Koh Hae (Coral Island) to Ao Patong

Wed 14th December

We planned to hit the water early before the crowds appeared. The first boat appeared from Ao Chalong at 0730! By 0830 it was a steady stream, including the “sandwich” team from the previous afternoon.

We had a snorkel, best marine life spotted was a Moray Eel, and incredibly friendly schools of yellow and blue striped reef fish about 2” long, who just had not a care in the world that we had entered their domain. It was like swimming into a curtain of them at times.

We decided that it was time to leave the beach to the hordes and we set off to check out the south side of the island. As it was uninspiring and with no obvious anchorage, we again laid off the course for Cape Prom Threp  as the swell had diminished significantly.

We SAILED ALL DAY. This is the first time in months that I can say K'Gari was doing what it does best, sailing!

Anchored for the night at Laem Thai Pao, which is just inside the northern headland of Patong Bay.
Ashore was the Naka Resort, which looked suitably swish and rather under inhabited.

Buffy checking out Mariner of the Seas in Ao Patong

We shared the bay with Mariner of the Seas until 2000, when she departed. Being aware of  the influx of funds that these passenger vessels bring to ports like Cairns and Gladstone, I can only imagine that it's like striking gold for Phuket to have them stop in the Bay for a day. one seems to be anchored in the bay every day, during the time we have been around.

Beat a retreat to Ao Chalong- and the phone goes on its own private tour of Phuket

Tuesday 13th December.

Return to Ao Chalong and went ashore to both shop and dine.

Big Buddha from Ao Chalong Anchorage

Dining en route to the shops, it became apparent that Thai style curry, (not spicy) is way beyond Jo's not spicy/hot tolerance gauge . After swapping meals, with Steve, its been unanimously decided that possibly sticking to Pad Thai noodles, unless dining in heavily 'touristed' areas might be safer for her.

Shopping was a success, so returned to the boat  via a taxi, as we had frozen goodies and stopped en route to grab a bag of ice ,as the cockpit fridge seems to have given up the will to live. It's not vital but it is handy for drinks, and the storage of veges and fruit, when it was working.

It was I suspect about here on the journey, that I apparently parted company with my phone, as I alighted from taxi to buy the ice. I think it slipped from my pocket onto the seat.
We arrived back at the very long Ao Chalong Pier, caught the wee transport 'bus', back to the seaward end and it was now I felt for the phone and realised I was in fact, sans phone.

Yes,  the taxis display both the number and name of the driver. Could any of us remember it? Of course not! I was pretty sure that the number was a combination of an old postcode. Jo thought the drivers surname was something like ????? and I was pretty sure his first name was Watsur or Surwat.  The boys had no idea!
The only thing to do, with the very limited information I had, was to return to the taxi rank and hope that as the street system was basically a one way set up , with the exception of a 5 way roundabout about 500m from where we had been dropped at the pier, that our friendly driver had returned to the same rank, located as it was, outside the supermarkets.
A 15 minute  hike back to the rank and there was the taxi- but no driver.
I asked the other drivers ( in fluent English!) if they knew where the driver was as I had lost my phone and maybe it was in the taxi.
Yes ,yes madam, ( perhaps the trend setting bright pink board shorts, with the offendingly shallow pockets, aren't really disguising my age, I note I'm getting called madam more often) just wait we phone him. Yes, yes he find phone.

About 10mins later, he reappeared on the back of a motor bike with phone in hand. I think he may have been in the process of taking it the near by police station.

Reunited with my phone, (which during  the intervening 30mins of being phone less I had realised is actually like my brain these days, in fact it retains far more information than my brain does, now I think about it ) and declining the offer of a lift on the back of a motor bike, I returned to the pier, with life returned to its normal harmonious status.

Steve had delivered the others and he shopping back to K'Gari and then come back to the pier to await my return. He hadn't been back long, as he had in fact had to refuel the dinghy after almost running out of petrol on the return to K'Gari with the shopping.

Just a we set off,so was a woman in another dinghy. She was rowing . She explained she was returning to her yacht under oars as still “no part”, for her motor had turned up. We offered her a tow, for which I imagine she was most grateful as it turns out she was almost as far away from the pier as we were.

The road stead at Ao Chalong,  especially where we had anchored for our envisioned stay of only a couple of hours is a bit like the track at  Le Mans. The tourist traffic, especially morning and evening is fast and furious.  We heaved anchor as the returning wave of boats could be seen heading our way, and made for Banana Bay on Coral Island  (Koh Hae). This is allegedly a less frantic anchorage! We arrived there about 1700 just in time to participate in a “sandwich manoeuvre” by two tourist catamarans, both overtaking us as they raced to the floating jetty to pick up their passengers. I wouldn’t have minded “playing", but I did find it a bit disconcerting not knowing what the rules of the game were!

Safely anchored in 19m- it shelves steeply, of allegedly sand , we ran out 80m plus the bridle- I never feel comfortable without at least 4:1 ratio of anchor chain, the more the better!
The tourists all departed and we had the place to ourselves. There is 'resort' in this bay, but it appears to be more of a day time resort, but clearly staff stay on the island overnight.

A quiet night at anchor. We did in fact drag during the night. I think we moved about 20m, but all was well.

!2th December

Monday 12th December.

Rounded Cape Prom Thep, the most southern cape on Phuket, in what had become an increasingly strong NW'ly. The sailing was great.

However the wind direction was not.

We anchored for the night in Nai Harn Bay.

