This is the shocking moment an Australian father saved his son from a gang of monkeys in Thailand.
Riley Whitelum, 38, and Elayna Carausu, 29, were in Thailand with their children Lenny, five, and Darwin, one, when they visited a beach notorious for monkey attacks on the Ko Phi Phi islands.
While relaxing on the beach, a monkey pounced on her one-year-old son, and a troop of monkeys rummaged through a bag of family belongings.
Bravely picking up her son and swinging toward the monkeys, Riley managed to scare them off, but was left with bites and scratches and needed tetanus and rabies shots.
The influencer couple first arrived at the beach in the morning and tried to lure some monkeys for their children to see.
But after not seeing any, they decided to return at sunset, when they finally saw the animals.
Riley was with her two children when they first approached the group of monkeys.
The animals then headed for the family’s bag, which contained money, passports, phones and wallets.
Riley Whitelum (pictured with their children), 38, and Elayna Carausu, 29, were in Thailand with their children Lenny, 5, and Darwin, 1, when they visited a beach notorious for monkey attacks on the Ko Phi Phi islands.
As Riley approached the bag to retrieve his belongings, a monkey pounced on him, and then on his one-year-old son.
The father was able to act quickly and lifted his son up out of the monkeys’ reach, before swinging at them and punching a monkey to scare them off.
Elayna, who had been diving at the time, had no idea what had happened.
“I’ve been in a fight with a dozen monkeys,” Riley said.
“That’s a monkey’s tooth,” he added, showing a cut on his hand.
‘I feel bad for beating up a monkey, but they went for Darwin, it was terrifying. None of the people on the beach helped.
Bravely picking up her son and swinging toward the monkeys, Riley managed to scare them off, but was left with cuts and scratches and needed tetanus and rabies shots.
The couple then went to the local town for a rabies shot, and Riley passed out from the invasive jab.
They explained that the doctors told them they get two people a day with monkey bites.
‘I’ve never had a rabies shot, so I need five, or more, on my wound. Then another five in the next 20 days,” Riley explained in the video.
The couple admitted that they “did not investigate” before heading to the beach, and if they had known that it was notorious for monkey attacks, they would not have gone.
Riley and Elayna left their jobs nine years ago, after only knowing each other a few weeks, to travel the world by boat. They had no previous sailing experience.
His journey thus far has not always been without its perils: from a “nightmare” encounter with pirates while sailing near the Galapagos Islands to contracting a deadly virus and being swept out to sea by another ship.
As Riley approached the bag to retrieve his belongings, a monkey pounced on him, and then his one-year-old son.
And then, of course, there are the heated arguments that are an integral part of life at sea.
Elanya admits that living in such close quarters isn’t easy and tension can build up quickly, previously telling Daily Mail Australia: “In the past, we’ve argued and we really can’t bear to look at each other.” The boat is so small there is literally nowhere to go!
They used the money they make from their YouTube advertising, which can be up to $4,000 per clip, and part of the sale of their old boat that they originally bought outright, to pay for the boat at a discounted rate.
His company is backed by the crowdfunding platform Patreon, with fans pledging between $1 and $100 per month if they like what they see.
Money pledged by fans is funneled into ship upkeep and new film crew to continue producing high quality footage while giving them enough money to survive.
Elayna maintains that her YouTube subscribers are not funding a lavish lifestyle, which has led them to circumnavigate destinations like Martinique, St. Lucia, Grenada, Dominica, French Polynesia, Cape Verde, Europe, and more.
Money pledged by fans is funneled into ship upkeep and new film crew to continue producing high quality footage while giving them enough money to survive.
They get all the food they can from the waters below them.
Former diving instructor Elayna, from Geraldton, Western Australia, grew up in or on the water and even learned to sail during her school years.
But when it comes to being the skipper of a big ship, neither Riley nor Elayna had any experience before embarking on the oceans, and they had to learn the ropes as they went along.
The couple, who met on the Greek island of Ios while Riley was singlehandedly sailing on a yacht and Elayna was playing music for a tour company, say they’ve enjoyed a whirlwind trip ever since.
The couple have developed a combined following of more than 1.74 million YouTube subscribers as they document their lives sailing around the world aboard a luxury yacht with their two young children.
