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Thailand – Day 6 (Ao Nang)

Today I did nothing. Well, that’s not true. You’re always doing SOMETHING, I suppose. What I mean is, I got up and drank my coffee on the balcony while reading my book, then gradually got my bathing suit on and headed down to the beach. I walked down the far end and hiked up the monkey trail, but saw no monkeys which was a bummer. Then I wandered back to the other side of the beach, and wound up at Noppharat Thara beach next door which wasn’t as nice or as groomed as Ao Nang beach but had thousands upon thousands of little tiny crabs that were rolling teensy balls of sand out of their chosen den locations leaving hairline pathways for them to move around. So I sat down and watched them work for a while and every time I moved slightly they would all scatter to their wee dens. Eventually some of them worked out I wasn’t trying to kill them, and ignored me even if I was moving. Then I tip-toed around them and walked that beach for a bit, then went back to Ao Nang beach. I stopped at a really nice restaurant called The Last Fisherman for sweet and sour chicken and a smoothie that was supposed to have rum in it but most definitely didn’t (still was tasty though) before heading back to the hotel to reapply sunscreen. After sunscreen, I went back to the beach and floated in the warm sea water until my fingers and toes were prunes, then sat in the surf and hunted for the tiniest of shells I could find for a while. Then I went back to the same restaurant for dinner and watched the sun set. So yeah, a lot of walking, sitting, laying down, and floating…not much of anything. I did book a boat tour to the Phi Phi Islands tomorrow but the weather is looking a little rough. Fingers crossed the rain stays away!

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Thailand – Day 5 (off to Krabi!)

I woke up to pouring rain, packed up and headed to the airport for my morning flight to Krabi. The rain clouds made for some nice scenery up in the air, and a bit of turbulence, but we landed safely. I couldn’t figure out where the heck the taxi stand was, and eventually gave up and jumped on a discount group bus to Aonang. I couldn’t check into my hotel until after 3pm anyway, so I wasn’t in a rush and it was nice to look at the scenery and see where other people were getting off at and going to. Eventually I did make it to my hotel, which is a pretty basic 3-star place with no frills, but it was cheap at $20ish a night with a king bed, balcony, and less than 5 minute walk to the beach. I quickly changed into my bathing suit, lathered up in sunscreen and bug spray, and hoofed it to the beach before the storms could roll in. I was able to shell hunt for about half an hour or so before the storm hit, and took shelter under the roof of a nearby massage place (seriously in Thailand if you close your eyes, spin around, and throw a stick you’re either going to hit a temple or a massage place). Once the rain eased up I went back out onto the beach and made my way to the monkey trail, but soon realized I wasn’t equipped to deal with mischievous monkeys at that moment and I was just looking to get the stuff in my hands stolen, as is known to happen on that trail. So I turned back around and will do that another day. I slowly walked back down the beach, looking for shells and watching the sun set over the horizon. The entire sky was a reddish orange for a long time, and with the storms passing through a beautiful rainbow popped up behind the cliffs. The sky shifted from orange to peach after the sun went behind the clouds, and then quickly turned blue afterwards. There are shells everywhere here, and the water is lukewarm like pool water.

After the beach I changed out of my bathing suit into regular clothes and walked down the street to a Thai restaurant where I noticed a lot of locals were eating. I decided to be a bit more adventurous with my food choices, so I ordered a local fish (no idea what it was) cooked in lemon and lime sauce stuff. What I didn’t expect was to get the ENTIRE fish, although I’m not sure why…this is Thailand after all. The waitress was really concerned, because I had asked for not spicy and the chef practically drowned the fish in spices and chili oil, but it really wasn’t that bad. I guess I’ve gotten used to chili oil since I put it in my ramen and udon all the time, but she was worried about me not liking it and kept checking in. I ate all but the head…sorry, I’m not that adventurous. Then of course I gave chin scritches to the resident restaurant cat and headed back to the hotel. I think I’m already falling in love with this place. I could totally retire here.

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San Diego 2019

9/9 Monday

I got up before dawn and grabbed a ride to O’Hare for an early morning flight.  With the time difference being what it is, we landed in San Diego around 9:30am.  I decided to head to the hotel, Best Western Island Palms, figuring I could leave my luggage there but they actually already had my room ready so I could check in and leave my stuff which was super awesome.  The room was really nice, a king sized bed that was so perfectly comfortable, a little patio where I could sit and drink coffee overlooking the marina, and a quiet room right across from the fish pier.  After dropping my stuff off, I took a ride to Belmont Park at Mission Beach.  It was a weekday and school is back in so the park was pretty dead, but the beach was lovely.  I got lunch at Draft’s which had really great burgers and walked along the beach for an hour.  Then I went south to Ocean Beach and walked up the huge fishing pier, and watched all the surfers catching waves for a while.  I stopped and grabbed supplies at the store then went back to the hotel to relax a bit before heading to Sunset Cliffs at sunset.  The cliffs definitely have their name for a reason, it was a gorgeous view!  After sunset I headed back to the hotel and relaxed until bedtime.  It had been a long day!