Contemplated going ashore by dinghy but decided against it, as the swell was coming into the bay and rolling up the beach.
Steve swam ashore from the anchorage, to check out exactly what was available ashore.
Jo also went for a swim, but not from the anchorage. Instead we launched the dinghy and I ran her in towards the beach, so that I could study any potential landing sites from the dinghy. Jo flipped off the dinghy and I went and inspected a couple of the small beaches slightly to seaward of our anchorage , but again the swell was breaking on them as well.


Time to return to the boat revealed the great dinghy boarding without fins exercise debacle. With only one occupant in the dinghy (me) the sides are actually incredibly high above the water line from a swimmers point of view. The harder she tried to get into the dinghy, using the “seal on to the ice flow technique', the more we just both convulsed with laughter, eventually rendering us both incapable of doing anything other than deciding the easiest way back to the boat was simply to tow her in the water. To achieve this however I actually had to manoeuvre the dinghy astern , so that she was able to use the painter from the bow as her tow rope.
The ignominy , apart from being towed thus , is that my darling nephew of course managed to video the event for posterity!

The swell increased during the night, so we decide to retreat the next day to Ao Chalong Bay.

Phang Nga Bay : Day Three

Phang Nga Bay Day 3   Sunday 11th December

K'Gari at anchor Phang Nga Bay

We headed South, for a couple of wind less hours and decided to detour to Koh Pak Bia, described as a secluded anchorage. Well admittedly we were the only boat anchored.........but around the other side  the “spectacular strip of white sandy beach, with an enticing bay for snorkelling.....” were a few dozen of my friends, the speed boats and the longtails.
As usual though, the occupants seem to far more content with sizzling themselves towards melanoma crispness, rather than being in the water.

We did snorkel and yes, there were fish and coral heads and out on the drop off ,one spectacular gorgonian fan, in amazing pink.

Opposite this island, another island about 150m away , had a troop of macaque monkeys just eyeing off the tourists. Obviously its a regular stop off , for a drift past ,by the longtail trippers. The monkeys ranged from wee infants about 6 inches long, right through to the matriarch and patriarch of the troop.

Diverted again, into Chong Koh Yao to have a look,and suss out the likelihood or otherwise, of going ashore for a late lunch. We entered at low water and passed through the shallows ok. Once in the channel between the biggest islands in the Bay we decided it was akin to being in a hothouse, and that eating ashore was less interesting than being sautéed in the sun.
Followed our course back out and by now the first decent breeze in days had filled in from the NW, so for the first time in over 12months the MPS was allowed out of the bag.

Buffy "paragliding"

note the  safety gear- one life jacket.

back on board after the paraglide

Great run for a couple of hours with the MPS .I was beginning to wonder when, if  ever we would get it out of the bag again.

Anchored for the night close to the bottom of  Koh Yao Yai, just on the east side. Went ashore as there was purportedly a restaurant. We meet the owner, an incredibly friendly chap, who due the time of day cold offer nothing to eat today , but tomorrow could organize a beach BBQ for us if we wanted, or fresh coconuts in the morning. How many on board? What time were we leaving in the morning?

The next morning early we noticed him down on the beach checking I guess, if we were still there. About 30mins later he arrived on paddle board with 4 chilled green coconuts. Don't recall actually ordering room service, but we bought them anyway, and they certainly were chilled. He offered to open them for us , but we didn't actually want to consume them at that point, so we declined. Steve dealt with them, using the 18'' parang and a drill bit. The coconut water was sweet and cold and the meat was good too , once Jo dug it out.

More Phang Nga Bay

More  Phang Nga Bay

Having arrived late in the afternoon  at the Koh Hong group, we went for a quick 'reccy' around the island, after the daily tour boats had departed , to find the entrance to the hong.
The next morning, before the hordes arrived, we entered

somewhere ahead there is an entrance

in the lagoon

looking at the Eastern entrance to the Hong  from the  lagoon

the lagoon, through the narrow entrance in the rocks, then paddled our way into the hong. This one would be spectacular at midday. Unlike our adventure yesterday, this one opens into a towering chimney which allows light in. The walls  of the 'chimney' have palms and other vegetation clinging on for dear life.
Once in the hong , daylight is clearly visible on both sides at the bottom ,as well. The entrance we had come through,was relatively high

from the lagoon looking towards the high East entrance to the  lower Western entrance

exiting the way we came in via the Eastern entrance

  and the exit to the sea was definitely restricted to kayak height and then only at certain stages of the tide. No torch required in this one- just as well as it was back on board K'Gari.
From the Hong group, we decided that as it was still well before tourist daytripper time, we would set off for James Bond Island , about 10miles to our north. Buffy mistakenly posing for selfies in front of an obviously inverted JB island. It was only we  checked the tourist brochures the mistake was realised.

This is not JB island.Buffy had it all wrong as usual
-and wonders why he isn't allowed to keep a solo watch!

Yes! Correct it's  Roger Moores "son" Daniel - who just happened to be in the dinghy

So having anchored off “Jimmy Bond” island we went exploring in the dinghy for the real James Bond Island (Man with the Golden Gun)-  You see the photos of what appears to be a towering finger but in reality it's tiny.  Certainly all three parts of the island would have made a substantial headquarters ,but the iconic photo of the towering finger,
undercut at the base is actually the smallest part! On the beach, in huts, you can buy all the usual tourist essentials of thongs ,hats etc – undoubtedly logo-ised . We didn't go ashore just cruised past.

