We returned to Langkawi after Jerry’s op & checked the boat into Rebak Marina for 2 weeks of rest & recuperation or in this case Rebak Rehab! It seemed the right place to be as we (Jerry) could just lounge around the pool & do as the doctor ordered. It paid off because he is now fully recuperated and fighting fit again.
While in Perth we applied for our 2 month visa for Thailand. We stocked up with all the essential items before leaving Langkawi and set sail on 20th March.
You have about a week to get from checking out in Langkawi to checking in at Phuket. Any longer than that and the powers to be can get a little upset with you. But as it’s only 120nm from Telaga Harbour to Ao Chalong, Phuket we had plenty of time to stop off at a few places along the way.
Leaving the murky water of Malaysia behind it was a delight to be sailing (yes, we had wind) in clearer bluer water that was very inviting for a swim. We stopped the first night at Tarutao Island. The island was once a penal colony and it is said that it was infested with crocodiles!
Tarutao was one of the first islands to be declared a National Park and has a lot of walking trails, campgrounds and a cave that you can enter via a platform on pulleys. We did not go ashore this time as we had not officially cleared into Thailand and we were not sure if the rangers there, collecting 200baht pp, would want to see our papers. But we will explore more on our return journey.
Next it was over to Ko Muk, a beautiful island with a small resort on one side. We anchored in the SW bay just along from the entrance to Emerald Cave. This is an 80 metre passageway in the cliffs that opens out into a circular beach surrounded by huge cliffs and vegetation. It is called a “Hong”. Tourist boats come in there droves from 8.00am onwards and drop their passengers off at the entrance to the cave so they can swim through. We took the dinghy over just before the mass arrival and ‘beat the rush’ . Its extremely dark and eerie and I just could not see myself swimming through, the tide was right and so we were able to paddle through in the dinghy. A special place to visit if you can get their before the tourist boats arrive.
Koh Phi Phi Don was our next stop and I had heard a lot about this island from being - THE most beautiful island -in Thailand to – you visit once and that’s enough! I suppose it depends on what tourist guide you are reading and what mode of transport you have. Well judging by the amount of people there I can only say it must be special for some and I can only assume that because we are lucky to be on our own boat we get to go to very secluded islands and I just didn’t see it. But the people there on holiday certainly seem to be having a good time. We were anchored a good 1/2 mile offshore and I had to wear earplugs to bed to block the noise out from the bars ashore competing with their music, fireworks and fire dancing shows. It’s definitely a party island!
We checked into customs, immigration and harbour master in Ao Chalong Bay at the bottom of Phuket Island. Anchored among the hundreds of boats there, we weaved our way through them all to the large pier that runs out from shore and found the dinghy dock.
As well as longtails to ferry the tourists there are also a lot of very powerful speed boats. We saw these lining the beach in Ao Chalong. On one boat we counted 5 x 250hp motors! They make for a very choppy anchorage during peak hour traffic.
A long walk up the pier, we didn’t know about the shuttle bus, took us to the official offices which are all now in one building which makes check in/out a lot easier. We had to fill in 5 forms for immigration, 2 for customs and 2 for harbour master. It takes forever and we arrived 30 mins before lunch time so we were not very popular with the very hungry harbour master. But we checked in all ok and were soon ushered out of the office so eating could commence!
We only stayed in Ao Chalong overnight as its very busy and really nothing there unless you need to do some shopping which was not the case for us. There are a lot of boats there that people have turned up on and just gone no further making Ao Chalong their home.
We sailed up to Nai Harn beach 7nm north and dropped anchor in a very nice bay with a beautiful beach, lots of sunbeds and some nice restaurants ashore. Unfortunately a westerly swell entered the bay in the afternoon so it got a little rolly. Nai Harn is a relatively quiet tourist spot, no noisy nightclub bars! Mainly Russian tourists..as is the case in most of Thailand so far and a few French.
We are now anchored at Panwa Beach just across the bay from Ao Chalong. It is a lovely beach to walk along or have a swim, with 3/4 restaurants ashore for drinks and dinner in the evening.
Compared to Malaysia, Thailand is more expensive in general, but we are still able to go ashore for dinner as its too hot to cook on board and I think the food is better and more variety than Malaysia. The scenery is much more spectacular with great limestone pinnacles rising out of the ocean.
From here we will go around the bottom of Phuket island and up the east coast exploring the anchorages there and into Phang Nga Bay, before heading down to Krabi to meet Carey and Richard from UK.
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