23 December 2015 Ao Chalong to Nai Harn Bay, Phuket
With nothing else to do in Ao Chalong, we motored back to Nai Harn Bay and spent the rest of the day pottering about on-board.
Glenys was in the galley for most of the afternoon cooking some presents for “Laragh” and “Peggy West”. She’s made ginger syrup and a jar of freshly prepared Indian spices to make a Beef Vindaloo curry. The smells wafting about the boat were tantalising.
I chatted to Mike and Rosi on “Shakti” who are having their teak deck replaced. They've had quotes from the two companies that I have already been in contact with and they've already booked into have the work done in January and February. My original plan was to get the work done later next year in October/November, but Mike says that the weather will be too wet then and I’d be better off getting the work done before April, while it’s dry.
This would disrupt our plans to go sailing for the next four months, so I’m unsure what to do now. Unfortunately, the Christmas holiday is going to prevent us from getting quotes next week, so I’m frustrated that I’ll have to wait until the 4th January before I can get quotes and plan properly.
We had a quiet night in and watched “Love Actually”, which has to be the best Christmas movie ever.
24 December 2015 Nai Harn Bay, Phuket
Our morning was spent on a few chores, tidying up, preparing for Christmas.
In the afternoon, we went for a snorkel. This time we tried the north shore of the bay, but again it was very rocky with nothing much to see apart from one small Sky Blue Phyllidia. We gave up after twenty minutes and went back to the east side of the small island in the bay, which was a little better.
25 December 2015 Nai Harn Bay, Phuket
We had a late start to the day, scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast and then the ritual of opening Christmas presents. For my 500 Bhat, I’d managed to buy Glenys a pair of earrings, a bamboo fan, a small handbag and a Toblerone.
Glenys bought me a packet of dried Durian, which the Malaysians rave about, but we've never tasted. She also bought me a CD and a small bottle of liquid. Both labels were written in the incomprehensible Thai Script, so she had no idea what they were, but she was hoping that it was Thai music and some kind of Thai alcohol.
At midday, we went over to “Laragh”, where we joined up with Roy, Irene and Amanda from “Peggy West”. Dave and Katrina kept us supplied with alcohol while we chatted, played Christmas songs and ate a starter of prawns.
After four hours, we all went over to “Alba” where we tucked into Calypso Pork and various vegetables dishes. We opened a few more presents and played my Thai CD, which was commercial pop rubbish. The mystery bottle of Thai liquid turned out to be some kind of Araq, so that quickly disappeared.
A few bottles of wine later, we poured ourselves in to our dinghies and went to “Peggy West” for cake, biscuits and more drinking. At ten o’clock, Glenys and I left them to it and sloped off to bed. It was a great Christmas day.
26 December 2015 Nai Harn Bay, Phuket
After drinking and eating for ten hours yesterday, we both felt surprisingly chipper. It was a lovely day, with the sun shining and a cooling 15-20 knot wind from the north east, so we didn't get off the boat all day and just relaxed - reading, sleeping and playing a bit of music.
27 December 2015 Nai Harn Bay, Phuket
We had another day doing our own thing on the boat. Glenys pottered about reading and playing her ukulele while I spent five hours grinding through our finances and submitting our tax returns - it seems to be my annual Christmas chore. The good news is that the Inland Revenue owes us £80, so I'm a bit happier now because I've just earned £16/hour...
28 December 2015 Nai Harn Bay to Ao Chalong East, Phuket
We left early to try to get to Ao Chalong before the wind picked up too much. We were partially successful, but it was blowing over 20 knots in the anchorage when we arrived, creating two foot waves. It’s a horrible anchorage.
Having pulled the dinghy up onto the floating dock, we walked up to Nina’s Cars and hired a scooter for the day - 300 Baht (£6) including insurance. Using our iPad, we managed to work our way into the edge of Phuket town and find the main Immigration office.
In January, we’re flying out of Thailand to visit Myanmar. Thailand has a strange law stating that all members of crew who leave the country must place a bond of 20,000 Baht (£400) with Immigration to make sure that the crew actually leave the country before the end of the 30 day visa. This bond is allegedly given back to us when we prove that we've left the country and returned, but just in case, when we cleared in, I listed Glenys as a passenger and me as crew, so that we only have to post one bond.