Just as we arrived, so did the the first of the countless  longtails, the ubiquitous superfast (3x 200hp outboards) speed boats. We had by then done our photo opportunity so we decided to hie it away to Koh Roi , a couple of hours further south.

the Eastern side of JB island- see the cleft in the rock face.

Anchored for the night in a channel between  Koh Kuda and Koh Kuda Yai. Excellent wind tunnel! One of the coolest nights sleep yet! An interesting lagoon, with a nice beach just around the corner and

The lagoon at Koh Kuda Yai

 a circumnavigation of Koh Kuda Yai, revealed  more interesting  rock formations ashore and in the water ,giant purple jelly fish,

giant purple jelly fish

one of which had passed by me  at the anchorage, when I was having a squizz underneath at the props and through hull water inlet for the watermaker, as  I planned  to give it a test run. We will have to make our water for the next few weeks.

Phang Nga Bay

The exploration of the magnificent limestone creations, which make up the islands of  Phang Nha Bay, began with anchoring at Koh Phanak .

Ko Phanak

 Hong is Thai for room, so what we we looking for were the tunnels that burrow into the limestone and open up into "rooms" beneath the towering structures.  There now being four of us on board and no kayaks, we were a bit restricted as to the ones we could explore. Undaunted the first exploration was amazingly successful. We arrived,anchored and explored in the dinghy- paddling once we entered, not using the outboard in the hong.Torch in hand we entered and proceeded  in about 500m. The tide was rising as we entered , so we explored the first couple of caverns by torch and decide that was far enough. We emerged back into daylight, having had the whole place to ourselves. Minutes after emerging  a tourist boat arrived and disgorged 15 kayaks, followed by another boat and another and another and another. How much confusion would have been caused had we been emerging as they we trying to enter, I have no idea. Each canoe is launched rapidly, with two pax and one guide (doing the paddling). we only just squeezed through

its dark

looking  from the dinghy into the gaping cavern above us

almost back at the entrance- the narrowness not really highlighted in the photo.

the entrance in our dinghy - there was certainly no room for a kayak. Chris reckoned if we had known they were coming in, we should have just sat there in the dark, and really given them "a kayak trip to remember".

We then moved on to explore the Koh Hong Group.

The road to enlightenment- The futile search for Big Buddha

The last month since Lynne departed, has flown by in  days of blogging, meeting new friends,and generally  melting in the heat of the cool season.
Mental note - never come to Phuket in the hot season, the "winter" is more than warm enough.

Apart from blogging and forays to various chandleries ( most of which are located around Boat Lagoon and its environs- 15km from here), finding where to shop for food and other necessities, meeting new friends and the general relaxing, not a great deal to report really.
I have pottered about and the days have actually flown by, as I awaited the arrival of my next crew.
They are here now and tomorrow we set off on the next phase of the adventure.

Over the last two days we have toured round the island a bit, taking the "scenic route" to  a few of the beaches at the northern end of the island.
Steve arrived on Sunday and we started doing a couple of those " this will be easier with two people jobs" I have been prevaricating about; adjusted the belt on the salt water pump on the port engine. We also tightened the steering cables. We jiggled 100 litres of fuel into the tanks, discovering a bit of 'black death' lurking in the jerry cans. We serviced the electric winch. Checked out Premier Boat Yard with a view to haul out in January.

On Wednesday Jo and Chris arrived and we set off about lunch time for a small reccy of the island, the highlight of which, I'm sure would have been the chandleries at Boat Lagoon.

 On Thursday we went to Wat Chalong -biggest Buddhist temple in Phuket. After exploring the temples for about an hour we decided to go and check out 'Big Buddha' which is basically a huge Buddha (32m tall) on top of a  hill, inland from Ao Chalong, that can be seen about 20 miles out to sea. Unfortunately things didn't go as planned as the road there was, for us, impossible to find.
We started to ascend the mountain according to "google maps" - that took us to up an ascent that would have worn out a team of Sherpas. Had to pull the automatic into low, and then we were only crawling.Eventually the sealed road (single lane , petered out into dirt , that was far more suited to the quad bikes we came across, and which in turn had probably deteriorated because of the quad bikes. We persevered another 6-700m and decided that there was no way this the "tourist" road to BB. Back down again,  in low transmission- it was steep! Tried again , having another attempt at googling a route- failed again, gave up on 'the road to enlightenment' and decided to have some satays as a late lunch.  

Provisioned up on the way back to the K'Gari for the next month, on all the essentials. Tonic water, chips, biscuits, cereal, milk, some fresh veg,some steak and chicken for the freezer- an entire car boot full in the end.

Back on the boat and everything stowed away, it was time to introduce Jo and Chris to, nae dad diew,before we departed on the tide in the morning.
That was when my electricity cable came to grief, assisted absolutely in its demise by being run over by one of the many many sets of wheels that transit the jetty fingers on a daily basis.The marina is so large that many deliveries are made to the various boats by two wheeled large 1m x 0.5 m hand carts , or motor scooter, or motor scooter with side car, ( include here ,motor scooter , side car and up to six people jammed in /on same), or the piece de resistance and in this case the culprit, golf buggy.
Just after we went ashore, a golf buggy crossed the cable, which by necessity has had to lie across the jetty for the last, month, due to the design of the wharf. I asked the marina if the had any means of protecting it for  the daily traffic , but nothing eventuated. I encased my cable in a length of hose pipe and taped the hose pipe all around it to prevent the cable from taking he full force of each set of wheels as they crossed. unfortunately the buggy tonight, moving at speed managed somehow to entangle my cable around its wheels and rip the plug out of the socket and snap about 6 foot of cable.
So have to sort that out before we leave in the morning. At least they provided an electrician ( immediately, after hours to reconnect us, as it had been a stinking hot day and the aircon was required, not to mention the issue of the recently restocked freezer!

