The Last Days in Thailand

Leaving Krabi late in the morning for the high tide, we arrived at the popular island of Phi Phi Don. We dinghied ashore as the sun sank and found our way to the LP recommended (our pick) Ciao Bella – “be prepared to feel romantic”. This could have been possible had a veritable swarm of mosquitoes not decided that Kathy’s head was now home. I leapt from my dining chair at regular intervals clapping my hands above Kathy’s head, until a young American who clearly felt my clapping was not in his best romantic interests, approached with some insect repellent and begged us to use it all. Later we walked the streets past endless massage parlours, pizza bars, bars, dive shops and tour booking booths. It was not our scene. In 2004 many people had been killed here by the tsunami and all the buildings had been demolished – a latter day Sodom and Gomorrah.
Bright and early we were on our way to the smaller Phi Phi Leh island, famously used in the recent “The Beach” movie. We were not early enough. We did manage to pick up a mooring buoy and snorkelled in clear water before the hordes arrived. At some times during the day it was not possible to see the beach, so packed was it with speedboats, longtails and people. We walked across the island later, after the majority had left and it was an idyllic place. Too soon it will be destroyed by the number of people visiting. Our journey continued to Ao Chalong, where we cleared Customs, Immigration and the Harbour Master. They charged about £6! Lunch eaten, shopping done and farewells said, we motored for five miles to Ko Hi. As we had 55 miles to cover the next day we felt this was a prudent precaution to reduce the chance of arriving in the dark the next day. Unfortunately the wind and swell came up from the south and we had a very uncomfortable night.
We anchored at 5 pm between Ko Rok Nok and Ko Rok Noi and here we spent two quiet nights. The snorkelling was good and we explored Ko Rok Noi, without bumping into the wardens – we had no money with us. The wardens arrived by dinghy at SD later and charged us the 400 Baht Park Fee. Our final night in Thailand was spent at Ko Butang in the Ko Tarutao Marine National Park. Again we had a lovely evening, having snorkelled close to the boat. It was a good end to journeys in Thailand, but we were keen to return to Malaysia, 3G Broadband and to sort out our plans to haul Sal Darago out of the water as she had picked up one or two knocks in the 7000 nautical miles from New Zealand.

Koh Yao Noi and Krabi

Koh Yao Noi is a large island between Pkuket and Krabi off which we anchored hoping to buy lunch. On arriving at the pier we were picked up by An, a taxi driver who for £1 would take us to a restaurant. First he decided to take us to his house to meet Opal, his wife. She was a Buddhist in a Muslim community, a divorcee and pretty to boot. She had met some opposition from the locals and we had an interesting conversation before all four of us went on a long drive to Sunset Restaurant. Kathy and I were very hungry and the delicious food took some time to cook. An drove us straight back to the pier where the dinghy was aground; water deep enough to row in was about 200 yards along the pier (ah, that’s why the pier was so long). Jeremy dragged the new dinghy to the deeper water, the mud occasionally reaching half way up his thighs. Kathy gave encouragement from the pier.
After a three hour motor the next morning, we anchored close to the fishermen’s wharf well south of Krabi. At that time we did not know it was well south of Krabi. Leaving the dinghy tied behind a smart, but derelict trawler, we thought we were walking towards Krabi. A tuk tuk driver stopped and offered to take us to the PP Pier for 20 Baht each. This seemed reasonable and we explained we wanted to go to Krabi. The taxi driver was doubtful, but decided he had nothing to lose so he took us anyway. Dropping us off at the pier the driver pointed vaguely in a direction we took to mean Krabi. As we set off he changed his mind and offered to take us all the way to Krabi for 100 Baht (£2). Under the circumstances we accepted with relief. He took us about three kilometres through very windy roads and at last dumped us at the Krabi pier. We had lunch in the LP recommended Mark and May’s and found a tuk tuk to take us to the Wat Tham Seua, or The Tiger Cave Buddhist Temple. A fascinating place, busy but not crowded, it had a walk to the top of a pinnacle some 1237 steps or 600 metres above the Tiger’s Cave. We decided to climb the steps, after all both of us had climbed Durham Cathedral – how bad could it be?

