On the island of Railay, most locals are rock climbing-obsessed, Thai rasta dudes.

The island itself is a labyrinth of cliffs, beaches, caves, big walls and jungle—so it’s not always intuitive where to find the best terrain--whether you’re looking to climb or relax on the beach. My priority had been established early on in this trip so naturally, when we arrived, I started asking the rasta crew where the best cliff jumping could be found.

“Ah, you want deep water solo,” they all said, pointing out to the tiny uninhabited islands off the coast. I had never heard the term but instantly, I knew what it meant. These islands are tall, vertical, rock towers that rise straight out of the water.

So basically you take a boat out to an island and as the pilot hovers near one of the cliffs, you dive off the boat with your climbing shoes on, swim up to the rock wall and start climbing. There’s no need for ropes or a belay because if you fall, you end up in the sea. Of course sometimes there are rocks under you and you have to be very, very careful—but the amount of risk you’re willing to take is completely up to you.

Although some of the climbing shops offer “deep water solo tours”, we decided to hire our own longtail boat so that we could stick to our agenda of finding the biggest climbable/jumpable cliffs and stay flexible. Ben's foot had been infected from some jungle funk and it was still swollen despite the anti-biotics, but he was a trooper and dawn to shove the puffy little guy into a climbing shoe anyway (pictured).

We negotiated with an older guy named Maan and bargained him down to 1000 B (about 25USD), for four action-packed hours of exploring the islands. Flexibility is great when there are literally dozens of these islands—all within striking distance from Railay. You head over to one and spot three more. I was like a kid in a candy store.

As we floated up to our first target, I could feel the butterflies. I didn’t know what to expect. Most of the cliffs on Railay are surrounded by very shallow water with razor sharp rock on the bottom. I dove down and opened my eyes to see that the water out here was a good thirty to forty feet deep….one variable eliminated.

Unfortunately as soon as I began to climb the first wall, I saw that the rock on these islands is even shaper than the rock on Railay. It’s kind of difficult balancing the pain on your hand with the consequence of letting go before you’re ready. Getting up on the wall is tough too because most times, you have to start on an overhang. Once you start to get high on the wall (you can barely see me up there, in the pics), it becomes a hair-raising experience. Ideally you want to reach a comfortable spot before letting go and kicking off the wall. Just slipping off a hold during a tough move and falling straight down, is far from ideal since your chances of hitting the razor rock on the way down, are way too good.

Ben and I launched a couple 60 footers and we broke for lunch on one of the larger islands that has a gorgeous beach. We were practically the only people out there…gotta love the low season.

After lunch we mobbed over to the other side of this island cluster. We were headed to this crazy overhang that you could see from miles away, when Polansky spotted something swimming along the top of the water. I think it was a Monitor Lizard but it could have been a Camodo Dragon. Whatever it was, you would not want to run into this guy while snorkeling (pictured). He was swimming from one island to another and this aggressive reptile was almost 6 feet long! We had Maan pull up along side him for a photo and he kind of hissed and thrashed a turn back, behind our boat. From that moment on, I scanned the waters every time, before diving in.

After two failed attempts, leaping off a moving boat and reaching for or a stalactite on the big overhang, we moved on and just around the corner we found a picture-perfect 70 footer. There was one sketchy spot at the top where you were pretty exposed (pictured), but slow and careful, you were able to traverse up to the platform.

Goodtimes! But the cliff jumping didn’t stop there….it only got bigger when we went to Phi Phi.