FEBRUARY 11-21, 2016
The morning
of February 11th, 2016 was special because it was the day we were to
depart Boat Lagoon after having our boat there for a little over a year. High Tide was predicted for 1200 hrs and the
pilot arrived at 1130 hrs. The channel out of Boat Lagoon meanders through an
ancient river bed that was never very deep and has been modified, in recent times,
by dredging, tin mining and two marinas.
All this has taken water from the main riverbed channel and made it even
shallower and subject to shoaling.
Dredging is a continuous process.
Most of the boats that have berths within the marina are sitting is soft
mud at some time during the tidal cycle.
Nevertheless, many huge cabin cruisers call this home.
We departed
our berth at 1130 hrs and made the three mile run to the entrance at 1215
hrs. It was a great feeling to see the
pilot away and know that we were free from Boat Lagoon at long last. Looking back at the amount of work and money
needed to get Solstice to this point seems distant and surreal. It’s hard for me to believe the number of
days and hours spent in confined areas with sauna like temperatures. I welcome the fresh salt air that is lapping
myself and the boat.
Plans had
been made with our good friend, Gary, to sail from Phuket to Langkawi with some
overnight stops along the way. The
actual sailing distance from Boat Lagoon to Langkawi is around 160 nm. It usually involves some sailing and
motoring. The NE Monsoon is blowing at
this time of year. The wind picks up in
the evening, blows through the night and into the late morning. Then it starts to die out to an almost
calm. Nighttime is ideal for sailing in
these waters but the number of fish traps, fishing boats and floating obstacles
makes it less than ideal. Most cruisers
choose to find a sheltered quiet spot behind an island and wait for
morning.
Gary’s boat is a 36’ Ted Brewer
designed aluminum hull named “Starship”.
With a high aspect rig, she is fast but quite tender which requires carrying
the right amount of sail so she won’t heel too far over. Solstice is quite stiff in a breeze and can
carry a lot more sail before reefing.
When sailing with “Starship”, I usually carry less sail so that we can
be relatively close together at the end of the day. The distance from Boat Lagoon to PHIPHI Don
is 26nm.
Our first
night was spent on one of the King’s Moorings at an island called PHIPHI
DON. We found a stunningly beautiful
area between two outcroppings of rocks:
07-38.7’N; 098-29.5’E. The King’s
Moorings are put in place by the Thai government for use by the public. One has to be careful that they are in good
condition. The standard practice is to dive overboard and have a look at the
condition of the line that is attached to a heavy concrete block. Some are quite deep and difficult to see just
what is happening on the bottom. The
King’s Moorings are red buoys with a yellow stripe. Camel Rock is the name of this idyllic
place. Lots of current running through
the relatively narrow gap between the two rock outcroppings. A small sandy beach with coconut trees rounds
out a really beautiful place.
The
following morning, February 12th, we motored over to PHIPHI LEI,
which is where the movie “The Beach”, with Brad Pit, was filmed. One still sees remnants of the movie staging
and lots of ropes and lines dangling off the cliffs. It amazes me that, wherever a movie is made,
people will flock to that spot in droves to say they were there. Since Thailand is a place where many movies are made on
remote islands, there are hordes of “Long Tail” boats and fast speed boats carrying
tourists to these places. At this time
of year, most are Chinese.
No stops
were made at PHIPHI LEI: just a cruise by for the crew that Gary had
onboard. Our target for this evening was
Bamboo Cove on the island of KO LANTA.
It was another 27 nm run to get there and required intermittent motor
sailing. We droped anchor at 1612 hrs in
21’ water depth on a sandy bottom:
07-28.765’N; 099-05.261E. There
was a restaurant/bar on the far end of the beach so we had a very nice meal
there. The mountains are quite high in
this area and, when the NE/E winds are blowing with strength, send down strong
gusts of katabatic wind that hit the boat like a williwaw. All night long we were hit with one gust
after another: no danger but it is
disconcerting.
On Saturday,
February 13th, we heaved up anchor at 0743 hrs and got U/W at 0800
hrs. Our goal today was the island of KO
MUK which was 15nm distant from the southern end of KO LANTA. The magic of this island is that it has one of
the most spectacular underwater caves in all of Thailand. Known as the Emerald Cave, the actual name is
MARACOTE CAVE which is part of the islands that make up the Thai National
Park. The scenic beauty of this cave is
that is has a small entrance, just above sea leve,l that can be entered by
swimming, kayak or dinghy. Once inside
the entrance, the water is a beautiful emerald green with schools of small fish
darting about. Then the cave opens up
and becomes pitch black for about 600 ft.
During this time, the only thing one can do is continue on into the
blackness: a headlamp helps. While navigating on, one goes through several
high chambers where bats can be seen, hanging from the ceilings, with a
headlamp. The wave action of the sea can
be heard booming against dark distant places.
