Thailand

PATONG, Thailand. 07'53.5 N 098'17.1 E

It has been a busy around here lately with the result that I have not managed to send in updates. Well today is the day to at least get caught up a bit. Sorry no photos we'll try to get those up again shortly.

Our official check in to Thailand went smoothly. They have a one stop spot at the base of the pier in Ao Chalong. Port Captain, Immigration and Customs in one building made things quite easy and no fees. Here we also ran into old cruising friends from "Scot Free II" that we had not seen since crossing the Pacific in 2006. It was a short visit as they were preparing to depart for Sri Lanka.

Our friend Phil and his wife Nuch then took us on a bit of a driving tour to see the sights of the Ao Chalong area and then across the island to Patong where they live. This also gave us the opportunity to view the anchorage that we would soon be heading to. Patong is tourist central, the busiest beach area on Phuket island. The anchorage looked good being on the west side of Phuket it is wind protected during this the northeast monsoon season. There is a dock to secure your dinghy and a town that begs to be explored.

Saturday found us off again on a long journey of 5 miles. This brought us to the very southern end of Phuket island Nai Harn, a lovely three lobed bay with clear water. We joined 25 or so other boats at anchor in an area that could hold more than twice that. Once again we saw old friends. Mike and Kathleen from "Content" have been in this area for the last two years and were preparing to head off across the Indian ocean toward S. Africa. The bays beaches are backed with restaurants and hotels and crowed with visitors. We did not venture ashore on this stop but will on our return.

Now after a day and a half interruption. More old cruising friends, Giles and Maurine from "Phryne" contacted us and they're anchored about 100 yds. away. So off for a visit.

I'll just go ahead and post this and hope to do another update this afternoon.

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Thailand

AO CHALONG, Thailand. 07'49.1 N 098'21.7 E

We awoke to a mostly sunny day in Phi Phi Don. Being on a mooring always makes it easier to get underway. I need my coffee first. Then a check of systems, Miss Perky and we were off. Kathy just has her apple juice. Then once we're going I normally have breakfast duties.

Today the wind gods had it mostly correct. NNE at 8 knots put us almost on a beam reach to Ao Chalong our next stop and official check-in to Thailand. We had a nice sail most of the way till the wind died and we added some auxiliary power. We did also enjoy a nice BBQ en route.

Ao Chalong has several anchorages and our choice was close to the pier where tomorrow we could go complete the paperwork formalities. Our chart of the anchorage was not the best but as we approached we could see the other spots and where we need to go. Then sun then turned to rain and very limited visibility. So a pause to refresh, a short wait we could see again and the boat had a fresh water rinse.

There are lots of boats here and so it took a bit of time to locate our spot, then anchor down. We've now gotten things organized for tomorrow. Outboard on dink, fueled and ready. Kathy has all her paperwork done and lots of copies for the officials.

An old friend, Cowboy Phil, from "Blackies by the Sea" has lived here in Phuket for a number of years. WE have been in email contact for the last few weeks and tomorrow he is going to meet us for the check-in stuff and then show us around.

It will be nice to get the formalities done and have the freedom to move from spot to spot or stay where we please. So far the cruising guides have been accurate and the scenery grand. We're now looking forward to spending some time in these anchorages that we have seen in the photos.

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Thailand

PHI PHI DON, Thailand. 07'43.8N 098'46.2E

Another great day here in Thailand. We had a nice day though again the winds were not the most cooperative.

Once again we are on a mooring . If ones vacant you just pick it up and it's then your's from all we can tell. This is a very, very busy place! There are the local "longtail" boats either fishermen or taxi's zipping about. Large power speedboats doing the same, ferry's of all sorts and sizes moving tourists or goods around and then us sailboats either charterer or cruiser wanting to stop for the night.

We have not cleared into the country yet so we're not going ashore but will on our return here. The water is warm and clear. We are enjoying exotic Thailand so far.

Tomorrow it's off to Ao Chalong and then do our paperwork cha-cha.

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Thailand

KO ROK NOK, Thailand. 07'12.8 N 099'04.0 E

A long, 45 mile, day mostly under Miss Perky power. This is the season of the northeast monsoon. The wind should have on the starboard beam. No, special for us today wind from the northwest, our intended direction.

