Here we are now sitting on the hard in the Asian-Phuket dockyard right inside the Phuket Town fishing harbor. We had left Kuah on the last-but-one day visa-wise. If we had waited just one more day, we would have been able to pick up the DVD with our documentary including the English subtitles. We found out because "Auntie" from Sin Hwa Cold Storage phoned us while we were sailing. The whole trip we were reachable and it even works here in Thailand, albeit with roaming charges.
This was going to be a very different trip from before. Liping and I really like long peaceful ocean passages and as a rule we never use our two diesels except for going in and out of harbor. However, since Singapore this was not an option anymore. Simply too many ships, fishing boats, long tails, ferries and all kinds of other traffic. I had planned the route, so that we only had little hops of 25 to 35 miles to do each day. There was no wind at all, but there were an untold number of nets in our way. Almost every 100 meters we had to avoid one. You better have your eyes peeled for such an exercise and after a few hours things get pretty tiring. But all went well and on this trip we didn't even get done once.
The first night we had planned to anchor off Ko Lipe, where RARE EARTH-Henry's friends Tom & Emily have a little hippy beach resort. It was too deep to anchor and so we picked up one of the two yellow moorings there and went overboard. The water was very clear and the coral was spectacular. From light blue over turquoise green, orange and yellow there was a whole range of colors. Just beautiful. We decided to take it real easy and spend another day there. That was to be our modus operandi for the rest of the trip as well. The next day we visited Henry's friends while Henry tried to clear in. That didn't work out as the immigration official wasn't there and when Henry did another trip after lunchtime, he was told that he wouldn't be back for several days. The tourist season was clearly over and the place was more or less deserted. We enjoyed it very much and were surprised to hear from other sailors that they considered it one of the worst islands. I almost imagine that they got the names mixed up.
On we went to Ko Bulon, which was very nice as well. Here we anchored at the very tip of the island and were soon joined by a whole fleet of Thai fishing boats, who seemed to be gathering for a celebration or party. Most of them were rafted together, the music started playing, and we could hear a lot of laughter and excited talking while wafts of delicious cooking smells occasionally made our mouths water. I have to say, that Thailand is probably the best place for the yachtie as far as food is concerned. Not that I suddenly dislike the Chinese cuisine, but it is rather difficult to sail to Taiwan and comparatively easy to sail to Thailand. Aurora Ulani doesn't share our enthusiasm, though. The food is invariably spicy and sometimes it is so hot that tears roll out of my eyes like crazy. But very, very tasty!
Again we spent another day at the island and enjoyed the beach, especially Ulani. I had already cleaned the bottom and on the very first day I found out that the engine-repair which Henry had done in Kuah had not been successful. In seven hours the engine lost about 3 liters of oil. Just about as bad as before. When I told Henry, he was of the opinion that the aluminum-weld of the timing cover must have failed, because it was clearly too much oil for a regular leak. All that work, money, dirt and so on for nothing... Strangely enough, this didn't really bother me. I guess the surroundings counteracted and compensated the negative stuff.
The passage from Ko Bulon to Ko Rok Nok was the winner as far as fishing nets are concerned. Maybe it is not such a wise idea to zigzag between the outer and inner islands. We did that because with only one engine operational we didn't make much speed and we wanted to be anchored or moored in daytime. Next time, I will probably take the outer route exclusively. After anchoring I went over the side, as the coral were just as beautiful as in Ko Lipe. When I noticed that I could touch the coral heads with my flippers while swimming on the surface, I decided that DHARMA BUM III might get into trouble at low tide. So the anchor, nicely buried in sand, came up again. As we were unable to find a nice anchoring spot, we decided to look for a mooring at the neighboring island of Ko Rok Nai. Very nice again, a beautiful sandy beach just perfect for Aurora Ulani, peace and quiet, no tourists, fishing boats or anything else.
After dark I noticed another yacht coming in with very dim lights and only under outboard engine. She did a few circles and soon I found out that Tristan was a single-handed sailor from Glasgow without any electrical power and therefore no main engine. I put our dinghy back in the water to help him, but he had already managed by himself. He took off his battery-powered navigation lights and soon enough he sat on our boat drinking a very cold 1°C Coopers Stout homebrew. Tristan was impressed, both with the brew and with the temperature. <grin> (For emergencies like Tristan's I carry one red and one green blinking LED sea-light, which the fishermen use to mark their traps and nets. They are very visible and the two D-size batteries last for several months.)
