I’ll upload some pictures and my own update soon.  For the moment I have left Happy Ours and am backpacking Thailand.  I bussed to Bangkok from Phuket, spent a few nights then took a train to Chiang Mai where I am currently.  It’s been awesome, don’t worry I’ll actually blog about this inland tour as soon as I can.  From Chiang Mai I have rented another motorbike to drive a 600 too 900km Loop around the mountains in thins northern most region of Thailand.  Should take about 4 days to get back to Chiang Mai, then eventually train back to Bangkok and bus back to Phuket to hop back on a friend’s sailboat for a while.  Life is good here.  I can stay in a nice hotel, and eat very well and drink beer all for less than $15 a day.

NOW FOR PHILLS BLOG CONTINUED FROM THE LAST UPDATE

Friday, September 24, 2010

Early start as we really want to be on our way today. I must have fallen funny on my foot as I can’t bend my toes and am limping like a cripple.

We took the dinghy to shore, I threw out the stern anchor and pulled in the line, it was not tied on right and I didn’t check. Good start.

The guy at the warung who speaks some English – Toto, was woken and he helped us get what we needed – internet, ice, bread and beer. He tried to screw us on the beer big time but we were not falling for it and the price soon tumbled.

By 10am we were chugging out of this superb lagoon and through the nasty  breaking entrance and out in to the blue. After an hours motoring we got a sailable wind that lasted all day. The stormy squalls kicked in just before dark but we sailed them – abeit in the wrong direction (260) all night. Kirk tried to wire the last remaining autopilot controller I have but I think he got the wires wrong as it started smoking. That’s that then – definitely no autopilot.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Still sailing at dawn despite the fact that the weather files show almost no wind for the next week. Still sailing at 240 – 270 degrees. We need 320. And there is a current against us, Will we ever get to Thailand? Why did we come this route? Many of the other boats from Bali are already in Singapore and taking it easy. Nightmare.

Boring day making mostly due west. The afternoon wind shift (14.00h) gave us a Northerly course which lasted till the nightly storms came and gave us the usual scare – too much wind, shifting all over then rain and lightening. We have just the main up and we are, for once making our course. Both keeping our heads down waiting for the rain to stop.

A 4 or 5 hour motoring session and the wind came back, squally and wet and changeable. I had hand steered for three hours, I left Kirk to the sailing.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Still sailing and in the right direction.

Near noon with all the sail up we spotted wind travelling across the water. We left the sails as we thought it wouldn’t last more than 5 minutes at its leading edge. (Weather files show 2 knts out of the East) We bashed along at six and a half knts for an hour before reefing and furling and getting her back under control. It has just gone dark and the ‘blow’ (25 knots on a reach) is starting to show signs of calming. The barometer is rising and there is a clear patch in the sky ahead. The wind vane has steered well all day and we have held our course – NW (328). Probably our best days run since the first couple of days out of Bali. The sea has developed a nasty steep chop that is bashing us all over.

Monday, September 27, 2010

All our ice has melted, the water in the cooler forced the liner up and popped the cooler lid. We drank cold beers this lunchtime – because we could.

We have rigged a water collection system for next time it rains. It will probably stay dry from now on knowing our luck. And we untangled a reef line in the boom that has been making reefing the main difficult – we earned our beer!

We are sailing through a garbage patch, like someone took a whole rubbish barge and emptied it out here at sea. Indonesia has lots of plastic in its seas.

The wind died – welcome to the doldrums. After drifting and watching the early evening movie Kirk steered for hours and hours.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

I picked up the steering at 3am and like Kirk I watched movies to keep me awake. The sky has been clear and dawn was pretty nice. But it soon clouded over and the little wind I was worling with shifted to on the nose. Back to motoring. Chased down a whole bunch of fish boiling on the surface, birds wheeling above them. We had two squid lures out but caught nothing. Even though we were well positioned several times. Damn, damn, damn.

And we motored all day and all night. Through a cut and on to the outside of the islands and out into the ocean.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Windless. Motoring. Keep trying to sail

We crossed the equator at 13.20. We had a beer to celebrate and of course a drop for Neptune. Soon after, a great sailing wind blew up and dolphins frolicked around our bow. Another beer required. We are in the Northern hemisphere.

We are getting low on fresh water and are planning to stop at an anchorage tomorrow. But this is the best sailing wind we have had in a long time. I don’t want to waste a day of it. On the other hand a day is a long time in these fickle winds.