Landlubber tourist things , getting the lay of the land

Our  voyage, from Port Dickson to Phuket, covering some 485nm , of admittedly mainly motoring rather than sailing ,had just one teeny tiny shift to do,as we changed berths along the same finger the following morning.

To ensure it was memorable - it was chucking it down, for the duration of the shift.

Thus concluded the voyage part of the adventure, so it was now time to organize the visit of the shipwright and to try to organize those dinghy tube covers as well as have a squizz at Phuket. Lynne has been here before. I haven't.

First things first. Although this marina is far from the "madding crowd" of the popular tourist spots, from my point of view, it will be fine.
A quick exploration revealed that there are three small local restaurants on the waters edge, ten minutes stroll from the boat, two open for breakfast. One we sampled - apparently the iced  coffee was forgettable, but no denying they were catering for yachties with their "western brekky choices". Not sure about the salad  with the egg 'benny'- sans 'benny' sauce as it turns out.The world's crispiest bacon and potato rosti- that's not a mix n match, that's just how it comes. The "big breakfast" was just that- huge!

Nea Dad Deaw

Above the marina, in the other direction- we are nestled under a cliff, is  a small village. Banana roti , available there - yummy. Also minimal green vegies, if I need them, can be purchased there.
The marina itself does food all day,and very nice it is to.
A very luscious "french toast with a twist"- which I thoroughly recommend- as long as you don't intend eating, for the rest of the day! The twist being bacon,banana and maple syrup.

My favorite new snack in the afternoon, with an aperitif is Nea Dad Deaw, Thai fried sun dried beef, or Moo Dad Deaw which is pork. Beats peanuts or chippies hands down.The kaffir lime leaves are fried as well and they are just a taste sensation.


So I'm not going to starve to death. There are two mini markets here as well, for emergency essentials. Three car hire places ,so transport wont be an issue.They do the ubiquitous motor scooters as well, but think I will start with a car, until at least a) i get the hang of the traffic, b) know where I'm going so I'm not tying to listen to a phone app. Probably wont bother with a scooter, as if I go on a shopping expedition, I will need a car to return with the goods anyway.

Got the tube covers organized and the dinghy was picked up and whizzed to the other end of the island (Ao Chalong Bay, as it turns out). the shipwright turned up the next morning and after he had been, we were away on a tour of the island.

Lynne navigating, me driving. The driving didn't seem too bad. The lanes and their markings do tend to do odd merges here and there. The speed limit signs appear to have been placed only as part of  a "jobs and growth strategy"- nobody pays any attention to them. It does however, pay when turning left, to check that there aren't  any "contraflow" bikes or scooters coming your way .

We did a trial run for location and timing to the airport, and then we continued on to the nearest major shopping centre at Thalang, half way down the island and apparently the original main town , until things moved a little further south to Phuket Town.
The road layout is fairly obvious.It's an island , you can go north or south , or east and west (but not everywhere due to the mountain range in the middle of the island) ,and then of course  around the edges, to the famous beaches on the west coast. The major roads are clearly denoted with a number , which I can read and their  names ,which I can't read , but finding 402 will get me home.

Also discovered  pretty quickly that you need to plan your shopping expedition, according to your direction of travel. Tescos is on left side going south from here. As is Boat Lagoon Marina,and multitude of boat workshops and tradesmen, then Royal Phuket Marina- very pleased, apart from the ridiculous cost, that I'm not there. It is a marina located up a creek, TOTALLY surrounded by condos apart from the narrow entrance. It would be like living in a sauna- no breeze would ever make it in there.Bet the electricty charges wont be cheap either!
Coming north is a fabulous hardware store for general  stuff,a  bit like the multinational one we have , but this is a Thai one, heaps of staff everywhere , but so far, unless I can find it myself ,the usual answer is, 'sorry no have' with a beaming smile. None the less, its huge and its just a matter of digging around until I find what I want. Then there is Macro- great vegies, frozen food cabinets to die  for , cheese and dairy , ditto and TONIC water and COFFEE BEANS.
If you miss your destination, it can be several kilometers before you can execute a U turn, and then you have just as many extra kilometers in the other direction, before you can execute your second U turn.
Easy when you know , where the shop is that you want, and which side of the 402 its located.

Our tour took us not quite into Phuket Town and then towards Patong beach, a glimpse of the heaving masses on the beach being enough for me, so we headed north back towards Yacht Haven, via a very twisty (4030) road.
The obvious marks of the 2004 Tsunami are still evident in places, but there has been massive rebuilding as well.
 The next morning we checked out the Sarasin bridges (the old one, now a pedestrian bridge only) which connect the island to mainland Thailand.These bridges only two or so nautical miles from the marina, unfortunately have  bridge span clearance heights  of  only 12.3m high, so I can't exit to the Similan Islands that way, and will have to do a grand, almost circumnavigation to get- all bar 2nm , back to almost where I am, to jump off towards the Similans.