We are now anchored at a lovely spot Ko Rok Nok. We have finally found gin clear blue water and from what we can see so far some lovely areas of coral. There are a number of moorings here as it is another part of the marine preserve. Unfortunately they were full on our arrival. Back to the old anchor drill.

As it is so nice here we are undecided as to our plans for tomorrow. Continue on or stay and have a look around!

No fish again today, on our next passage we'll try a new lure.

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Thailand

KOH TARUTAO, Thailand. 06'41.9 N 099'38.4 E

We departed Talaga, Malaysia this morning about 0930 local time and had to motor while still in the lee of Langkawi island. We were soon able to stop Miss Perky our faithful auxiliary, roll out the genoa and enjoy the quiet of sailing. We had a distance of about 25 miles for today and were able to sail most of it until once again getting into the shadowing lee of Tarutao.

This is part of a Thai national marine preserve and they have installed 5 moorings first come first served. There is only one other boat here. If the moorings were full there is easily enough room for 25 or more boats to anchor.

Our passage to Phuket is only 120 miles but we don't have a planned arrival till Thursday! So nice to take things slow. As we are not checked into the country we are not supposed to go to land. We are looking at it as a reconnaissance trip looking at different spots that we will return to.

Only disappointment of the day was no fresh caught fish, but there's always tomorrow.

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Talaga

Today we begin the last of our paperwork shuffle here in Malaysia.
we will be checking out and off to new adventures in Thailand.


In this lifestyle we meet lots of new friends from many different countries. Sometimes we get to catch up with some old ones too. Langkawi offered that first with Phil whom we had known in the Marshall Islands but Christmas brought another surprise visitor. Jack Kimble and his partner Sandi arrived on a boat they were delivering from the Philippines to here in Malaysia. Jack and I went to Newport Harbor high school together and last saw each other in 1998 before Kathy and I started cruising. Jack and Sandi own a sister ship to ours and have been out enjoying this lifestyle since the mid 1970's. something we always look forward to in a new anchorage is making new and finding old friends.


As I said we will be off shortly, I'll try to continue posts via our onboard email but they will be without photos. Though the trip to Phuket, Thailand is only 120 miles there are lots of possible stops in between so it will take us several days. Once in Phuket we'll hopefully catch you up on photos.

More Langkawi

It was a short motor trip from the fijord to the anchorage off Kuah town. Once we had the hook firmly set we contacted our friend Phil and his partner Naylene who have lived here in Langkawi for the last six years. We met Phil while he was doing a short delivery of a boat from Australia to the Marshall islands and knowing that we would someday we would visit Malaysia made sure to get his address. They run a sunset charter business for tourists and spent a day driving us about and showing us the basics of Kuah Town.













I mentioned the sea eagles that we see everywhere, below is a rather large one taking off on it's evening fishing trip.















After a short time in town it was time to head out
to another anchorage area. here we did a bit of beach combing along with a complete cleaning of the boat bottom. just as you would mow your lawn.







It's quite amazing what sort of things you find along the beaches. Here I found a full and very cold one liter bottle of home brewed beer.
A few days later it was back to town where I managed to hook up with another old friend.

Langkawi Adventures

Well to all you readers of my feebile attempts to organize this blog, bare with me as I continue to attempt new and easier ways to publish posts. I think that perhaps some hands on help would work wonders, are there any volunteers out there? Whatever I did this time was definitely less time consuming to get the photos loaded but you'll just have to put up with my various methods until I manage to figure things out.

As we sailed to the island of Langkawi from Penang we were busy checking out our cruising guides to find an anchorage. We knew that we would be spending several weeks in the area and did not just want to be anchored off the town of Kuah or spend our time in one of the various marinas. To us marinas mean boat projects along with an added expense. Our choice for arrival was an area refered to as the fijord for it's likeness to those in other areas of the world.

Lankawi consists of something in the number of 120 islands of various sizes and this fijord is actually a narrow passage between two of there. There were several others anchored in these protected waters. We spent our first several days here. Days were spent relaxing enjoying the chattering of the monkeys in the mornings and watching the sea eagles gliding the air waves and catching their dinner from the waters

The sceanery is spectacular. The water a warm 85', though not the type of clarity that you would want for snorkeling.

To soon it was time to move on to Kuah town to do the paperwork formalities, restock provisions and visit with an old friend whom we met in the Marshall Island and make Langkawi his home.