Home Again, Home Again

 

 

Wow! I knew it was a while since I posted a blog , but I must say I am  quite chuffed by the amount of people who have asked when are you going to update the blog!  It’s been 2 months, that’s far too long, but we haven’t really been doing much sailing over the last couple of months  for various reasons. A lot has happened over this time, not all sailing related though, but due to popular demand (LOL!) I will update you on what’s been happening. It’s also just over a year since we left on our journey, how time flies!

Having arrived in Thailand towards the end of April we made plans to leave Yacht Haven Marina to explore Phang Na Bay & then make our way to Krabi to enjoy some time with my girlfriend Carey who was holidaying from UK. Unfortunately though I had to make an urgent trip home to Brisbane as my dear father age 96 was in hospital with pneumonia & other complications. I got home in time to spend a wonderful day with him at the hospital and sadly he passed away 2 days after I arrived. He was a wonderful man, a loving and dear father & will be sadly missed.

On returning to TTOO we made our way to Krabi  to meet up with Carey & Richard. We decided to berth the boat at Krabi Boat Lagoon & check ourselves into a condominium next to where C&R were staying. Krabi Boat Lagoon is very isolated, even getting there is quite a trek as you motor from one way point to the next, 6 in total. By the time you get to waypoint 4 you are starting to head up river amongst mangroves. At waypoint 6 you now have mangroves on both sides of the boat closing in on you and no marina in sight. You are asked to call the marina at waypoint 6 and they will assist you to your berth. After calling up on the VHF we were asked if there was a green post to our starboard side ? Yes there was and we were then told to turn to starboard here and come into the marina. Well the gap in the  mangroves was about 15ft wide and had  Jerry questioning my relayed instructions from the marina, but we made our way in a little apprehensively, watching the depth sounder very closely as it dropped quite rapidly. Just after entering and making a turn to starboard there was Krabi Boat Lagoon.

Needless to say it is a very well protected marina but because of this it is also airless and very hot & humid. Also it is literally in the middle of nowhere, a good 40 mins by taxi into Krabi town. BUT , it is also very cheap and has a good hardstand area where many yachts had been left while the owners return home to escape the monsoon season.

We made our way to our condominium booked through Airbnb website – I highly recommend this for good reasonably priced accommodation.

It was directly opposite the hotel where C&R had booked into and we spent the following 5 days in their company. We spent our time lounging by the pool, talking our heads off, a few cocktails here & there, a massage or two and generally just having a nice time. For me it was just what the doctor ordered and helped me through what was a very sad time. Carey is my oldest & dearest friend and I have been waiting many years for her to visit me. Having survived and quite enjoyed her long (?!) flight from UK hopefully  she will return for another visit soon.

With a sad farewell we returned to TToo and headed back to Langkawi . I have to admit it was a bit like going home! I feel very comfortable  in Langkawi and we have spent quite a bit of time there. It’s a great island to visit and so many yachties make this their base so there’s always good company & things going on. We headed over to Rebak Marina & lifted the boat out of the water to leave her while we returned  home ….AGAIN!  This would be my 4th trip home in a year, Jerry’s 3rd ! Not what we had planned at all but things happen & so you just have to go with the flow as they say.

We were quite impressed with the professionalism of the staff who were operating the lifter. They took great care to see that everything went smoothly and that the straps were positioned correctly before lifting. They even sent a diver into the water to check the positioning of the straps under the keel!

But then we looked over the side and our diver appeared to be taking a rest! The Malays certainly take every opportunity possible to have a “doze off”

Much to our surprise the weed & barnacles that were covering the bottom of the boat when we left Yacht Have had all disappeared. We can only put that down to the week in Krabi Boat Lagoon which is a good percentage fresh water. It had killed off anything growing on the bottom and it had all dropped off. It saved us a lot of scraping.

After a week on the hardstand we were more than ready to leave. The monsoon season was setting in & it was unbearably hot & humid. It was  32 deg during the day , 28 deg at night & 82% humidity and with no aircon on the boat things were getting a little tetchy onboard to say the leastWe were packing the boat up for 3 months so had lots to do as well as trying to get a little bit of work done on her bottom before we left. We took the sails down to store them only to find that the headsail was starting to rot quite badly, they are 20yrs old. So a decision was  made to buy new sails & have them made while we are away by Taskers in Thailand. Thank goodness for the pool at Rebak, even if it was warm,  a great place to escape to after working on the boat. The pina coladas and beers were still cool and the Hard Dock cafe meant we didn’t have to cook onboard at night. Sleeping was a challenge..too hot for both of us in the forpeak. We had 3 x 240volt fans & 3 x 12volt fans running to try & circulate some air so we could sleep.

Arriving back in Perth we thought we would freeze but the weather has been quite mild and we are enjoying a cooler change and also sleeping under a duvet. We are definitely noticing the difference in cost of living, WOW! Perth is expensive. Not something we noticed or cared about when working here but now we are not working its quite frightening!

We are back in Fremantle just in time to celebrate my nephews 40th birthday. No doubt over the next  3 –4 months there will be a lot more social engagements. Ben & Kate have bought there own house & moved out of ours which means we have to do a few renovations and rent it out again. We thought we would escape the monsoon, spend sometime  at home &  also help B&K with a few jobs at their place and just enjoy being around family & friends for a while.

So I guess until we return to TTOO  this will be may last post for a while, unless I have something interesting to write about or some photos to post. Maybe I can keep you updated on the renos!  

We have had some great feedback from readers of our blog since being home. Its really great to know that people are following our travels and enjoy reading the blog. So stay tuned as we will return with more sailing adventures!