Phuket, Thailand - April 16

This is our first tendering experience on this cruise. Each small boat (which are actually the life boats for the ship and can hold 150 passengers) transports the passengers from the ship anchored off of the Phuket island coast to the shore. The ride is about 15 minutes. We were actually supposed to dock today, but because of a taxi strike the port was messed up and taxis were preventing tour busses from entering. It probably worked out well as we are able to see the beach area of Patong. Very touristy – unfortunately we had NO time to spend here. 

rubber tree tapping

 

James Bond island

Our first stop today was to see another rubber tree demo – pretty much like yesterday’s. I was able to continue my quest for street food here and got some deep fried pineapple – very good.

deep fried pineapple - YUMMMM!



one of the MANY long boats in Thailand

The main event for today is a visit to ‘James Bond Island’. Apparently here is where The Man with the Golden Gun was filmed. We got on a motorboat and sailed through some pretty spectacular limestone scenery. There are karst formations that rise right out of the sea for hundreds of feet. We also sail through some small grottos made by the karst. Very unusual, but beautiful landscape. We are in a Thai national park and instead of paying to be in the park on land a government official comes to each boat and gets the fee that way – certainly different.

Next is lunch followed by the required shopping stop and we are back to the ship.

By the way...I'm also Twittering occasionally on this trip... @leeseas or http://twitter.com/#!/leeseas