
And finallllly managed to convince him to come play in the water with me.

It was time to go way too soon.
But the tide was coming up and I had a feeling there would be no beach at all if we didn't leave now.
Chris found me a present, but I decided to leave it on the beach.

It was a very full day, and everyone looked quite exhausted, but the trip still wasn't over!
There was one last surprise on the way.

Phi Phi Don, Thailand

The biggest (and the only island you can stay on) of the Phi Phi Islands is Phi Phi Don.

We docked here for some lunch.
And a fantastic lunch it was!

Fish with mango salsa.
Green curry.
Red curry.
Rice.
Chicken and cashews.
Fries (I guess this one is for people who can't eat spicy foods?)

After lunch we had a little walk and Chris took a nap.

After lunch we grabbed our towels and back on the boat we went to be ferried off to yet another new place!

Phi Phi Don was my least favorite island.

It was most polluted and most crowded.
Still nice, but not nearly as nice as every other beach I've seen.
Honestly, I even preferred our local beach as Karon Beach better.

But the next place we went to... the next place... *sigh*
Now that was real Heaven on Earth.
Come back on Monday (or subscribe by email!) to see for yourself!

#60: Learn to Snorkel

The boat sped off, but before we even got comfortable it slowed down, and a few moments later we dropped anchor in another little harbor.
This one had no beach in sight, only 2 other boats in view, and nobody really knew what was going on.

(Well you know because of the blog post title...

but let's assume you didn't know what was happening either...)

The scenery was beautiful, but everyone on the boat was a little confused what we were doing there.

Then the crew pulled out a box of masks and snorkels and told us we reached our first snorkeling spot.

Snorkeling???
I've never snorkeled before!!!
I didn't know we were going to get to snorkel!!!
That's on my bucketlist!!!

Chris was one of the first people in the water.

It took me a little more time to get comfortable...

First off, if you've never snorkeled it feels quite claustrophobic trying to breathe through a tube under water.
Secondly, breathing is key. Slow breaths, in and out. Only your mask has to be underwater, not even your ears need to be covered.

Thirdly, it helps if on your first time you can be in water shallow enough where you can touch the bottom with your feet.
My first experience was in 10m deep choppy ocean water.
Not ideal to say the least, I was a little freaked out for the first 15 minutes while I learned to breathe, float, breathe, spit water out, and swim all at the same time.

Once breathing is mastered you can explore anywhere you want... like one of our crew who can dive 10m with a snorkel!!!!

I got a lot more comfortable in the water and started attempting to dive.
And Chris and I thought why not take one of both of us diving together?!!

We'll pretend that was a successfully carried out idea...

So after about 30 to 40 minutes of snorkeling (and ticking an awesome bucketlist box!) we got back on the boat and were off to yet another mystery paradise destination!!