January 5,
2015 Monday
The plan for
today is to sail to Ko Rok Nok (07-12.804’ N x
099-04.171’ E) which is 43 nm from Ko Rawi in the Butang Islands. “Ko” is the Thai word for island. We get an early start and let go of the
mooring buoy at 0548 hrs. The NE Monsoon
winds blow steadily throughout the night and into the late morning and then
start to taper off and die out. On this
trip we alternated between being able to sail with main and jib and motor
sailing. There isn't a lot of swell here
in the southern part of the Bay of Bengal.
Wind against current causes a little but the minute the current and wind
are together things are reasonably calm.
The NE Monsoon has moments when it is blowing 20+ kts but they don’t
last that long. There are occasional Thunder
Storms that have to be watched. The
overall average wind speed is between 10-15 kts and dying out in the afternoon.
At 1530 hrs
we picked up a mooring buoy. It was
quite calm on the the eastern side of Ko Rok Nok but I could see that if a NE-E’ly
wind started blowing, conditions could deteriorate quickly. The area is quite scenic with white sandy
beaches. This is one of Gary’s favorite
places: previously, he had speared a 3
lb lobster and been told that there are bigger ones. We had a very quiet night on the mooring.
January 6,
2015 Tuesday
Today was
dedicated to exploring Ko Rok Nok. We
launched our dinghy and picked up Gary and his daughter Jasmine. There is a Ranger Station on Rok Nok and they,
sometimes, collect a fee for use of the National Park. A well established trail leads up the
mountain to spectacular views of other islands that we will by-passing. Also, on Rok Nok there are large Monitor
Lizards. We haven’t seen any of these
since the Komodo Islands in Indonesia.
They must be a different species and do not grow quite as big. We saw one that was about 3-4’ long. There were no precautionary signs so, I
assume, they are not as dangerous as the ones in Komodo National Park. The view from the top of the mountain was
impressive, especially, since the haze associated with Trade Winds and the
Tropics was absent. There is great
snorkeling with an abundance of beautiful coral. We would be more than happy to visit this
very charming place.
January 7,
2015 Wednesday
The voyage
plan for today is to sail to Maya Beach on Ko Phi Phi Li (07-41.2’ N x 98-46.1’
E) or Monkey Beach on Ko Phi Phi Don (07-44.664’ N x 98-45.690’ E). The distance is only 34 nm so we might stop
at some of the islands enroute. Maya
Beach on Ko Phi Phi Li has been made famous by the movie “The Beach” starring
Leonardo DiCaprio. The staging for the
movie can still be seen as one sails by the eastern side. Maya beach is one of those island paradise
places that people spend lots of money to get to. If you have a sailboat, getting there
late in the afternoon and staying
overnight offers the opportunity to do some exploring, snorkeling and leaving early, before the flotilla of
“Long Tails” carrying tourists, out of Phuket, gets there. After that, it becomes a zoo scene with
monkeys and tourists watching each other.
At 1000 hrs,
our friends on “Starship”, decided to make a “swim stop” at Ko Ha Yai (07-24.7’
N x 98-52.9’ E). This is a group of
small islands with many moorings and is part of the Thai National Park System. Park Rangers were there and collecting $28 US
for 2 people and a boat. The place is
popular with divers and snorklers and we saw, at least, 20 dive boats in the
area. We opted to drift until our
friends were finished swimming with their daughter. By 1200 hrs, we were on our way once again.
We decided
to spend the evening on a mooring at Monkey Bay on Ko Phi Phi Don (07-44.676’ N x 98-45.674’
E’). There are two of the King’s
Moorings in the Bay and one was taken, so we rafted up alongside “Starship” for
the evening. Another lovely bay
displaying a glorious sunset, accompanied by birds and monkeys. The granite stone of the Butang Islands has
given way to limestone which forms caves with stalactites and stalagmites. Where there is water, there is dense growth
and jungle: In this environment,
mosquitoes flourish. If the winds go
calm, the heat and humidity are oppressive.