The process was very simple with a special office to handle boat immigration, so we were on our way after only 30 minutes. We drove to Boat Lagoon, hoping to see some suppliers to get quotes for the teak deck, but everyone is on holiday until the 4th January. Thailand is 90% Buddhist, so I was hoping that people would be working - no chance. We chatted to the marina office and were given a price list for hauling out, which is more expensive than New Zealand - 40,000 Baht (£800) to haul and pressure wash; plus 26,200 Baht (£520) per month while on the hard.
It will take about 8 weeks to get the teak deck replaced and we don’t want to live on the boat on the hard for that length of time, so we’re going to have to rent a small apartment for a couple of months. Conveniently, there’s a hotel in the Boat Lagoon Complex which rents small apartments with a bathroom and kitchen for about £700 per month. So, just to haul out and be on the hard for two months will cost us a staggering £3,200.
We had lunch at a local eating place just outside the Boat Lagoon complex and bumped into Roger and Lucie from “Catamini” who we haven’t seen for three months or so.
On the way back to Ao Chalong, we stopped off at the Bangkok Hospital to see what services they provide. We ought to have a general check-up and want to see a dermatologist about a couple patches of sun-damaged skin that have appeared over the last couple of years. This very modern hospital provides everything from cancer treatment to cosmetic surgery, so we went through a tedious registration process and will now be able to book appointments on-line.
We called in at Rolley Tasker sailmakers and chatted to their rigger about the cost of lifting the mast and a few other jobs. The sail loft is the largest open space that I’ve seen for a long time - like a hanger for a 747 jet. The rigger was French and very helpful, but again they charge first-world country prices - £40 per hour.
We dropped off the scooter and picked up some provisions, then lugged it all back to the boat. The anchorage was very rough and I was thankful that we have a sea-worthy dinghy with a 15hp engine as we bashed our way into the wind and waves. As soon as we’d loaded the shopping onto Alba, we upped anchor and headed off to a more protected anchorage on the east side of the huge bay.
The water is very shallow in Ao Chalong Bay with a maximum of 10 metres and some very shallow banks marked on the charts. We avoided the reef to the north of the main anchorage and steered a course in water that was over 5 metres deep. All was going well, I glanced at the depth gauge which was showing 9 metres, put the autopilot on and turned to say something to Glenys, when we gracefully ground to a halt.
The depth gauge showed 1.8 metres and we draw 2.0 metres. Bugger! I jumped behind the wheel and put the engine in reverse and we slowly slid off the sand bank, stirring up clouds of bright sand in the murky water.
Our expensive Navionics charts show that we should have been in water over 5 metres deep - bloody rubbish. The free CM93 charts that we use on our laptop, show a shallow spot just where we found it (07°49.01N 098°21.95E), but I never looked at it until after the event. We were lucky that it was just a sand bank because we were doing 5 knots at the time of impact and a coral reef would have been bad news.
Ten minutes later, we anchored in the east anchorage at 07°49.06N 098 22.77E in 6 metres of water. The anchorage is pleasant and sheltered from the prevailing east winds, but the swell still hooks around the corner and sets the boat rocking a little. However, it’s much, much better than the main anchorage.
29 December 2015 Ao Chalong East to Ko Phanak, Phuket
The wind was light in the anchorage, so we left just before nine o’clock to head north. Almost as soon as we left the anchorage, the wind picked up to 20 knots from WNW - dead against us, but fortunately, I’d already put a heavy reef in the main. The tide was with us at 1-2 knots, so there were steep waves around the headland. Glenys was not a happy bunny as we bashed and crashed about, taking big waves across the foredeck.
After 30 minutes, it didn’t seem to be getting any better, but I persuaded Glenys to carry on and we kept plugging away, heading east for another 15 minutes until we were clear of the headland enough to tack onto a NNE course. This was marginally better, but we had to motor-sailed hard on the wind for another 90 minutes, with the occasional 30 knot gust, so it was very unpleasant.
Eventually, we gained enough easting to get some protection from a long island called Ko Yao Yai and could ease the sheets to head more north. We sailed for an hour, by which time the wind had dropped to 10 knots and half an hour later, it dropped so much that we had to motor again.
