I arrived in Tonsai, on the Railay peninsular of Krabi (in southern Thailand) a few days ago for some rock climbing and beach time. This area has some of the world’s best climbing; limestone cliffs jut hundreds of feet out of the sea (even if you don’t climb they make for a pretty spectacular view).

Climbing one of the limestone cliffs

Climbing

This area is also known for deep water soloing (climbing without a rope over water). Twice a month Base Camp Tonsai offers sunset deep water soloing trips that include an afternoon of deep water soloing followed by trip to Chicken island for sunset viewing, a cookout, and fire show. It turned out the sunset trips this month were November 25th and 26th. We had been on the fence about attempting deep water soloing, but this convinced us to give it a try.

Getting ready to jump

Sunset

Fire show

We have another day of climbing here, and I am already wishing that I had planned to spend more time in Krabi, but I suppose I can always come back.

A quick note about Krabi: Krabi is a province in southern Thailand. The main climbing areas are on the Railay peninsula near Ao Nang. Even though Railay is a peninsula it feels more like an island since the only way to get there is by boat (the cliffs make it impossible to go overland from Ao Nang). Railay has four beaches: East Railay, West Railay, Ao Phra Nang, and Tonsai. Tonsai is the main climbing area and during high tide you have to cross one of two slightly treacherous paths to get between Tonsai and the rest of Railay.