Week 10: Speedboats and Sea Snakes

In March of 2022, Jo and I started talking seriously about the opportunity to come to Malaysia - things at work had changed a bit for me, Z&A were approaching full self sufficiency, and we were both looking for the next big thing. Part of what helped us make leap of faith to take the job was the chance to explore an unfamiliar part of the world. This last week (20 months later) we got our first chance outside of Malaysia.

Koh Lipe is a little Thai island about 1.5 miles long by .5 miles wide. Our plan was to use the Deepavali holiday to grab an extended weekend there. We hopped a 30 minute flight to Langkawi (still Malaysia) Thursday afternoon and spent our 1st 24 hours there. The resort was nice, although portions of it looked like they might have had their heyday about 10 years ago. Upon arrival, they offered us each glasses of (I'm not making this up) butterfly pea. My inner 14 year cooked up a solid stream of hilarity that continued until Jo informed me the jokes weren't as funny as I thought they were. Flavor was mild but refreshing.

The wildlife there was next level though. Seriously, the great hornbill I saw on my morning walk was the size of a turkey

This creeper was palm-sized

And this - maybe the greatest 15 seconds of our time on Langkawai where Jo made a friend

A couple more pics here - view of where we stayed

Shrimp boats all lined up for their night fishing

Next day we packed things up for 90 minute ferry ride to Koh Lipe aboard this thing

The ride over was pretty benign, which is good because I'm a complete wreck when it comes to my fear of seasickness. My hate of nausea is more of a disorder. I would rather chop off my pinky than throw up - ever. 

The waters near the island are so shallow / full of coral that the ferry had to park out in the ocean offshore, and longtail boats had to retrieve us and our stuff about 15 people at a time.

At this point its worth talking about the longtails. If you're unfamiliar (I was) its a traditional looking wooden boat, with a really shallow draft. And an aging unmuffled engine powering a prop on a ~20' driveshaft that the captain swings all over the place to go the desired direction

Once we'd all been shuttled to the beach, this very official-looking customs official began reading names to return to us our passports that we previously surrendered on the ferry so we could go thru immigration. Got our passport stamped right there on the sand.

Our three nights on the island we a blast. We stayed in a beachside bungalow with the jungle at our back door. Also at our back door - the outdoor bathroom. Which I totally dug - like camping, but with a flush toilet and a palm tree in the middle of the shower. Joanna - less of a fan, primarily due the the occasional creature and mosquito that shared the moment with her.

Food there was excellent, and left us wondering how Thai food cooked beachside on an isolated island could be better than almost anywhere else we've had it. Most of our meals were acquired on the walking street, the only pavement on the island. Here's a moment where we paused our dinner search under the eaves until things cleared up

Hands down the highlight of the trip was a day-long snorkel tour through the Tarotau national marine park. Our longtail captain took us to 7 islands - I've never seen coral like this in either Mexico or Hawaiian trips - some of the formation were probably 20 feet tall in vibrant colors. Lots of fish, creatures, including this specimen at the bottom center that I shot by plunking my phone into the water. 

I had a suspicion that this particular sea snake was one that I had read about before...googled it when we got back to Penang...waited until just yesterday to share this part with Jo since we saw a couple that day.

Not every beachy picture needs an explanation - I'll wrap this post up with a couple more from paradise. Can't take credit for underwater ones of us - our boat captain used his go-pro to get some action shots while we enjoyed the sea life extravaganza

This is notable only because one of the 9 commandments of this particular island includes "no shooting the fish"

I actually had a rock in my pocket from this island - they were all remarkably smooth and pretty. After reading the curse I decided it wasn't worth bringing some brady-bunch type mishap upon the rest of our idyllic trip