By mid-afternoon, we were anchored underneath the impressive cliffs of a small island called Ko Phanak at 08°10.46N 098°29.20E. “Spruce” were the only other boat in the anchorage.
Andy and Sue came over and we decided to have a little excursion to the nearby “Hong”, which means “room” in Thai. The islands in this area consist of very steep sided limestone pinnacles, which are hundreds of feet high. Over time, the limestone is eroded by the sea and rain, forming caves deep inside the islands. Occasionally, the cave gets so large that the roof collapses and a hidden lagoon is formed in the middle of the island.
We took our dinghies to the entrance to the cave, which is about 1 mile to the north of our anchorage. We had no trouble finding it because it’s a popular tourist destination and there were several big tourist boats anchored outside the cave with scores of inflatable kayaks ferrying tourists into the cave.
We left our dinghy at anchor outside the cave and all four of us paddled in “Spruce’s” dinghy, fighting a surprisingly strong outflowing current. The entrance cave is very striking being over 50 metres long and is home to thousands of bats, which can be seen clinging to the ceiling. Powerful torches are a necessity. We’d timed our entrance to be on a falling tide, two hours before low water, at a height of 1.8 metres, which was just about perfect. By the time that we arrived at the end of the tunnel, the water had fallen just enough for us to pull ourselves along the roof of the cave to get the dinghy through a two foot high gap into the inner lagoon.
The Hong itself is very spectacular. It’s actually two hidden lagoons, each about 100 metres in diameter with very steep sided cliffs and the only way in is through the cave. Even with scores of tourist canoes paddling about, it was a peaceful place.
After 30 minutes of exploring, the water in the lagoon was getting very shallow (1 foot deep in places) and we still had a slight outgoing current when we left. If we’d have left it any later, we might have struggled to get past a sharp rock just at the outer entrance to the cave. It was a fun little outing.
30 December 2015 Ko Phanak, Phuket
We had a quiet day, while I did some administration. I’ve booked us into Ao Po Marina for a couple of days next week, so that I can get quotations for the teak deck. I contacted three suppliers and have booked appointments for them to come and give me a quote.
We spent the afternoon, reading and generally lounging about watching the tourist boats go by.
31 December 2015 Ko Phanak to Ko Hong, Phuket
After breakfast, we motored around to Ko Hong, it’s only 3 miles, but the water is very murky with shallow sand banks dotted around the area. After our little problem with the sand bank in Ao Chalong Bay, we were slightly nervous about the accuracy of the charts, so we went slowly, but we didn’t see anything less than 5 metres depth. We anchored off the south side of Ko Hong at 08°13.12N 098°30.12E, in 6 metres of water - it seemed to be good holding in mud.
Ko Hong is an impressive island, with steep sided cliffs, which are streaked with red, presumably caused by iron in the rock. We chilled out for most of the day, watching the day-trip operators. There were dozens of boats arriving, loaded up with scores of punters - I would think that a thousand tourists visited during the day.
It’s a slick operation. As soon as each boat anchors, dozens of tour guides in inflatable kayaks, flock around the back of the boat. The tourists are loaded on to the kayaks and taken for a 30 minute paddle around the Hong. Once the day-trippers are loaded back aboard, the boat is off to another place - I would guess a one hour turn-around.
By four o’clock, the tourists started to thin out, so we picked up Andy and Sue from “Spruce” and dinghied over to a boat that is permanently moored here. We were able to rent two inflatable double kayaks for 400 Baht (£8) and went off to have a look around. The island is actually split into four smaller islands with channels running between the high cliffs and a big lagoon in the middle - it’s beautiful.
We spotted some guides coming out of a cave to the north of the lagoon and went in. The cave is fairly short with no need for head torches and, at the end, we squeezed through a gap into another collapsed cave. We timed it well and there were no other kayaks in there, so it was peaceful. We even spotted a couple of Great Hornbills.
We exited the big lagoon through a tunnel to the west and decided to make a circumnavigation of the whole island, which turned out to be a mile of paddling. The inflatable kayaks were not the most sea-worthy vessels and we encountered a head wind for most of the trip. The worst bit was coming down the east side of the island where we had wind against us and the tide with us, so we had nasty waves. It was nearly an epic…
Andy and Sue came over for dinner. We had a great time playing music after dinner and saw the New Year in, downing copious amounts of wine.
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