Just when it’s becoming rather spooky, a small patch of daylight is seen
in the distance. As one approaches this
light another beautiful emerald pool is seen and then you enter an incredible
pool of water with a white sandy beach completely surrounded by very high
mountainous cliffs, with jungle growth, ascending all the way to the top. I get the feeling that we are standing in the basin of an ancient
volcano. It’s one of those places that
you would like to spend a romantic evening alone with a loved one. Everything that one imagines about a secluded
Pacific island paradise is here in this small jewel that is less that one half
acre in its livable totality.
Naturally,
this special place draws a lot of tourists.
When we first arrived at 1100 hrs, the place was frantic with activity
so we motored over to a neighboring island called Ko Kradan and picked up a
mooring: 07-18.300’N; 99-15.528E. The idea was to wait until all the tourist
boats had departed for other island with tourist facilities. Accordingly, we departed Ko Kradan at 1512
hrs and motored back to the Emerald Cave.
Most of the tourist boats had left so we were able to get a mooring and
enjoy the beauty of Emerald Cave with few others. At 1730 hrs, we left Emerald Cave for the
Eastern side of KO MUK. The waters on
the eastern side get shallow but make for a good anchorage with a sandy
bottom. Most boats anchor off the main
town of KO MUK in coral but motoring around further north brings you into an
open roadstead that is buffeted by the NE/E winds but has the mainland for
protection so there is little wave action.
At 1830 hrs, we dropped anchor in 12’ water depth on a sandy bottom: 07-21.937’N; 99-18.788’E The wind was out of the NE 15 kts. We spent an enjoyable night here with the NE
winds cooling the boat. Not many
cruisers have found this spot but it appears to be a great place under most
circumstances.
February 14th
found us getting U/W at first light:
0618 hrs. Our goal for today was
KO LIPE, 49 nm from KO MUK, which is in the Thai BUTANG Islands. These islands are legendary for their
remoteness and beauty. They are only 25
nm from Langkawi, Malaysia which makes them ideal for cruisers coming from
Thailand and Malaysia. It is possible to
clear in and out of Thailand, with Immigration authorities, but Customs and
Harbor Master have to be done at one of the full service ports. This was mostly a calm day of winds so we
motored the whole way to KO LIPE. Our
friend, Gary, cleared Immigration and we motored around to the north side of KO
LIPE and picked up a mooring for the evening. Ko Lipe is a very touristy place with lots of
restaurants, hotels, bars and discos. Perhaps, one of the more interesting places is
a Rastra Bar with a 15’ penis, just inside the patio, with the words “ONE LOVE”
written down the shaft. Thais are
conservative but don’t seem to have a lot of sexual inhibitions. We were once at a place called “The Cave of
Penises”. It was filled with thousands
of different size ones. Evidently, Thai
women, wishing to have children, would bring one and place it in the cave
hoping that it would bring the desired result.
At 0630 hrs
on February 15th, we set out from Ko Lipe to Telaga Harbor, Malaysia: 25 nm.
The winds were NE’ly so we were able to sail the whole way with very
little motoring. I set a full mainsail
and jib and averaged 5.5 kts. At times
we had wind gusts to 20kts but Solstice was sailing beautifully. At 1300 hrs we entered Telaga Harbor, took on
fuel and got a berth at Telaga Marina.
Telaga is a quaint harbor with few facilities but is a check in/out port
with Immigration, Customs and Harbor Master.
Other than a fuel dock, restaurant, and service station/convenience
store, there is little else. The
facilities at the marina are sub-standard.
This seems to be more of a management problem than anything else. They just don’t care. After the cleanliness of Thailand, Islamic
Malaysia leaves much to be desired. We
decided to spend a few days here because it will be the last time we will see
Gary for many years. Also, one of his
crew members was a Russian named, Vitally, who was a IT graduate from an
Eastern Russian University. He came over
and solved several of my computer problems.
At 1024 on
February 17th, we departed Telaga
Harbor for Kuah, which is the capital of Langkawi: 20 nm.
The wind was fresh out of the NE 20+ kts and we sailed under reefed jib
hitting 8 kts during gusts. During the
last two legs into Kuah, we had to motor because the wind angle was too close
to sail and it wasn’t worthwhile to tack back and forth. At 1442 we made fast to a berth (E-20) at the
Royal Langkawi Yacht Club. This marina
has undergone a major expansion and modernization program. It boasts a hotel and modern bathroom
facilities. The staff is friendly,
courteous and helpful: management
cares. The Security is manned by Nepalese
guards. This seems to be popular in
Malaysia where security is involved.
Kuah,
Langkawi is a duty free port. We came
here to stock up on booze and western foods.
Outside of provisioning the boat with foreign goods, the place has very
little to recommend it. It is one vast
depository of imported items. All the
veggies and fruit come in from somewhere else and are not as good as in
Thailand. Nevertheless, it is a
worthwhile stop and gives a good wind angle for Port Blair, Andaman Is.: 500
nm. Our plan is to leave tomorrow
February 22nd around 1000 hrs.
It will take us about 5 days to get there. WX reports look good, the boat is ready and
so are we. We will update this when we
get to the Andamans and have a look-see.
