We were so excited to have family in town for a couple of weeks.  My cousin and her youngest daughter came for a visit while her husband and oldest daughter  stayed home so she could go to really cool summer camp.  B had the BEST time playing with his cousin Boo.  We were on the move most of the two weeks they were here and did some really cool stuff.  By far one of the best outings we had was our trip to Monkey Beach.  This is something we have been meaning to do for a long time, we just hadn’t gotten to it yet.  Since Boo had never been to the ocean before, this was something I insisted we put on the list.

Monkey beach is on the backside of the island and is only accessible by boat or a long hike through the National Forest.  Since we did not want to hike that distance with B in tow, we opted for the boat.  You can schedule a trip before hand, with a boat captain.  He will pick you up and take you to the beach, cook you a delicious lunch and then take you back when you are ready that afternoon.  It was so much fun.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  The boat ride was fun for the kids, and had great views of the island, the beach is secluded, really  beautiful, and the water is really clear and warm.  Lunch was amazing.  Everyone had a great time!

We got a couple of hours of walking the beach and swimming while our boatman made lunch.  I think this spot gets pretty crowded on the weekend, so Nathan took a day off and we went in the middle of the week.  Not only did we get a little bit of a discount because it was mid week, it was also pretty empty of people.  Which was really awesome.

There are many people that provide this service. They each have their own hut with grills to make food and tables for people to eat at.  Our boatman grilled up a selection of chicken, prawns, squid, steak, chicken satay,a whole fish, fried rice, fruit, summer salad and potatoes.  None of us thought to take any pictures of lunch because we were so hungry and everything smelled so good.  We just ate, trust me it was tasty.

This place did not get it’s name because there are no monkeys; there are lots of monkeys here.  They will try to steal your food.  Our captain and his helper spent a lot of time running them off.  The kids were excited to see them though.

While we were walking on the beach we noticed two horses.  I thought it was random so I took a couple of pictures.  About 10 minutes after I took this they went galloping down the beach back into the forest.  We did not see them again.

After lunch we swam for about another hour.  Alas it was time to go, nap time for B was calling. We had such a great morning, this definitely something we will do again, and if you come to visit us we will put it on the schedule!  It is a must do while here in Penang.