The next day we spent mostly at the beach, of course only after Aurora's homeschooling requirements were satisfied. Right now she is 6 1/2 years old, has about eight Calvert School lessons to go and then should be ready for second grade. This has all worked out marvelously well. In fact, I have the impression that I often don't express myself correctly, because many people seem to think that we are having a bad time with all the work, worry, expenses and repairs. On the contrary! The last 4 1/2 years were the most interesting years of our lives and the main reason for that is that we met so many amazing people. It is true that living on a sailboat can sometimes get pretty frustrating and even downright scary. But it is far outweighed by all the positive aspects. It is kind of sad that many people never get over that first hump and give up disillusioned and sell their boat.
Some friends also have a problem with the amount of technical detail and drudgery in my writing. They'd prefer if I wrote a bit more upbeat and "show" the beautiful and romantic aspects of our lifestyle - just like director/producer Derek Goh did in his documentary about us. For the fellow sailor the technical and other detail is of vital importance, though. He doesn't really need to be told about beautiful sunsets or the size and amount of the fish caught. He knows all this. He wants to know which officials to avoid and which hardware store is to be recommended. He wants to know where he can best get potable water, where to hire a cheap motorcycle and how to go about a visa extension. Difficult to satisfy both kinds of readers, but I will try.
I got up even earlier than usual the next day and we were underway just after 6:00 am. The goal was Ko Phiphi and we didn't expect much, as it is an overdeveloped tourist destination. We had not bargained for the harbor being that crowded though, and were were glad that we got in so early. I could not imagine that the unoccupied moorings didn't belong to anyone and so didn't even try to pick one up anchored instead. Although I was not happy with the situation, it proved to be the right way to go as we saw several boats (almost all bareboat charter boats) get chased away from their moorings. Also, this was the only day where there was any wind, up to 30 knots exactly on the nose.
Ko Phiphi was the one island we were actually glad to leave. I let my two girls sleep as long as they wanted while I started the engine and picked up the anchor as soon as I could see what I was doing. The wind had died down over night, there weren't too many nets and the next stop would be our final one. We reached Chalong Bay just before lunchtime and pretty soon I put the dinghy in the water to get our bearings. Aurora & I visited two boats and later we got a Thai SIM-card, a few vegetables and the like. Clearing in had been no problem at all, no difficulties, no bribes and while we only got 60 days with a possible extension of another 30 days the boat got six months. Not too bad.
The next few days we were mostly dealing with various boatyards and slipways and the happy mood of the last ten days or so was threatening to evaporate. The costs were even higher than in New Zealand which we found pretty hard to swallow. There was a lot of bargaining to do, all by phone or eMail, back and forth again and again. Other yachties and friends gave us conflicting advice, just as everybody's requirements and monetary situation is different. One guy may think nothing of spending US$ 60,000 on the hard whereas another gets by with US$ 3,000 for the whole year. One boat is regularly waxed and polished, shining clean and all tidies up like ready for a boat show whereas another one is showing signs of hard use all over the place. And every boat reflects the character of the owner. Finally we settled on the yard that David Kopec from MEANDER had recommended to us. With 30+ years experience as a single-hander under his belt and pretty much on the same wavelength as Liping & me, we gave his thoughts a bit more weight.
Apart from the price the determining factor was Asian-Phuket's attitude. Ozzy picked us up in his car at Ao Chalong, drove us over there to show us the yard and was helpful all around. They promptly answered eMails and kept phoning us to see if they could come to an agreement with us. The yard is a commercial yard, all concrete and tracks, big fishing boats squeezed in tight with just a few yachts in the front. I had my reservations about that part, especially with a little girl on my hands.
As soon as we were out on the hard, we were given a key for the staff-washroom and Ozzy showed up with the first guys to make estimates. They were right on the ball and started to work right away. Although we only got hauled out four days ago and there was a weekend in between, the engines and sail-drives are being removed as I type this, the upholsterer and vinyl-man has taken his measurements, the fiberglass works are more or less finished and I am considering to have the whole boat repainted here. Sunday there was a barbecue in Ozzy's honor, organized by departing yachties and we were invited. One of them, Dirk Mayer, had invited us out on our very first day, and to a first class Thai restaurant, too. Last night Ozzy and his co-workers suddenly sent up Ulani with a cold beer for me in her hand, so what could I do but join the gang under our boat? So far, hauling out in this commercial yard (Asian Phuket Marine & Dockyard) has been a pretty good experience. We might even have a chance to make it until the end of the year, so that we can cross the Indian Ocean this coming year. Chagos, Mauritius, Madagascar and South Africa is our tentative route. I wanted to celebrate my half-hundredth birthday in Madagascar on 18 June, but now it looks as if it will be right here. I wonder who will show up for the party...
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