
Life As A Snorkel Guide
I have been a snorkel guide for almost 8 months in this paradise island, which is the most amazing job I have ever had so far. Phi Phi is a place where people always come back to and not just because of the parties, fun life, beautiful island, also because of its incredible diving and snorkeling. There is always something new to discover.
I came here with my boyfriend who got a divemaster job before even getting here and I just thought that I will work doing whatever I could find, hoping to get some fun dives in as well. After meeting the manager at The Adventure Club, he proposed I could go on the snorkel trip, which made me the happiest girl ever because this was something that I had always wanted. At the beginning I was very nervous, went a number of trips as a trainee but then when I went on my own first trip with my own customers I knew that this is something that I love and would love to do as long as possible.
Have Fun Being A Snorkel Guide
Another fun part of being a snorkel guide is that I could take pictures and also practice some free diving. The Adventure Club offers lots of different trips which suit all kinds of people. Each trip has its own beauty. For example Phi Phi Ley trip is one of the most popular one which takes you around the whole island and where we have lots of stops. This trip is one of my favourite, because it is full of surprises. Every time I am guiding it makes me so excited to find something new, like a baby leopard shark in Viking Cave, or mating octopus at Malong Wall, or watching the Hawksbill turtle having a Striped Catfish for lunch and many many more. Every day there is something new that makes me want to go back and look for more to show my customers that how special the underwater life here is.
For people that they really want to spend time with the sharks, we offer the Shark Watch trip, which is a very early trip, so you better avoid the party beach so as not to miss out this amazing opportunity to get close to the incredible Black Tip Reef Sharks. Usually the meeting time is at 6:15 at the shop where we have a good briefing about how to behave around the sharks, then we head to the shark point, where we snorkel in a line next to each other and every now and then I swim ahead, dive down and stay as long as possible to make the sharks come close to us. I cannot tell how amazing it feels to have them right in front of me and to see my costumers excitement and happiness that “Wow, I can’t believe I swam with sharks.” Sharks that they just came around to check us out exactly for the same reason as us…curiosity and to overcome the fear of unknown.
Try Out some Night Snorkeling
If you want to make your trip a bit more adventurous then you can sign up for the Night Snorkeling. We meet up just before dark to have a clear briefing about the trip. We give you torches and head to the end of Tonsai bay where we first jump in the water, get used to the torches and then off we go for the adventure of finding some cool creatures hunting at night time. After a good look around we turn the torches off floating in the dark to play with the magical glowing planktons.
To people that would want to do something more romantic there is the Wang long Sunset trip. This trip offers a little bit of everything. Little bit of snorkeling, jumping on the Monkey beach to see them playing with each other or going to find the beautiful caves when it is low tide and of course to relax in a small bay, Wang Long, while watching the sun disappearing into the sea.
There is also the trip to Bamboo and Mosquito Island. In this one you have 3 Islands in one trip. Starting in Phi Phi Don on East side at Loh Moo Dee Beach for a nice snorkel, then we visit Bamboo Island for a beach stop/snorkeling and then we hop on to Mosquito Island for another beach /snorkeling stop.
The Adventure Club also offers personalized trips for families who would like to go to a quieter place, for teen groups traveling together to learn more about the marine life, to people that would like to learn how to snorkel, to get used to being in the open sea and for friends that just want to spend some more time on the beach playing volleyball. On the way we talk with the group and make a plan if they have any special request, so at the end everybody is happy and had a great time.
Another amazing opportunity I got to know and learn about is that the dive shop organizes coral nursery clean ups and coral plantings. They also get together to install more buoy lines for boats, they have been a part of building an artificial reef, sinking the Kled Gaeow wreck, all of which attracts marine life and many more things that I am still learning about. My life around here is pretty busy doing all the snorkeling, fun diving, learning about the sea, sometimes getting involved in coral nursery cleanings and of course enjoying the Phi Phi Island life but so far this is the most amazing thing I have done which makes me proud to be here and thankful to be part of an amazing team of The Adventure Club.