Railay Beach, Thailand

Another short boat ride would take us to Railay… a beach area of Thailand that has no roads or boat piers, and is accessible only by long boats that pull up on to the sand beaches.  Railay is actually a small, thin peninsula on the Andaman Sea with beaches on the south, east, and west sides of the peninsula.  You can walk from one end to the other in about 15 minutes.  Some days, we would catch sunrise at Railay East, relax on the southern beaches and then catch sunset at Railay West.

Some local wildlife

 

Long boats lined up along Railay East

 

Our bungalow for our stay in Railay

 

 

Jen gets SCUBA certified

After loving snorkeling so much, Jen wanted to give SCUBA a shot.  Although I was SCUBA certified back in 2004, it had been about 4 years since I last went diving so we signed up for a dive trip together—a “refresher” course for me and a “discovery” dive for Jen. 

Taking a long boat to some local islands

 

 

It was truly sink or swim for Jen… apparently, there would be no classroom or pool learning required before being plunged into the ocean in Thailand.  Her instructor gave her a brief intro of her equipment and then over the back of the boat she went!!

 

 

 

 

She ended up really loving it and decided to continue on with a course to become PADI open water certified.

Jen and her SCUBA instructor, Tek

 

She did it! After 3 long days of classroom and ocean instruction, Jen received her PADI open water diving certification.

 

Rock Climbing

The steep limestone cliffs on Railay are popular for rock climbers… both amateur and professional.  While Jen was working on her SCUBA cert, I took half a day and tried some climbing.

Our climbing instructor teaching how to properly gear up for a climb

 

 

 

After a few hours of climbing, my arms and fingers were exhausted!  Time to go back to the beach and relax!

 

Phranang Beach

Beautiful Phranang Beach is on the south side of the peninsula, book-ended between limestone cliffs and therefore completely secluded from any shops, restaurants, etc.

 

 

 

 

Monkeys having lunch

 

Dozens of tiny crabs scuttling along the beach

 

Possibly the most serene, gorgeous beach we have ever seen!

 

 

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We ran into Nick and Kristin, our friends from LA that we had met in Ko Phi Phi.  It was their last night in Railay so we headed out for another evening of island bar hopping.

More fire dancing…

 

 

 

 

Railay West Beach

Jen did much of her SCUBA training off of Railay West (the dive shop was two minutes away) and we spent virtually every evening here to catch the sunset.  An array of sunsets below…

 

 

 

Locals playing soccer on the beach

 

 

 

 

Long boats on Railay west