Thursday, September 30, 2010 (600 miles to Thailand)

I had great sailing till the end of my watch at two am. Kirk said that the winds were all over after that and rain squalls.

The dawn cut into Afulu lagoon was calm and straightforward.  We are anchored in 4 meters in a flat calm pond. It is still raining and we are experimenting with our water collection system.
We landed the dinghy on the beach and asked about water. No, they all shook their heads. We took our containers and walked up the new concrete road past all the sections that had been washed out by the ’05 tsunami. The village was thriving but there was little there for us. No large jugs of water, no diesel and no Internet. The market was in full swing so we bought a cabbage and half a dozen tomatoes. And a funnel (for water) with a filter ($2) at the corner shop. Rather fed up, we went back to the beach where we saw two large fishing boat crews pulling up water from a well – 50 meters from the dinghy. And right where we had asked for water. I think they thought we wanted bottled water – which we did, but we needed to know our options. We are filling a tank of water from the dodgy well, for tea, coffee and washing up. It’s already 13.30 and probably not worth setting off till dawn. The next nearest anchorage is 30 miles – can’t make it in daylight and I don’t want to waste another day.

We went in again later on the way in we spotted a well that was much better and cleaner than the one had used. And we found a guy who speaks a little English. He sold cold beer from his warung. He made a phone call and found us a diesel seller. We don’t have much money but enough for 40 or 50 liters. We will return in the morning for this. We both fell asleep to a movie and were snoring by 8 pm.

Friday, October 01, 2010

So we went into Afulu early having emptied all our fuel and water jugs in to the tanks on the boat. We managed to buy diesel and went back to our friend’s warung and spent our remaining $5 on bottled water. It’s been raining on and off so our rain catcher has got us some water in the S/B tank. It was a slog to carry the 60 liters of diesel from the town to the beach. And then go back to the good well for water, and haul it too, by hand. We prepared everything ready to go, it never stopped raining. 11am and we hauled anchor in a light south wind – but enough to sail. Next stop Thailand.

We have one more big island to pass. We have been debating the merits of the inner route (shorter, protected from swell, better motoring if the wind is light, trickier navigation.) verses the outer route (more chance of wind, more sea room if it kicks up, longer) though why we bother, I don’t know. The wind decided. We took the inner route.

It’s been one of those nights where you alter the sail every 15 minutes. The wind rises and you roll in the gib, or it dies off and it’s all out. And it is very shifty. With course changes all the time. Kirk had the watch till 3 am, I took it from there. Dirty weather out here.

Saturday, October 02, 2010

It has been raining and damp and squally all day. Winds up and down, here and there.  The highlight being that we actually caught a fish. The first of the whole trip, the first in 4 weeks! A dorada – great eating.

We asked Lapalapa to email Paul to give him an eta – the 7th.

Sunday, October 03, 2010

Rain, rain, rain. Everything is wet. Squalls all night. Calm this morning and I’m sat in the rain hand steering. It’s miserable. 370nm to Thailand.

The day started to look brighter and a SW wind set in though we are still plagued by squalls. Most don’t seem to have a lot of bite.

At 9.15, my watch, a screamer hit. It was all calm and pitch black and I was thinking of putting out a little more sail when bam, 40 knots. I called for Kirk to help and hand steered – this was probably the big mistake. I jibed and the main sail ripped right down a seam. The rain was torrential for about 5 minutes. Then all calm again. Damn.

We are sailing on the gib – no choice. But holding a good course. I’m sick of this.

Monday, October 04, 2010

My dawn watch started wet and miserable – hand steering but soon turned better. The swells were huge and this knocked the sails all over for a while. In a rare turn of events the wind went behind us, the current was with us and the swells calmed and also were behind us. We made an easy 6-8 knots towards the northern tip of Sumatra. There are a bunch of islands to navigate with the associated currents and strange wind effects and a wreck in the channel but it all went smoothly. Many local fishing boats of a different style were fishing the channel. Another one waving and looking for a ride. I was closest but didn’t want to get involved after last time. Another local boat took him under tow. The wind died in the lee of the island, giving the engine a break we took a swim to cool off. I dug out my spare main sail. It fits though it is a little small. But very usable.