Looking east towards marina

Looking West to the open sea

Dropped Lynne at the airport after a fairly full on three weeks or so,but we achieved the mission plan and arrived safe and sound. Thanks Lynne , it was fun.- and don't forget you are one of the very few who have been here when a fish was caught. Maybe I should get some shirts made "I was on K'Gari when a fish accidentally ran into the lure"

Now I await my next crew, and we will explore Phang Nga Bay and the Similans
Another episode  of the adventure ended.

Phuket Yacht Haven Marina

Returning to K'Gari after officially checking into Thailand,I found to my delight that Phuket Yacht Haven Marina, on the NE end of  Phuket, not only had a berth for K'Gari but  pleasantly, was reasonably priced as well!

Lynne then also  expressed her pleasure at this revelation ,as I had decided to forgo the pleasure of a $100 a day marina berth and was contemplating just hanging about on the anchor in Ao Chalong Bay, awaiting my next crew, as Lynne has to return to Oz. She wasn't happy at the thought of  leaving me at anchor and prefered to see K'Gari snugged up in  marina somewhere before she had to leave, as did I!

We set off for the other end of the island about 0730 the following morning.

Just for the record- we didn't bother to even set the main sunshade!

Our courses took us through the anchorage for the deep sea port and onwards to the southern extremity of the famous Phang Nga Bay region. Yes you have seen the photos- even if you don't know  it, they were taken in Phang Nga Bay. The towering rock formations projecting from the sea- that's Phang Nga Bay.

We passed several islands with anchorages that may prove interesting later, but the advice we had received suggested the best time for entry to our allotted berth would be 1330- slack water.

That went seamlessly well, and yes I now understand why slack water is a good idea, as to get to our allotted berth, we passed through a very narrow entrance, which is absolutely at 90 degrees to the tidal flow.

Checked in at the office and made arrangements there and then to move a couple of spaces further inwards down the finger , away from the very narrow entrance, the next morning.

Checking into Thailand :Ao Chalong , a onestop shop

The check in at Ao Chalong is great.
A one stop shop. Everyone you need to see, the Port Master, Immigration, Customs and Quarantine, all in one building. They are very patient- there are a huge number of forms, all stamped with red ink. Inept yachties like moi , who have never checked into Thailand, are led through the process- they even provide free photocopying for all the copies of stuff they want. I must admit that over the last 17 months, having basically only dealt with the Malaysian authorities , I no longer carried multiple copies of everything, as they don't really seem to want them.  Thailand does.

I stumbled at the first gate- seems I had left my glasses on board- they certainly weren't around my neck. So Lynne did the paper work and I just signed everywhere that the various officials pointed to. The lack of glasses, apart from the stupidity factor , was not all that important as most of the forms were in Thai , with tiny English bits, in places.

All checked in  and legal, we returned to the dinghy , where sure enough my glasses were lying in the bilge.Think they must have come adrift, when I started the outboard.

 I mean who would go ashore  to fill in official forms without their specs- how stupid would that be??

Now I could read the forms, I'm legal until 02 Jan 2017. K'Gari for some bizarre reason, is allowed to stay until May.
Then the small print- should I for some reason, wish to leave Thailand , without K'Gari, I have to post a bond for myself as the skipper ( and forewarned) , the only crew member on board.
When we had checked out of Malaysia, Lynne was listed as passenger, so that when we checked into Thailand she was also a passenger. She was granted a 30 day visa on arrival, and as a passenger was free to leave by plane, or foot or vehicle, as any other tourist is.

I on the other hand was listed as the  entire crew complement- whoever said, women can't do anything they want....

I have the opportunity to extend my  2 month,  tourist visa in advance, (obtained in Brisbane) by another 30 days, which will be early February, if I choose to do  that. This will be easier than posting a bond, flying somewhere and coming back and then trying to retrieve the bond money, I suspect.

Apparently, I have temporarily imported K'Gari into Thailand- one of the many signatures I had scribbled away, sans spectacles! Should I forget (unlikely as that is) to export it again before 2nd May 2017, I apparently, (sans spectacles) have agreed to give the government of Thailand, the measly sum of 13 million nine hundred and ten thousand baht- and assumedly they want the boat as well!

So family and friends of the sailing variety, take it on notice  that there is a rather nice  boat here, which needs to leave before the 02 May 2017, should anything happen to me. You know where the key is!!!

Phi Phi Don- once will definitely be enough.

We arrived at Ton Sai Bay, on  Phi Phi Don about 1530.
Even managed to get two nice hours of a sail in today!
Everything I had read about this place did not make it sound attractive- except that we hoped would be able ashore and get cash and sim cards and a meal. It's a backpackers heaven apparently- guess I'm officially beyond the age of backpacking!
With the prevailing Northerly wind , the alternative bay to the north was probably not going to be a viable option.

Unique bouyage system in TonSinBay. Which is the original the starboard lateral or the safe water- who knows. 

Info said to anchor as close in as possible, on the western side -staying away from the ferry terminal.
So we did! Nestled in amongst the multitude of mooring buoys, for the tourist fleet and dive boats, and obviously in the direct traffic route to somewhere for the longtails.

Spot the odd one out!

Found a spot that I thought would have adequate swinging room and even then only put out the minimum 4;1 ratio of anchor chain.
Went ashore in daylight and obtained both cash and a means of communication with the world again.
Back on board to make good use of the sim cards and then ashore, just on dark, for a meal.

Dive boat moorings ? Where?

