Boat to Koh Lipe.

I chose the faster, easier but more expensive option of getting a 6-hour boat from Koh Phi Phi to Koh Lipe instead of a boat, 2 buses and another bus.

The boat left slightly late at about 9.15am but it was pretty good and the A/C was welcome. After about 4 hours I checked our location on Google Maps and noticed we were significantly behind schedule and we appeared to be going slowly. We then started to turn around but (in true Thai style) we weren't given any information. Another boat pulled up alongside us and bags were transferred across and we followed. Still no explanation.

An American guy on the new boat told us that he heard that one of the engine's on first boat had broken so it was heading back to the mainland, allowing us to continue south at normal speed. We stopped at various islands en route, each absolutely stunning. I wish I could spend time on all of them!

In the end the boat took 7.5 hours but it wasn't a stressful journal as I had pretty good 3G signal and the Serial podcast to keep me more than occupied.