We laid a course for Thailand, this is a major shipping channel and at any one time we can count 15 ships. One of them came very close, he did not change course even though he had his spotlight on us. At 400 meters off and closing I gibed around but there was almost no wind (going down wind) and I floundered around as he passed us with 200 meters to spare. My right of way – ass-hole. Or is it the biggest vessel has right of way? Lightening all around after dark – some rain. But sailing again.

October 05, 2010

Lighter wind today but the sun shone for most of the day – forgotten what that was like and burned my nose.

Dirty clouds hanging around at dusk. Motoring towards them. The storm brought a plague of dragon flies, we had them in the cabin and all around our running lights, eventually we had to turn off all the lights and I was spraying them with bug killer and throwing them in the sea.

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

The rain and shittyness lasted all night and for most of it we hand steered and motored. Around dawn the wind switched and sailing was possible again 50 miles to go and we need a 5 knt average to make the anchorage before dark.

For a while the sailing was great but the wind started to fail. We cranked the motor and pushed on. Phuket appeared on the horizon. The sun dipped behind it as we entered Ao Chalong harbour we scouted for a mooring. After a while looking, the light was failing and we saw a perfect spot to anchor. The holding seems to be very good. A quick shower and finding the only clean clothes I have left we were heading towards the lights on shore, unsure of where to go but really needing to get off the boat. Kirk spotted Shayler one of our radio friends. Michael had no beer but I used his phone to call Paul, we had a wrong number (taken over the ssb and relayed by Roger – Lapalapa). I tried different combinations but nothing worked. We went to shore guided by Michael pulling the dinghy up high on a concrete ramp in front of a bar.

A couple of Singha beers later and I was starting to feel better. We strolled the town. Chalong is much bigger than I thought there is a whole strip of girlie bars and we drank in several of them, Michael loaned us some cash as Kirk’s card was eaten by an ATM machine. We found food at the market, it was Thai hot and Michael and Kirk could not eat it. Well; I hate to see food go to waste, I scarfed all three – really hot. The lady who served us brought them some extra food that was not hot. I soon began to wilt but Kirk was just getting into his stride. I need sleep. After several more beers we headed back.  I was comatose seconds after hitting the pillow.

Monday, 11 October, 2010

I found Paul the next day and we quaffed a decent amount of Singha beer as we caught up on all his news and family events. I slept on the balcony of his hotel. Great breakfast. Which got progressively worse as the holiday went on.

There is a new dive shop opening and they had a free beer and food day (my kind of price) with raffle give a ways – we were too late for the raffle but the food was good.

I have a rented motorbike which I can ride over to Paul’s hotel about twelve miles away, he tried a hotel in this town but it wasn’t up to his standards and by comparison to Patong, Chalong is very quiet. Paul needs to be where it’s all happening – but much more expensive. Paul had paid for two days here so Kirk made use of the spare and free room and breakfast. Paul’s ripping through money – I’m trying to hold on to what little I have. He is buying me an awful lot of beer and food though.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

A lot has happened in the last week, the major event was my boat dragging through the fleet and smacking boats randomly as she went. I was drinking in Patong with Paul when Michael (Sheyla) called me. By this time the boat had been adrift for 3 hours.  I hopped on my bike and set off for Chalong. Foolishly I decided to take a short cut. This delayed me by about 40 minutes as I got hopelessly lost down dead end roads before turning back and going the way I knew. Because of the ‘shortcut’ I was now low on fuel. I’ll chance it. I drove fast and recklessly along the dark and wet, windy roads. At the ramp I hopped off and was pumping up the dinghy when Kirk arrived – he’d just heard – from one of the bar girls who watches our dinghy and she stopped him on his motorbike!  We got back as fast as we could. The starboard solar panel was smashed and hanging off by the wire, (Alex – Full Steam, had saved that) the toe rail was dented, and a stanchion bent – we had hit something hard. That seems to be all the damage, but who have we hit and what damage to them? As we looked this over she started to drag again. She was 5 meters from hitting another boat.  We had the engine running and re-anchored. It was unsuccessful and we drove through the boats in the driving rain looking for a better spot. We found a mooring free and took it before we relaxed a little and even then it was a jumpy night rising every time the wind piped up. Damn boats!

The next day I talked to the boat that we had hit. He has very little damage, some woodwork cut up. I apologized and told him not to worry about it. But he has been round since asking (Kirk) what I am going to do about it. I don’t know. I’ll go see him again.

The next morning the bike would not start – totally out of fuel – that was pushing my luck a bit – I walked it to the rental place and scrounged some petrol off him.