Returned to the boat to find a tourist boat had picked up a near by mooring.It was a power boat with not much draft, so would swing more with any breeze than tide. Not happy , we shifted anchor about 30 meters, in the dark and of course by now, the rain!
,
The longtails did I suppose stop at some point during the night. Then there was the dinghy load of loud drunk French speaking charter boat yachties returning at 0200. High pitched shrieks emanating from the beach, would indicate that perhaps at least one of them probably fell in , whilst trying to get into the dinghy. Then the less than sotto voce  whispering, that drunks apparently do, as they wove their way through the anchorage. As they approached us I helped them out with a spot of "lighthouse" torch , to indicate both my presence and vigilance! They altered course!

https://youtu.be/P5_0Qc4s-zA

   We left at 0600, decided to head for Phuket itself, Ao Chalong Bay, to do the check in formalities, which are free of cost , during the working week but incur a fee over the weekend. It being Friday, we decided today was the go.

The video is a tiny sample of what one longtail sounds like. Imagine dozens of them passing by, REALLY close,  at night when you cant see them, just hear them.


K'Gari needs a couple of things looked at and Seawind had asked me to make for Boat Lagoon , where a shipwright could come to have a look.
 Once in range of Phuket and the phone system, I started calling marinas. Boat Lagoon- no room in the inn. They suggested I try Royal Phuket , next door. Yes they could for $100aud  a day- sucking of breath on that one !
Tried to contact the shipwright - yes, he could come tomorrow afternoon at the anchorage at Ao Chalong Bay. Making small progress here at last.

Typically as we approached the last 100m before anchoring we had a "whiteout" rain storm. So a bit wet and bedraggled we anchored, gathered all the required bits and pieces of papers, waited till lunch hour had passed and went ashore- between showers!

Rok Noi

After the hunter gather exercise had concluded, with MM's  successful release, we arrived at the beautiful Rok Noi.

Next decision on the agenda was, pick up a mooring- supplied by the NP, or anchor?
Pros and cons for both. How good is the mooring line? When was it last checked/renewed?
As for the anchor, what was I likely to snag it on? There were several moorings supplied , so I guess they would prefer you to use the mooring rather than destroy the coral.
From the information I had, it appeared that all the moorings were in at least 5m of water, so I opted for a mooring...with anchor standby alternative. Always got to have a back up plan, or just be indecisive!

Lynne stationed up forward as we approached, suddenly started asking what the depth was.
"30m plus, 25m ,20m, 15m, 7m"
"Was I sure?"
"yep"
"Really sure, I can see the coral clearly, really, really clearly"

Depth sounder down to 1.5m and we retreated. The advantage of a sedate approach speed. I too looked over the side- goodness it was clear wasn't it? By now we were in 10m again. Decided to approach another mooring instead.
This one turned out to be in 24m- it was only about 60 m diagonally from the first one we had approached.
I assume that in fact all the moorings would be in adequate water, or they wouldn't waste their time laying them. I also think without any further investigation on the subject, that perhaps it was just our direct  approach to the mooring that had had us passing over such a shallow depth, but that coral is crunch stuff, not to be trifled with , so retreat was the order of the day.

We settled on the mooring for the night.
Just before sunset we watched a boat with 5 Thais, wearing fatigues, going from boat to boat.Sure enough they approached us and in very broken English we figured the were telling us they were Marine Parks, and would like some money. I had read about the NP fees in the info I had ,but that info had said  the fee was charged if you went ashore, where there was ranger hut. As we hadn't officially arrived in Thailand,(done the paperwork bit),  we hadn't been ashore. So after explaining we haven't arrived yet, they said "ok and you pay next time when you come back". Still don't know if it was a shake down or if they were legit. The very small amount of baht I had already obtained was for any fees at immigration that might be imposed. Happy to go ashore when southbound, if we stop there again.

Next morning in the first clear water for months I  thought I would check out the state of play beneath the water line.
What had appeared in the relative murk of Port Dickson and Pangkor  to be fuzz, turned out to be a veritable pasture of growth, when I  could actually see it!

Took me just on an hour to give the hull the best clean off it's had so far.
Tried with a light swipe of a scourer pad but decided that, that was actually wiping off too much of my ablative antifoul.
When I got her , K'Gari had had two different colour layers of antifoul. The top one being black, the second one being blue. That way you can tell how quickly the antifoul is wearing away. Not wanting to wipe off any that was still working well, I tried with a plastic scraper for  the fuzz/pasture and the metal scraper on the more recalcitrant barnacles that didn't come off with the fuzz.

All the while that I was removing the verdent undergrowth,and perhaps the odd bit of Altex #5, I was keeping an eye on the increasing number and size of the fish, enjoying a free breakfast. They started out teeny weeny and by the time I had finished were definitley approaching plate size.Plate size is fine, just so long as nothing bigger than plate size was likely to arrive as well!

Managed to drop the metal scraper right towards the end of the job. I had 4 implements tied together with a loop around my wrist. Trusty knot came undone, and metal scraper decided not to float! Despite the water being crystal clear, and despite the fact that the scraper had a fluro bright orange bit on the handle. I couldn't see it on the bottom anywhere.Doubt I could make it down 24m on one breath anyway!

One thing I have found with my forays under the hull is, that either it's much saltier water than I'm used to ,or perhaps my posterior has become more bouyant as I age! I need 2kgs on a weight belt every time I'm in the water under the hull and even then it's no effort swimming, without fins, on the surface.

Oh look, its suicidal fish number 2

Destination for the day was Rok Noi, some 50 odd miles north.
Hmmm motor or sail? If only!
We left at 0600 and a soon as we cleared the northern tip of Koh Tarutao, the water was BLUE!

