Ramada Ballers

On our flight to Phuket we sat in front of a couple American guys - our first encounter with Americans. We're at the back of the plane waiting to get off and I decide to introduce myself, ask where they're from etc. etc. Mike & Sam are old friends from LA/San Fran and come to find out they're heading to Phi Phi - the island we're heading for as well. So I say "hey you want to split a cab to the pier and catch a boat together?"

At this point we all knew we missed the last ferry, but we didn't know that it was going to be extortionist pricing to get a private boat. After weighing all the options we decided to bite the bullet. We found another couple that was "in the same boat" (sorry, had to) that made the final price 18,000 baht ($642) for six people.........for a 45 minute boat ride......in a country where your hotel room is $35.

It took them 30 minutes to gas up the boat and by that time we were over the disappointment of the price and looking at the bright side: We get an awesome private boat ride right? Not so much. More than an hour later all of us and our bags had been drenched and we were sufficiently beat up by the choppy water. We did get a great view of the sunset and Phi Phi at night as we came into the pier. Oh but we didn't get to dock at the pier. Nope. They anchored and we waded into shore. With our bags. For $107/person. It was our Phi Phi walk of shame.

Upside is the first Americans we met turned out to be great beach partners and we had more than a few laughs over the whole experience "On a Boat." We also decided the boat ride had bound us together. Although we slept at different places we ate together, scubaed together and hung out until they left this morning.

Also for your information scuba makes snorkeling seem like a joke. Seriously, it changes how you view open water. We will now always wonder what we could be seeing down below. We also can't wait to get certified and do more dives. Is there scuba for babies?

Our Scottish dive instructor Gareth was a character and a great teacher. We did two dives with a lunch break in Maya Bay at Phi Phi Leh ("The Beach") Amazing. Honestly, the only reason we decided to dive was how helpful the dive instructor was when we had arrived after dark with our bags and were looking for hotel on our Phi Phi walk of shame. Taking a lesson just seemed like the best way to compensate him. If the boat ride was for nothing more than to meet our new American friends and learn how much we love scuba it is well worth the price of admission.