After this mess and looking at the weather for the coming week (more of the same) we took a mooring for $5 a day from Brent at the cruising yacht club. In a rather paranoid fashion we have 3 lines on it. The weather has been squally, rainy and generally horrible. I have spent my time between here and Patong with Paul. Paul likes to drink – I struggle to keep up.
Paul has been pretty cool all week buying me lots of food and drink. I tend to eat at food stall on the street ($1 a plate full) – not restaurants and we drink beers from the minimart (all us cruisers do – they have tables outside and a big beer is a dollar) not bars that charge 4 or 5 times as much.

After I left Paul yesterday afternoon in Patong – he had some shopping to do I got back to the boat and slept till early morning.  I cleaned the boat then something disagreed with me as I have been puking and shitting and sleeping all day long. Maybe it’s a reaction to not going out partying with Paul? No, I’m sure it’s either the water or something I have eaten.

Monday, October 18, 2010

The wind is down for the first day in a long time and the sun is out. I still feel rough but I started to fit the solar panel back on the transom. The guy rowed by from the boat I hit and I said I’d go and see him later. While he was away from his boat I took Kirk over there for a good look at the damage. The boat is a piece of shit and we doubted that he really wants it repairing – so how much?

I did some more sleeping. Later we finished the solar panel and then I went to see the guy – Ray (Dutch) about the damage. He starts pointing out every little scrape and chip. I cut the chase – How much? After a bit of back and forth I gave him about $100. (3000bt).

Kirk went for supplies – I waited at the yacht club but had forgotten my reading glasses and ended up trying to write emails using a magnifying glass. I drank a beer but it really tasted bad in my mouth. I sipped it for over an hour as I didn’t want to waste it.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Feeling much better though Kirk is being laid low.

We manhandled my mainsail to shore and took it to the Rolly Tasker sail loft in Phuket town. It is the largest purpose built sail loft in the world. (there are two larger ones in the states but are housed in old aircraft hangers) We arrived at lunchtime and there were lots of Thai girls outside buying their lunch from the many mobile snack vendors, they were all wearing funny little slippers and socks. The place is very impressive, it stocks all kinds of bits and pieces in huge quantities. There are 50 sewing machines set up, a huge spreading area, and some enormous machines for pressing in the fittings, downstairs is the rigging department – we didn’t go there but I bet it is just as well stocked. I spread my sail out whilst an Englishman who appeared to be the manager inspected it. ‘You need a new sail’. After measuring it he came up with $3000. He must have known I was poor just asking to repair this sail. But the repair would be $750. Throwing good money after bad.

‘If you don’t mind a black sail I could do it for $2000’
But that is still way over my budget.

We discussed how we could repair it with a bit of sailcloth and contact adhesive – Michael swears by it.

‘I’ve got one here we made in the wrong color (cream) for a customer – it is a similar size – $975’
We laid it over the top of mine. It really is quite close. A brand new sail – like a dream. We measured and talked about how we might make it fit. The foot (the bottom of the sail) is about 6 inches longer than mine and it hinges on whether the boom is long enough. I have a short boom for a big(ish) boat.
In the sail-loft we also our old friends from Sumatra; Damiano and Noi, his Thai lady crew, They also had a shitty sail and some sail damage.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

I measured the boom for best fit on the new sail. It will just go but will not allow any room for stretch. Also Kirk checked prices online. We found a start price of $2000 and many 2nd hand sails in the states for 300 to 800 price range. I checked my dwindling reserves. I simply can’t afford it. I’ll have to patch up the one I have.

The dinghy is becoming a joke. It leaks water and air and now the motor is playing up again. I removed the carb and cleaned it. Then we filtered and changed all the fuel cleaning out the fuel tank. I put some duct tape over where the water is coming in and slowed it down. All seems better. K has gone to the marina with Michael. It’s low tide and impossible to go in so I’m stranded. I cleaned the rust stains off the side of the boat.

We sat in the cockpit and watched a movie, I had a few beers, Kirk’s still on just water. Still rough.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

The motorbike is due back today, Kirk has took a ride in with Michael from Shayler. Brent – from ‘the cruising yacht club’ (a small bar manned by a selection of girlfriends of (western) friends) has had us move to a mooring much further out. It’s another quarter of a mile from where we were – and that was far enough out. This is just nuts. I don’t think it’s worth paying for; we can find a spot to anchor out here and put lots of chain out. Or maybe it’s time to move on from here and go somewhere new. There are not too many all weather anchorages and a lot of the places we want to go are only tenable in the NE monsoon season which will arrive sometime in the next month or so.

