Day 262

Wednesday May 3

We left Thailand and arrived in Penang, Malaysia today.  The city of Georgetown here is most famous for it's street food which we did not experience because we went on one of the ship excursions to hike a rainforest.  I, personally loved the rainforest hike although I think Jason would have preferred to explore the city a little more.  We did manage a walk to Starbucks after our rainforest hike.  

 We looked back and this little guy had joined us about halfway through the hike...

 This was our little rainforest guide who was a wealth of information about  black goop dripping out of plants that could poison you, lizards that could paralyze you with their tongues and all sorts of other lovely things!

The original camouflage tree- these were everywhere- so cool!

One of the two below was a gum tree- can't remember which!  

 We came out of the forest onto this beautiful beach.  

 There was an area where they are rescuing and taking care of sea turtles.

 We took a boat back around to "monkey beach"

 Back on the boat after our Starbucks run in Penang and we were treated to a beautiful rainbow over the city just before sunset...

Day 261

May 2, 2017

Another beautiful day at a virtually unknown (except to yachtsmen apparently) beach in a small cluster of Thai islands outside Langkawi.  This was probably my favorite beach because it stretched out far enough for a nice long walk.  

The crew of the ship brought a huge spread to the beach for lunch- grilled everything under the sun with all the fixings- more pork then we could get our hands on, grilled veggies and pineapple etc etc.

I took very few pics because it rained a good bit and I'm always scared of dropping my phone at the beach!

 OH and there was also more amazing snorkeling just off of the beach.  The water was pretty rough though before the rain came and several were talking about seeing sea snakes so we didn't stay long! 

 Amazing shells from our stroll down the beach...

Back to the boat for a beautiful sunset (again)...

It was so perfect to sit on the deck at night...

Each evening before dinner, you could check out what we be offered to make your choices from the 5 different courses (at least) you could choose from...

Day 260

May 1, 2017

Today we sailed through Phang Nga Bay, Thailand.  It's a national park with uniquely shaped islands some reaching as high as 1000 feet featuring dramatic sea caves and sheltered pristine beaches.  There are dense mangrove maps and caves some with intricate stalactites and stalagmite formations.  

We had the chance today to take the tenders off of the mail sailboat and tour among the different islands.  It also gave us a chance to get our first view of the ship with the sails up.  So pretty!

 We're told these guys live up in these caves and make their living fishing...

 Another fishermen's home up in one of the caves...

 Apparently these fishermen also work to clear out as many jellyfish as possible like the one below...

 Approaching our beach for the day by tender...

Coconut water

 and plenty of lizards wandering around

We both got to try out paddle boarding- so fun! 

Except for the ginormous jellyfish swimming everywhere!!

Day 259

April 30, 2017

(and yeah, this next week of posts is shamelessly about Jason and I and our amazing trip... Especially since the first time we checked in on the girls we found that 2 of the 4 AND our sweet friend keeping them were all throwing up- not photo worthy!)

Anyway, back to our dream vacation!  The first day we stopped in Ko Similan, Thailand- a small group of uninhabited islands known for it's white beaches and water sports.  Someone that knows something has said that it's one of the best diving and snorkeling locations in the world because of the crystal clear water and abundance of marine life.  

We took a tender to one small group of islands for snorkeling.  It was truly amazing- besides the moment where Jason dropped the "complimentary" snorkel and mask to the bottom of the crystal clear depths.  We could see it a good 30-40 feet below us but no one could get to it!  Oh well.  

After snorkeling we headed over to our beach for the day.  We hiked through to a more deserted side of the beach, did a little more snorkeling and then hiked back and enjoyed the beach a little before heading back to the ship.  It was likely time for food as it seemed that we ate endlessly all week!

Day 258

April 29, 2017

We arrived in Phuket, Thailand around 8 in the morning and didn't embark until 4 that afternoon so we had almost a full day to kill.  Thankfully we were able to use pools and facilities at one of the hotels on the beach and there was plenty of shopping and fun exploring to do.  

Had to start out with a little street food.  Mango coconut smoothie was TO. DIE. FOR.

Amazing pad thai with shrimp, chicken and tofu made to order...

Happy, happy, happy!

A little shopping for the girls...

First glimpse of the ship with from the beach.  The previous weeks cruise had just disembarked as we waited our turn...

 This little canal was right by the hotel where we waited.

The ship had four tenders- smaller boats that we rode all week to get back and forth when we stopped at different beaches.  Boarding to go out to the ship for the first time...

We didn't set sail until 10 that night.  Each evening they made a big production of raising the sails complete with weird Russian sounding opera style music.  That doesn't really do it justice but I don't know how to describe it!  

I didn't take nearly enough pictures of the ship itself (I learned early on from our cruise director NOT to call it a boat!).  The max capacity for passengers was around 150 but I think there was less than 100 on board.  It was very cozy and COMPLETELY different than the carnival cruises we've done!  

 Our room was definitely cozy!

Day 257

April 28, 2017

So leaving the girls behind for 9 days, as I said, comes with a lot of prep.  Needless to say once we finally left, I think I pretty much collapsed at the airport.  We had about 24 hours of travel before embarking on our cruise aboard the Star Clipper sailboat in Southeast Asia.  This was truly a once in a lifetime experience on a Wynshape Marriage Adventure that we were given as a gift and it was an amazingly unforgettable experience.  

Anyway, this particular day was spent in airports and the only pic I managed to take was of the very strange hairstyle ahead of me while boarding the plane...  IDK...