9/10 Tuesday

I walked over to the fishing pier across the street with a coffee to watch the sun rise but it was pretty cloudy so not much to see.  No matter, it was still a gorgeous morning.  Today was the zoo day, so I got there just after they opened and hung out with the flamingos while assembling my camera.  Then I walked over to the Outback before turning to Africa Rocks and Elephant Odyssey.  I got to Northern Frontier right as they were feeding the polar bear so he came right up to the glass so people could see him, it was pretty cool.  Unfortunately the pandas were nabbed back to China, but the red panda was super cute and I got some great pictures of him.  After that I went to the Lost Forest area with all of the monkeys and gorillas, who are always a lot of fun to watch, then went down the hippo and tiger trails but it was midday by that point and they were all snoozing.  I took a detour to the Reptile House and Walk and laughed a bit because they were using a TMNTesque font for their turtle area.  My ticket included a guided bus tour, so I figured that would give me a chance to sit.  Just FYI, you don’t need to pay for the guided bus tour.  It just drives around the perimeter and you really can’t see anything you wouldn’t see just walking.  Also, if you must do the guided bus tour, be sure to sit on the right side of the bus since everything is on the right.  After the tour I went over to the Urban Jungle area and the Asian Passage.  By that point it was about closing time so I went through what parts of the aviary were open (most of it was closed to prevent spread of a contagious disease that’s been going around out here) and headed out.  I was pretty wiped out from walking all day, so opted to crash at the hotel afterwards.  It was a lovely, relaxing day 🙂

9/11 Wednesday

I didn’t have anything planned today, and while I was looking around for something to do noticed a whale watching tour which picked up right next to my hotel.  So, I boarded The America, an old old school giant sailing vessel contracted under Next Level Sailing tours, and we headed out. Of course I had to make friends with Walter and Louie, the two sea dogs first…I wanted to petnap Walter but refrained! There was a huge pod of hundreds of dolphins feeding offshore, and we even ran into a humpback whale that fully breached out of the water and then popped his head out to watch us.  I wish I had gotten better pictures, but to be honest I was having fun just watching all of the dolphins, sea lions, and the whale and wasn’t much thinking about lifting up the camera.  Also, San Diego being a huge military port there were lots of cool helicopters and military aircraft and ships all around us including a new one that looked like a gigantic catamaran and could really move through the water, something like 50 mph which is crazy for something so big in the water.  After we got back to the marina I took the recommendation of one of the crew and went to Mitch’s Seafood right there for their delicious fish tacos and watched the fishermen cleaning the boats and hilariously fighting with the birds over bait fish.  A sea lion even swam right up to the restaurant dock, probably looking for food.  After eating I opted to take the mile walk back to the hotel by foot. I was planning on going back to the cliffs for sunset but made the mistake of “laying down just for a second” and I ended up sleeping until about 3am.  Which kinda sucked because I lost the late afternoon and early evening to do stuff… I laid in bed until 6am when I finally got up.  Ah well, apparently I needed some rest!

9/12 Thursday and 9/13 Friday

I had lazy morning in bed until 10ish, repacked my bags and checked out.  Fortunately my hotel has an internal restaurant, and I was allowed to store my bags and hang out at the pool and jacuzzi all day.  It was nice to just chill out, relax, have a couple drinks, and enjoy the beautiful weather for the day.  Eventually I had to change into regular clothes and make my way to the shark diving welcome center through Nautilus.  After dropping off my bags, I walked around and watched the fish and seals until it was time to board the bus to Ensenada. The trip through customs was pretty lowkey, they barely even checked our bags, and we made it to the docks around 10pm.  Turns out my roommate on the boat, the Belle Amie, cancelled, so I would up with a room all to myself!  It took about an hour to finally cast off, and like that we were in the ocean…the wavy, nausea inducing ocean.  I took Dramamine but it just wasn’t enough. I was so sea sick I spent most of the 20 hour ride in my cabin trying to not throw up. I failed twice, and didn’t get to socialize much on our way to Guadalupe Island. Curse my ears and stomach!  We arrived at the island late on Friday, around 7ish, I knew we were there when the sun abruptly went behind the island and I got up to see why there was such a sudden change.  Upon seeing the island I went to the top deck to get a proper look and man, it was GORGEOUS.  That night the full moon rising was huge, bright, and a little red.  It was creepy but cool. After skipping three meals I just wanted to sleep and I did until morning.  Next up, GREAT WHITE SHARKS!!!