NE tip of Koh Tarutao

 Looking back from our anchorage the night before, we could for the first time in days, see the top of the chairlift at Langkawi- some 35 miles to the south. Oh well, another time!

We  rechristened 20 miles of the sea after passing Tarutao- the "sea of flags". Beautiful as the day was, there was no time to kick back and read a book - there were a gazillion fishing flags and nets in this stretch of the sea.Most of them, but not all, had nice orange fluro flags which actually meant we could spot them, but that did involve actually looking instead of lounging.

The breeze finally  kicked in, in the afternoon- a real sail at last.

We have passed many FAD's (fish attracting devices) but today's was one of the best. It may, in hindsight actually have been more of a fish pen/holding area. It was enormous and would not be something pleasant to run into at night. It at first appeared to resemble a floating inverted pandanus tree. As we passed close by- completely failing to take a photograph, (which I will put down to it being a shot directly into the sun)- it actually appeared to be a huge floating basket, the circumference being an estimated 2m. It looked as though it had been woven from palm tree fronds. The bit above the water we could see, being woven from  the part of the frond closest to the tree. Each frond  end was probably about 30cm across. We could see about 1.5m above the water, so assuming the iceberg theory holds good, it was going to be a substantial mass beneath.

Then the excitement of the day occurred - a fish, suicidal, obviously, decide to catch a ride.
Oddly that very morning,Lynne had asked what we were going to do, if we ever actually caught a fish- the likelihood of which being  so  rare, that altho I now have a gaff, I never even bother to get it out in readiness .

So the plan:

• Find a suicidal fish
• Identify that it has accidentally hooked itself.
• Slow the boat down, which to date would mean reducing the revs, but of course we were actually sailing at a pleasant 5 kts on this occassion.

Whilst I haul in the captive, she was to get ready;

• The gaff
• The wooden chopping board ( and tie a handy bit of rope to it, in case it slips off the aft step in the excitement of the moment) 
• Something to despatch the captive with, fishing knife or a handily heavy wooden (or the metal one), pestle, bought as multipuposes devices for 'pestling' things, or as  fish concousing implements.
• If there was time, a piece of non skid matting for under the chopping board- again to prevent the whole lot disappearing off the step, where the deed would be done.

The plan swung into action and here it is- fish number 2

For all the anti blood sporters amongst the 'vast' readership, you will be pleased to know that within seconds of this photo, beautiful gleaming golden/green fish was released.Not kissed and released , just released!

In my mind, I was pretty sure this was a Mahi Mahi, one of my all time favourite eating fish.Also known as a dolphin fish.

This was only a junior-despite being the perfect size for two of us. 

Also in my mind ,was that one of  natures tricks is that quite often, everything that glistens is not, in fact, gold. Bright colours often mean danger- toadstools for instance come to mind! 

As my Mahi Mahi to date, has always been obtained at a fishmongers in steak/fillet size, skinless portions, there was enough uncertainty to make us decide that , a prudent sailor , who wasn't actually dying of scurvy or malnutrition, might be wiser to return the bounty, from whence it came.

Total stats on the hunter gather tally now stand at :

• 1 lost lure
• 1 fish - mackeral, caught and consumed
• several snags of detritus
• 1 (now positively identified) released Mahi Mahi
• for 3589 nm covered.

Now that is fish stock sustainability!

1st November 2016: Thailand

Crossed into Thailand at 1553 (Malaysian time) , so 1453 Thai time, on 1st November.
Another country , and my first time in Thailand. I am really looking forward to finding some clear water.That's what it's famous for - well amongst other things , but it's what I'm looking for.

We sailed, figuratively, from Royal Langkawi at 0953/01 Nov. It wasn't raining, however no wind either, so a motoring  we did go.
The best comparison of the NE coast of  Langkawi, geologically is about as close to SW Tasmania as  I have seen  ( minus the temperature extremes of course). Rugged, jagged  towering mountains.

We never did get up the chairlift this time as each day we were in Langkawi, rain ,and or low cloud had rendered a visit, a pointless exercise.

Trolling line out as there seemed to be a few different drop offs in depths that we were going to pass over.
Passed a rather nice looking 4 masted "Brittannia Blue" super yacht enroute.

Hooked a bit of tree on the troll - not exactly edible, but another catch to add to my appalling hunter gatherer record.

Suddenly realised that domestic duties were called for, as I had to put some tails on the Thai flag, so it could be attached suitably to the shroud.
This folks, is as domestic as it gets. This rare shot shows a study in concentration, with needle and thread- and no, its not actually still life!

Perpetual furling and unfuling of the jib persisted- well it breaks up the day, if nothing else.

The first closest and biggest island is Koh Tarutao. That is where were aiming for.
We anchored for the night off a huge rock outcrop near the old peir which was used for for prisoner transit, when the island was used a s a political prison back in 1938.It was selected apparently as it wasrelatively  remote and infested with crocodiles.Fair enough! As the water hadn't yet reached the sapphire blue hue  I was looking for, a shower would be just fine!

Most of the islands appear to be part of national park system.There are 52 islands included in this particular NP, the Hat Chao May NP.

Anticipated courses from  Tarutao to Phuket

Langkawi Tour -Take 3: October 2016

By the time the tube covers /no  tubes covers issue had been taken care of, cloud had descended over  the top of the cable car. No drama, we would continue around the island, and simply return when the cloud lifted.

