Launched Again

We are back on the water. Sal Darago was launched on Thursday 5^th April. It all happened very quickly in the end. Jeremy had put 9 coats of paint on Sal Darago’s bottom. Our list of jobs to be done filled several A4 pages. Antifouling was just one very important job. We asked to be launched on 3^rd April and were told a new crane was coming on the 4^th April and several boats would be launched then. Fine! No problem. We were ready. Then the engine of the new crane blew up on its way to the boatyard. We were told another crane could not be arranged until Saturday. We prepared our minds for Saturday and started provisioning the boat for our next ocean crossing. Meanwhile, our buddy boat friends, Graham and Liz drove to Langkawi to see us and the island. Wisely, they chose to stay in Palms Guest House, where we had previously spent two nights.

We worked on the boat all day and met up with Graham and Liz in the evenings for dinner. Our hire car had gone back to the airport after a week and we were now driving a Proton Saga. A few things on the car didn’t work but the important things did, so we were able to travel around like “normal” people. Graham and Liz left Langkawi on 4^th April. We went shopping on the 5^th and when we returned, you can guess what happened. Correct. A crane had arrived, the old one as it happens, to remove a mast from one boat and raise a mast on another. (For non sailors this is called stepping or unstepping the mast.)There was time to launch a boat before the end of the day. Would we like to be craned in? In the haste to prepare Sal Darago for launching, we forgot the next day would be Friday and the port would be closed. Everything went well. SD was put in the travel lift and taken to the edge of the dock. The crane was positioned; the hook was attached to steel cables, which were then attached to slings placed under the hull. Through the air we went and down gently into the sea. Only a small amount of water came in. Nothing to worry about. The engine started and off we went across Bass Strait to Monkey Beach.

The next day, we were the monkeys! Jeremy dropped me off back at the boatyard while he motored to Kuah, about 5 miles away. I would meet him there with the car. Good plan, but not on a Friday. Despite all my charms and pleas the policeman was adamant. He would not let the car out of the port. A kind yachtie, gave me a lift on the back of his motorbike (they let motorbikes out on Friday) and I was reunited with Jeremy.

We've just completed our sea trials and checked the sails. So far, so good. We’re borrowing the car again for two days to fill our extra diesel cans and provision with fresh food. On Sunday, we set off on a 1600 mile voyage, going south to Cocos Keeling Island. There won’t be any more blogs for about a month. Happy Easter to you all.

Back in Malaysia from the UK

Hi Everyone. We are back in Malaysia after our trip to the UK. Thank you to all our family and friends who gave us their spare rooms or their own beds and provided us with lovely meals. Thank you Simon and Erin for the use of your car. On our second day in the UK, Jeremy started with a cold. On the third day he passed blood in his urine. A visit to the doctor put him on antibiotics for 2 weeks and further tests were recommended. Our GP in Lancashire referred him to Edinburgh, where a cystoscopy was carried out giving the all clear for his bladder. An ultrasound was recommended. This was done on the last possible day before our flights. The all clear was given for Jeremy’s kidneys and the swelling he had found on his testicle.

Just to add to the tension, I had a fall at our nephew, Robin’s house when I stepped on a large bag holding skis and ski poles. My feet slipped from under me in the dark and I crashed down smacking my arm on a cupboard and scraping a 3 inch line of skin off my lower arm. This happened immediately before our drive to Gatwick for our flight to Kuala Lumpur. Sixteen or seventeen hours later, when we were in a guesthouse in Langkawi, we were able to inspect the damage. I had a pot of rosemary, frankincense and lavender cream with me from my Lancashire friend and therapist, Pat Calderbank. Liberal rubbing with this cream twice a day has eased the swelling, so thank you, Pat. I had no idea your gift would be needed so soon.

And now for the good news. We had a great time in the UK. Our itinerary was very full as we travelled from Suffolk to Yorkshire, to Tyne and Wear, to Edinburgh, to the Isle of Mull, to Lancashire, to the Isle of Man, to Hertford and to Kent. It was wonderful to see Emily and Ben, Simon and Erin, my Mum and all our brothers and sisters, most nephews and nieces, plus a few friends. We are sorry that we were unable to see everyone, so please keep in touch via the blog or email.

Since we’ve been back, work has started on preparing Sal Darago’s bottom for antifoul paint. We have a hire car from the airport for a week as the boatyard is miles from anywhere and there is no public transport on Langkawi. We have just arranged a car for next week at a much better rate of 30 ringgits a day (£6). As you can see from the photo, we are enjoying the facilities of the boatyard, which include the open air shower, a twin tub washing machine, water and electricity. The emerald coloured sea is close and inviting as we cook in 35C.

Palms Guest House, Pantai Cenang, Langkawi

We got back to Malaysia without too many worries; okay I did forget the passports, only finding out they were not in “The File” when I was standing inside the Imigrasi Office. Fortunately we were able to return to SD and pick up the errant paper work. After a couple of days at Telaga, where there are no cheap restaurants and no fresh food, we set off for Kuah. On the way we anchored at Monkey Beach for a swim in clear waters and a walk to an alleged cave. The cave was fabulous. It went under a mountain and we went in about 100 metres. I left Kathy to crawl under a tunnel and into the next passage. Sensibly I returned. The stalactites and stalagmites were awesome. It also felt like we were the first to find the cave as there were no ropes or guidance and it would have been easy to become lost. We did have a torch each, but not the benefit of a Tilley lantern.

In Kuah we conducted more business organising paint for Sal Darago’s bottom, checked the availability of charts to South Africa and food for the four days we were going to be “stuck” in our new boatyard. The boatyard “B and V Marine” (B for Barry – South African and V for Valerie – Male Russian!) is inside a duty-free cargo port. It is fenced off topped with razor wire. To gain access you have to go through the Police check, the Customs check and finally hand the gathered papers to the last gatehouse person, usually a female wearing a hijab. After this you are allowed to proceed the half mile to the boatyard. Or you can arrive by water and climb up the dock or even be craned out.

We chose the latter course of entry and all went well, after a four hour delay, while quite a few people searched for the crane driver who had taken an early holiday to the mainland. The following day was my sixtieth birthday. It had snuck up on me unawares and I was not ready. True to form, I spent the entire day caressing a bottom with a coarse grain sanding machine! Yes Sal Darago had all her barnacles removed and much of her now defunct antifoul paint. I was completely blue and quite toxic, but Kathy insisted that she took a photograph. Cake and candles followed a long session in the shower.

We managed to hire a car and SD was moved by travel lift into the yard proper. You can see that there was not a great deal of space through the gate. Finally we cleaned everything, tidied up what could be tidied and moved the sails, the running rigging, the fenders inside the boat away from the punitive sun. We, of course, had to move out and are now on our way to England. We shall return to Sal Darago at the end of March, when following new paint and making SD ocean worthy, we shall set off once again. Until then fare well.

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.