The view from the top was fabulous. Many people had to rely on hearsay for this information. It is a curious thing about the people of S E Asia, they are very small but they build very high steps. Of course I was fine, but Kathy did struggle on some steps where I had to give her a “leg up”. This climb was difficult. Going down was a little easier and we were surrounded by monkeys eating the food donated by visitors, just next to the signs saying “DO NOT FEED THE MONKEYS”. Ah well. We needed tomatoes, fruit and two taxis back to SD. Not knowing where exactly SD was made this difficult. Finally we caught our second taxi by asking to go to PP Pier. This worked and once inside the taxi Kathy recognised our side road and we ended up at the Fisherman’s wharf where the dinghy was AGROUND in the mud. Fortunately the tide was coming in and the sea just a few yards away.

Hat Khao Lak to Ao Phrang Nga Islands

Getting out of the mangrove swamps proved difficult because of a sand bar that barely had enough depth for Sal Darago. It was flat calm but surf was breaking on both sides of us as we motored out. It was good to reach open sea again. Our next stop was off a beach called Hat Nai Yang, where there was an extensive local market. We dined at a restaurant on the beach. Our table was on the sand and we looked out to Sal Darago and thunder clouds beyond. We thought of those people who had been doing the same in 2004 when the tsunami devastated this beach, killing many and destroying livelihoods.

Our next two stops were at Kata beach and Ao Chalong on our way to the Royal Phuket Marina. We had to wait for half tide to start our entry to RPM. We had to motor several miles across a mangrove swamp with only two feet of water under our keels at times, following a channel marked by concrete posts. We had hoped to go to Boat Lagoon Marina, which is next door to RPM and has many chandleries and boat maintenance shops, but they were full; so we paid English prices for our berth at RPM. Not surprisingly, considering the shallow approach, most of the yachts in the marina were of the motor type. We hope our sister-in-law likes her namesake shown in the picture. My namesake, Kathleen, was berthed further along the pontoon. The main road was a 20 minute walk up a drive. We walked it three times, each time failing to find gaps in the hedge that we could dodge through to Boat Lagoon. We bought a water filter for our drinking water, deck paint and a solar panel.
We left the marina at 1700, two hours before high tide; found a convenient island to anchor off for the night before continuing to Ko Raya Ring, AKA James Bond Island. Here we found a Bond girl posing for photos and took a quick shot. The islands of Ao Phrang Nga National Park are fantastic, made of limestone and called karsts. Some are so riddled with erosion that it is a wonder that they are still standing. Sometimes the outer caves lead through to hidden hollows in the centre of the islands called hongs. The stalactites which adorn all the islands have weird, fantastic and grotesque shapes. We spent a couple of hours dinghying around some of the smaller quieter islands.

Similan and Surin Islands

14.01.12 Similan Islands

Happy New Year. Well, the fireworks did not disappoint. They went on for 6 hours reaching an explosive crescendo at midnight. Hundreds of Chinese lanterns or fire balloons were released filling the sky with even more light. The next day, not surprisingly, was overcast. We weighed anchor and headed north for a quieter destination. After one night anchored off the north of Phuket Island, we motorsailed in rain and mist for about 45 miles to the Similan Islands. There are between nine and thirteen islands (depending on which book or leaflet you read) but yachts can only stay overnight at two of them. We picked up a mooring on the east side of Ko Miang, where there was the best snorkelling we’ve had since Komodo in Indonesia. After we’d gone to bed a strong easterly wind began to blow and we found ourselves being pitched around with a lee shore behind us of coral reefs, rocks and cliffs. The new dinghy was pounding itself against our stern. Jeremy rescued the dinghy and struggled to tie it alongside as Sal Darago rose and fell
a couple of metres. At first light we motored seven miles north to Ko Similan. Here was a lovely bay, safe and sheltered from the winds. At this idyllic location, Jeremy had diarrhoea and watched as Kathy and hundreds of day trippers and divers snorkelled in the anchorage.

On 7 January, we motored 50 miles north to the more remote Surin Islands. On the way Jeremy caught a beautiful Albacore tuna. Once again we paid our park entry and mooring fees (£26 for five days). We walked on the islands, snorkelled and met some Moken Indians who are water gypsies. They gave us spectacles case woven with raffia and we gave them money, clothes and water. Theirs looked a hard life. We had a couple of simple meals ashore and this time it was Kathy’s turn to get the runs!

By 12 January we had reached the furthest north we are likely to go before crossing the Indian and South Atlantic oceans, so at 09degrees, 28 minutes and 10 seconds we turned Southtowards Mainland Thailand. After forty miles we anchored behind Ko Thra Thong in an inland passage which was totally calm. The mangroves were very close and as the tide ebbed, a lone monkey came onto the mud and searched the exposed beach for food.