Kirk bought a 20 liter jug of drinking water then made it undrinkable by putting bleach in it.
I’m having a go at fixing the water leak in the dinghy.

Friday, October 22, 2010

It seems the dinghy repair was fairly successful, it now barely leaks water at all. And it’s running good. Just the air leaks to go at.

Kirk bought 3 long bamboo poles, 400 feet of line (quite why so much? Just a large, cheap roll, I think) of polypropylene rope and a good quality tarp – we are set to make us a decent sun shade. Several hours later and it was up and looking good but the first bit of wind ripped one of the loops clean out of it. We took it down to return to the shop and are re-thinking our rig.

Kirk went to party with Michael. I went in to swap the tarp. Somehow I got on the wrong road and walked for about 3 miles before I realized it. I did see loads of interesting stuff though. Some sealant called Pu Sealer, a shop that sells birds, one for model aircraft, a hundred 7/11’s, sewing shops, 2 boat chandlers, and wood stores.

I eventually took a short cut which unusually for me worked and ended up where I wanted to be. I also met a German girl in a book store, Anna, we were both looking for a Thai – English phrase book and got chatting, she was a dive master and may be looking for a boat to charter. You just never know. I sent her an e-mail. I talked to another couple who may have some sails for sale. And ate well. Called my mum, ate some more. Back on the boat not late. Kirk and Michael still drinking. I was invited – but – I don’t think so.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Bloody hot today.

We got supplies for a few days trip. We are planning to go to Koh Racha but looking at the wind and the charts we would be better heading towards Krabi. All we really need is beer and ice and some snacks.

Nana and Coy from the dinghy ramp bar miss-pronounced my name – Tulip. Kirk thinks this is hilarious. I actually don’t mind it at all. It’s rather sweet.

Lee sails in Hong Kong gave me a quote of 1250 dollars plus postage for a new main. Still can’t afford it, but it pays to shop around.

I called Brent who was in Phi Phi and he let me off with the bargain price of 700bt (he knows we are poor) for the mooring – it should have been about 1200bt. Nice fella. Diamond geezer and all that.

Sunday.

We did our last minute shopping as the town was waking up and by 10 am had slipped the lines and were on our way to the islands. The wind off the rear quarter she sailed well. There are two small rips in the leach of the genoa too. At three we sailed into the bay on the south side of Ko kao Yai. We dropped the anchor in 3 meters and we gave the bottom a good scrub and scraped of the barnacles. That should help.

We did not bother to go ashore in the bay as there did not look too much there – a small village – Muslim – no bars.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Up and at it early after a good and peaceful night. The predicted (USGrib) wind did not occur and we are motoring to Reilay beach.

Maybe my expectations were too high, or maybe it’s true that you should never go back. Reilay beach has changed. The bungalows we used to stay in and were the backbone of a thriving climbing community have been erased and are now part of the massively expanded Ravadaiee resort. All ‘private’ and ‘keep out’ and security men. The sandy tracks that link the beaches are paved and there is a visitor center and little maps saying ‘you are here’ everywhere. There’s toilets next to the beach for 10 bt. A boat to Krabi is 150 bt. Everything is geared towards milking the tourists. We mooched around and watched some people take climbing lessons. There is expansion to the East and up the hill. A slightly cheaper area where we ate and drank. I lost my sunglasses. We tried to find them but they are gone. Our anchorage is at low tide and had to wait before there was enough water to float the dingy.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

It’s low tide and we are but a stones throw to the muddy flats. We are still in plenty of water but it must shallow up fast, it looks really close.
We had tea then lifted anchor and motored around the corner to Reilay beach, we’d planned to go further but it looks pretty good here and there are some climbers and cheaper looking accommodation and restaurants ashore. Kirk’s cleaning out the through hulls with a screw driver. Fine fellow!

Ashore it was much more like the old climbing area I remember, though the scale of development is breathtaking. Where once there were just some hippies living in tree houses there are now resort style developments, bars and supermarkets, ATM’s, travel agents, internet cafes, none of these are visible from the water.