January 8,
2014 Thursday
We are now
on our next to last sail on “Solstice” for this season. We departed Monkey Bay at 0748 hrs for Ao
Chalong Bay, Phuket (07-49.446’ N x 98-21.196’ E) about 25 nm to the WNW. Chalong is the major check in point for entry
into Thailand. Our friends on Starship
have arranged for us to have a mooring for a few weeks so it makes motoring in
and picking it up a breeze.
At 1312 hrs,
we picked up the mooring belonging to “Capella” – a Vagabond 42 -. We know these sailors from our last trip to
Phuket almost 5 years ago. It’s a good
strong mooring so we won’t have to worry about it and sleep soundly. Tomorrow, January 9, I will check in at
Customs, Immigration and Harbor Master.
January 09,
2015 Chalong Bay on a mooring.
Cleared
Customs, Immigration and Harbor Master this morning and completed everything
within an hour’s time. It was an easy
process and done electronically so that future extensions can be processed
quickly. I do not plan to stay in
Chalong for too long as I want to get “Solstice” to Boat Lagoon which is about
18 nm to the North on Phuket Island.
Also, we have to use the dinghy to motor back and forth to the Chalong
pier. Chalong is a huge port with a
flotilla of passenger boats, charter boats,
fishing boats, yachts and more yachts.
There is some kind of repair service for most things. It just takes a little asking around. I am fortunate because our friends are part
of this commercial scene and know everyone and most places where things can be
had. It will be our friend, Gary, that
will make the necessary arrangements to buy and install a new Beta Marine
diesel engine. He is the Beta Marine
Dealer for this part of Thailand.
January
10-11, 2015 Saturday and Sunday
We find that
it has been quite windy in Chalong Bay during the night and early morning. It sets up a chop and is a little rolly. Nothing uncomfortable but one likes a calm
anchorage. I am anxious to get “Solstice”
to Boat Lagoon so that I can start organizing the work that has to be done in
order to install the new engine. I plan
to leave for Boat Lagoon tomorrow morning.
January 12,
2015 Monday
0912 hrs,
drop mooring lines at Chalong Bay and get underway for Boat Lagoon (07-57.827’
N x 98-23.204’ E) which is about 19 nm to the north of Chalong on Phuket
Island. The wind is out of the ENE and
the outgoing current against the wind causes a choppy 4’ sea. The Valiant 40 negotiates this almost
effortlessly. I don’t want to push the
engine or transmission too hard on this last leg. Once we are heading a little West of North,
we set a reefed genoa for the 20 kt ENE’ly wind and motor sail at 6.5 kts. By 1200 hrs, we’re at the entry point for
Boat Lagoon and have to wait on their pilot and a High Water. We drop anchor and take it easy observing
other boats coming and going out of Boat Lagoon. At 1330 hrs, the pilot and one assistant show
up to take us into our berth.
Originally, we were told that we would have to go directly onto a hard
stand as no wet berths were available.
Things change and now we have a wet berth for a few days. This makes life simpler and allows us to
organize what we need to do before going on the hard stand. We make fast to Berth B-18 at 1412 hrs.
Boat Lagoon
is one large Resort Complex with marina facilities and haul out travel lifts. There are many different kinds of yachts here
from super power yachts to the more modest sailboats. Many different vendors and luxury items are
strung out in the shops lining the complex.
There are restaurants within the immediate area and some on the perimeters. Anything inside Boat Lagoon is much more
expensive than going a few blocks outside.
What becomes immediately obvious is the presence of foreigners in the
Phuket area. It is a mecca for
Westerners to vacation, retire, open businesses and find good-looking Thai
women. There is a lot of hubris and
arrogance running around which I try to avoid.
So here we are at the destination we chose to repower the boat. Now, the stress of putting the whole engine
install package together begins.
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