Twentieth
Century Fox spent a long time searching for the right location to shoot the
most important
beach scenes for the filming of Alex Garlandīs book. And what they
found is
what I found 11 years ago; one, or truly speaking two of the most beautiful
islands in the whole
of Thailand.
Phi
Phi Don the inhabited one and the unpopulated neighbouring island Phi Phi
Ley.
Sure, thatīs not what the book says - and youīre not told where the island is in the
film
either but the beach scenes were all shot at Maya Bay on Phi Phi Ley!!
Leonardo
Di Caprio finds his paradise here but thatīs only a film. For me reality.
Back
in 1989 hardly anyone came to Phi Phi to stay. Mostly tourists from nearby Phuket
came over on daytrips.
Diving
was only done by a few locals and most of the dive sites we now have hadnīt
even been discovered. I continued travelling but couldnīt find a more beautiful place
anywhere and was set on making Phi Phi my home. I finished off my training as a
PADI dive instructor
on Phuket and returned in October 1991 to join forces with
Phi Phi Scuba Diving Center founded in
1989.
I
gradually built the shop up to what it is now. A PADI Resort Center with
more than 50
sets of rental equipment, three diveboats and some 120 tanks! With about 6000 dives
under
my belt by now I helped to discover some of the best sites we have in the
area.
Hin Daeng,
Hin Muang, Garang Heng and an adventurous site called `The Caveī.
We were the first shop on
Phi Phi to offer these sites to Phi Phi visitors.
I
hope you will enjoy the rest of our web Pages and they inspires you to visit
us.