We strolled and watched the climbers, we drank a couple of supermarket beers and ate a cheap dinner. The wind had turned south and a chop was developing out where we were anchored. It was time to beat a retreat back to our original anchorage around the corner. I managed to overheat the engine on the way in – a mix up on who shuts down the water intake and battery. We anchored too close – again! Then it rained like hell. Going in tonight? Maybe.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

We were all set to leave to go to Koh  Phi Phi but when we started the engine smoke was pouring out. After a little probing it became clear that running the engine yesterday without the water on had burned out the plastic exhaust silencer. (Vitus waterlock LP50)There’s a hole in it. Once it was removed I ‘hot knifed’ it closed then we melted 7up bottles and ran the molten plastic all over the outside of the repair. This took hours and was very messy. And it still leaked – but not much. I removed it again and we poured resin inside the exhaust and then later on the outside and reinforced it with fiberglass sheeting. I haven’t tested it yet as it will be better to let it harden over night. We started on the tarp again but  the rain came and has been with us all afternoon. One of the rear port lights has broken – fortunately I had a spare. There is also a small diesel leak but I could not locate it.

It rained on and the tide was low making the dinghy landing difficult – we watched a movie and slept early.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Quite a few other sailboats around today, we sailed out of the bay at seven heading for the bright lights of Koh Phi Phi. On the way over we caught a beautiful Wahoo. The best fish there is.
Phi phi is really nice, the whole tourist area is compact and the water is clean. We went ashore and got hammered drinking beers from the supermarket and talking with the massage girls. We were giving them tips on how to attract more people in to their massage parlors. They all shout ‘helloooooo, welcome’ or ‘where you go?’ or ‘hey sexy man’ Our idea was to shout ‘oi you! no massage for you, you’re too ugly’ it worked. Make em laugh and you are half way there.

We staggered around beach bars that give away free buckets of booze. We got so hammered that on an island 200 meters across we got lost three times whilst trying to get back to the boat. Strangely both myself and Kirk thought we would do better to find it alone. I got to the dinghy then of course there’s no Kirk. I went back to the boat and got my phone to call him. He was all set to sleep on the beach but then it really rained.

Friday.

We were hung over all day and did nothing but sleep and read, the last of the wahoo gave us both the runs.

Brent from the cruising yacht club came in with his fishing boat just after dark and took a mooring next to us, he’s off to salvage some parts off a 50 foot catamaran that went down on Phi Phi Lei. He warned us of a big blow due in 3 days. 50 knots.

It was dark when we finally made it to shore, we were intent on a few quiet ones and watching the muay Thai (Thai boxing). It was crap – either foreigners fighting each other, or girls – who can’t fight or the Thais displayed some silly staged fight, more akin to WWF wrestling (or the keystone cops) with the trainers joining in and chairs being thrown and the boxers fell out of the ring.  Got back late after getting more free drinks on the beach.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Fixed the toilet as it has started to leak, have to do this every 6 months or so. And there is a small diesel leak to do next.

We waited till three before setting off for Phi Phi Le. It’s only four miles and we left it till late to allow the dive boats and tourist charters time to go back to the big island. We timed it well as a big dive boat just pushed off its mooring as we arrived. I really didn’t want to anchor in 20 meters so this was a huge boon. This place is really beautiful and the water very clear. Lots of fish around the boat.

I spoke to the booze cruise guy, Bob a Canadian. He might be able to put some charter work my way.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

We dinghied to the beach this morning. “The Beach” where the Leonardo Di Caprio (Alex Garland’s) The Beach was filmed. It was cool and quiet at this early hour. I wandered around – there’s not much there, a toilet, a snack store and a government building with a big generator to spoil the tranquility. I strolled through the sandy tracks which had already been swept and the litter picked up. At the far South end is Maya bay – just another bay as far as I could see; with a set of steps to save you having to climb up and down the view point. There was an admission charge for all this; 400 bt! That’s about eight quid ($12). Luckily there was no-one there to collect.

Before all the charter boats arrived we dropped the lines and sailed out of this spectacular island bay. Its overcast and a good wind. 26 miles back to Ao Chalong where we picked up our old mooring.

We went in for food and weather. The blow does not look like it will be too severe. But I’m glad to have the mooring all the same. Michael was at the bar and we played a few games of pool. I’ve left him and Kirk drinking. And it’s nice to be alone on my boat – just for a short while. Kirk’s planning a trip to Bangkok soon.

Filed under: sailing

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