deep water solo climbing.

while waiting in line for a kebab & fruit shake right in railay, a fellow american spotted our Osprey packs and struck up a conversation with us. we joined josh from Georgia and his canadian traveling buddies for an afternoon on the beach of railay west. we taught them our rum + fruit shakes trick and they taught us about sea lice. it was good fun. but as the day drug on, they had to head back to krabi town and we were headed to tonsai via a low tide walk.

the next afternoon, danny and i were sitting at sunset bar in tonsai with a new friend, and up came Josh & Canadian Crew! they’d come back to spend the night in tonsai with us, which turned into two. it was a fun sight to see them and to have some traveling companions for a couple of days.

as mentioned, tonsai is a major rock climber destination. so when in tonsai… you climb. over beers that first night, our group opted for the “deep water solo climbing” that’s done on cliffs out in the ocean. despite all the signs that say, “deep water soloing is NOT cliff jumping, it kinda is. but i guess you do have to climb the rock first and therefore don’t get that high. since we had a big enough group, we filled a long tail boat for ourselves, got fitted for climbing shoes and off we sailed! (if you go: we went with basecamp, more info here.)

it was unlike anything danny and i had ever done before and really enjoyable to do it with a group of chill (and encouraging) friends. for me, just being out on the water is a great day. all of us unwound that night with mama’s grilled chicken, cocktails and searching for the best slack line fire show.

being on the water in thailand is unlike anywhere else. it’s so unique & picturesque.

Eli & Josh kicking back and ready to climb.

d was among the first to get kayaked to the ladder for the first go. the ladder was tough!
go d, go! there’s kayla next to him in the black.

bunches of little climbing ants inching across the rock wall. it looks a LOT higher when you’re up there.

alright, i’m up. climbing shoes strapped on and everything.

d and josh chillin’ longtail style.

base camp boat! everything in tonsai revolved around base camp.

eli serving us up some fresh watermelon, fuel for the next round.

all the deep water solo climbers taking a break in a picturesque cover

the tings. happy as clams.

break time is over and we were off to location numero dos.
ting made his way into a rock wall cove. how cool is that?

and then he started kayaking around the boats.

the ride home was wet! me, francesa & emily trying to keep semi-dry while the boys soaked it all up – literally.
it was like dejavu of this tropical boat ride back from jost in st. thomas with another group of friends.