Last week I booked myself and my partner on a boat trip to visit the local Islands around us with Mr Don. It wasn’t too much more expensive than going on a boat with a larger group of people, so why not take our time and have a more relaxing experience by private boat?

Anywho, boat day arrived today and I was super excited to get out on the sea and go exploring. Mr Don collected us from the villa just before 9 and we made our way to a pier close to us, to meet our captain for the day. With some food given to us by Mr Don, we were soon on our long-tail boat and speeding away!

One of our first stops was around was ‘Monkey Island’. As the boat slowed down and we approached the coast, I could see monkeys on a rock face, some of them jumping into the water, making their way over to us! Our captain brought out a platter of cut up bananas for us to throw in. It was a pretty damn cool experience.

There was another boat near us, and a monkey managed to invade their boat – we only found this fact out when we heard the screams from the poor tourists. I made sure to throw the bananas far away to them.

After heading onwards to take in more little islands, a short while later we were given snorkelling gear and popped into the water to see the fish. Another truly epic experience seeing them up close swimming around us.

After about half an hour playing with the fish and swimming in the sea, we went to our last destination; Hong Island. While we sped off, we grabbed our fried rice lunch and chilled out a bit.

Hong Island is quite a touristy island but impressive all the same. We were just exploring the national park there and found a sign for Hong Island 360 View Point, and thought we should go up and get a nice view of the bay. After about 1,000 vertical steps we finally made it to the top and it was worth it. Breathtaking views.

Back on the boat and feeling a bit tired, we made our way back to Ko Yao Noi while almost falling asleep. There Mr Don met us and drove us back to our villa.

5 hours on a private boat with multiple island visits, snorkelling, food, fruit and water for about £65 for the two of us, mental stuff altogether.

Later in the evening we headed out to grab some dinner and drinks. First up was a coastal bar that looked like it had seen better days. We both went for some cocktails – mojito and some blue concoction yours truly chose, and Jesus Christ if they weren’t the most lethal drinks we’ve had in some time! I think I was smashed after mine.

After dinner in LEKs (two thumbs up), we carried on the night with a night cap while walking home in a nice chilled out reggae bar on the beach. About 10pm, all the power cut out and we were left in the dark. it turns out the whole island had been cut off. Fun times sleeping without AC…