So much has happened in the last month, it's overwhelming to even begin to write it all out. I will start by saying that we have been having a great time :) We have been so thankful to spend time with the entire Williams family.
After Tim and Mandie left we had a great Christmas celebration and then prepared to head down to Phuket where we had booked a live-aboard boating trip through the southern islands. We started the trip with a grueling 7 hours of "sleeping" on the Phuket airport floor, but we were that much more thankful to arrive at the incredible resort we had booked for the night before our boat trip.
We arrived at the hotel early in the morning, enjoyed swimming in the pool and reading our books but were shocked to find out that our plans were dramatically changed. The tour operator for our boat trip sent an email telling us that the boat engine was broken and they could no longer do the trip. There was no prior warning and we were expecting them to pick us up the next morning. We were completely speechless. Our original plan for this trip was to be on a sailboat but one week before we came down we were told that boat was in dry dock and wouldn't be ready for our trip. So there we were, in Southern Thailand with no place to stay, our plane ticket home weren't for another 5 days, and every thing is booked because of New Years. We felt hopeless to find a hotel near the beach or even a boat trip. We spent hours and hours looking the first time our trip got cancelled and knew that everything was already booked. Now we had four hours to pull something together out of thin air.
We could not give up and as we were all trying to think of a solution one of the hotel staff came up and showed us a boat trip they put on which still had available seats. It was three days long, snorkeling during the day and camping at night. It was not what we envisioned, but we decided it was our best option.
The boat ride out was terrifying and awesome at the same time. We were in the front of the boat and as the driver went faster and faster over the rolling ocean waves we would slam down against the water and get drenched as the walls of water rose above the boat smashed against our faces. We finally took a breath when we stopped at our first snorkeling destination. It was completely clear and filled with beautiful fish. The whole trip was incredible!! We saw black tip reef sharks, sea turtles, sting ray, moray eels, octopus, and hundreds of different fish.
After three consecutive days of snorkeling and no showers we were all excited about returning to our hotel for a huge New Years dinner and a comfortable bed, but we got a whole lot more than that. The dinner was so much more than we expected- all you can eat prawns, fish, fruit, and a variety of Thai dishes. After dinner, we listened to live music, watched Thai dancing, and adorable German boys came up to Tad, Sy and Seth asking that they would sing karaoke with them. They all went up and sang Nirvana. We finally ended the night with lighting off lanterns for the countdown.