A tour of Langkawi is not complete without a stop at Komplex Kraf Langkawi. I think they are beginning to wonder if I should be  on the payroll at the batik centre.Jas still turning out magnificent pieces of work.
Lynne also purchased one to take home!

Ascended Gunung Raya, the second highest of the two mountains on Langkawi, on the way home. The sign at the bottom indicates there is a viewing area at the top, but also warns about "unnecessary use of the road due to landslips". Deciding that to be able to see the view, obviously didn't constitute   an unnecessary use of the road, we went to have a look. From memory I think the twisting turning road was some 15 km long. The view  I'm  sure would have been spectacular, but it was shrouded 2/3rds of the way around , in the same cloud as the chairlift, by the time we reached the summit. We did however have a clear view to the South. Just no view to the north, of Thailand from here.

Next day again the chairlift was a no go, so we resupplied and stocked up on various beverages. As it turned out, only just in the nick of time.

The K'Gari wonder diet- all categories covered fruit and veg, chocolate, chippies , wine ,beer.Note the TONIC WATER

The two territories Labuan,and Langkawi, as well as the Tioman Islands, which I have yet to visit , were to lose their duty free status on the 1st of November.
I have since heard that the plethora of alcohol vendors have not been shut down, but each and everyone of them has two officials now located within the individual premises, taking passport details/id document details, and everyone is now limited to 5 litres of wines or spirits A MONTH!
Obviously its a "jobs and growth strategy".Our current  Prime Minister  must have sold the patent! It will in the not so very long run, backfire I suspect. The multitude of yachties passing through ,will not linger long, if goods and services no longer attract the duty free bonus.Not to mention the ferry loads of Malay  and Thai Nationals who travel to those locations on  a very, very regular basis. The ferry terminal will become much quieter now I suspect. Thailand will become even more attractive to yachties, despite the 7% sales tax,Thailand is far better geared to serving the sailing industry.

I was on the hunt for a cruising guide for Thailand, which details anchorages , approaches , good diving, snorkelling  sites, and other bits of incredibly useful information. Found a very obliging chandler, who was able to provide me with the information I was after, but alas was not able to sell me the book in question, as he was waiting for the 2016 edition and only had his single shopcopy of the previous edition. I thanked him for his absolute honesty in advising me to wait. If he had had  the new edition, I would have bought it from him.I did however leave, with enough information , in my 'photographic' memory to safely get me through the next anchorages, and beyond if necessary.

The next day it was still raining , so it being both Halloween and an auspicious occasion  for Lynne, we cancelled sailing for the day.Always put off until tomorrow whatever you can, when its raining!

We had in fact completed the formalities of checking  out of Langkawi and therefore Malaysia the day before , but in doing so I had given the date of departure as the 1st, just in case, the weather hadn't cleared.


The saloon was duly decorated for Halloween, as Lynne had come prepared , much to the intrigue of a couple of American, new to Seawind, owners , who came to visit.

 Dinner that night at Royal Langkawi Yacht Club in honour of the occasion. The cancelled sailing plan  also allowed another opportunity to make sure that K'Gari's draft was a little deeper than the day before, as it still wasn't the 1st of November!

The saga of the dinghy tube covers

Ever since I have had K'Gari- in fact even before she was mine, I wanted the dinghy to have canvas covers on the hypalon floatation  tubes.

Ian, who had been on board last January for the trip up the Klias River, had told me about them when I was still in the ordering stage. I had asked for them to be supplied, but either it was forgotten or not understood, despite my explanation.

The result being that for some 17 months the hypalon has been exposed to the ravages of the equatorial sun. Looking at how quickly the sail ties deteriorated and the originally supplied fender ropes, it's a pretty savage sun.

The first time I left to go home I covered the dinghy with an all encompassing light weight cover that came with it. The result was not brilliant, as I failed completely with my first attempt to support the cover, to prevent it becoming, as it quickly did that very first night - an inbuilt swimming pool!

before the rain

after the first shower -instant swimming pool

How it should be done.

https://youtu.be/YVa-H7lID_c

Things improved after adding a supporting span underneath the cover to allow it to shed the water.

 When I had been in Langkawi in June, I had  made  tentative arrangements to get the tube covers I was after, commissioned next time I was in the area. There had not been enough guaranteed time to get it done on the first occasion. Late October , early November, I was assured would be fine. The company which came with the best recommendation for the work was located in Telega Harbour. So that was our destination the next morning, when we departed "the Fjord".

Arriving and anchoring outside, went ashore for a coffee and some pastries for brekky, at a cafe located conveniently close near by my ultimate destination.

 Of course the boss man "not in" , when we arrived , but an offsider thought it might be possible, but no guarantee and the boss would call me back when he got back in to the office. Oh sure! Of course they would need the dinghy for a few days to do the job.....understandable. Originally I had been told they had a substitute dinghy, I could borrow, so no problems there. It still meant we could go anchor around the islands if we wanted to.

Next stop was the marina at Telega , which would be the most convenient place to stop, if the work could be done. "No room in the inn".

Next plan. Fuel up at Telega, find out if Royal Langkawi had room- they did. Shift to Royal Langkawi!

By the time we had fuelled up it was close to 4pm, so we decided to stay the night at anchor. No phone call, needless to say.

Next morning relocated to Royal Langkawi. Organised a car for three days.

Following day, set out on our circuit exploration of the island. The first destination being the cable car at Telega. A quick stop over to  see if the boss had in fact returned, confirmed that no the covers weren't going to be possible, as" they were really pretty busy, and rather than say yes and let me down"..........So that was taken care of.