On our Way North to Thailand

 

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.

We saw a few sights as we found our way through the anchorage and this one made us smile. Only is SE Asia would you find them doing such extensive repairs on a boat…in the water. Who needs a slipway!!

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.

 

 

 

Ben & Kate join us for holidays

It has been a very relaxing start to the new year. Having arrived in Langkawi we decided to slow down, take in the surroundings and just enjoy being on the boat. We anchored off Kuah for a couple of weeks and attended to a few jobs on the boat while we waited for Ben & Kate to arrive for their holidays.
The first few days B&K  had booked into the Bella Vista Hotel and took time to relax by the pool and also take in a few tourist spots.
Hiring a car in Langkawi is “cheap & cheerful” it’s a big decision on what price you want to pay MYR40/50/60 per day converts to AUD$14/17/20. No contract, no insurance, no questions asked!Driving is easy and the locals are all very polite and forgiving on the road.
B&K then joined us on the boat and we sailed across to the nearest Thai island of Koh Lipe, into clear blue water which was a refreshing change from the murky waters in Malaysia.

All was well onboard at first and Kate took the helm

But it wasn’t long before the wind & waves picked up and Kate got a little seasick and retired below to try and sleep it off.

But for us old salties we just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

We arrived at Koh Lipe and the anchorage was a little choppy so we decided it best if they check into a hotel ashore for their 4 days here.   There are many ‘bum boats’ taking tourists out for day trips and they whizz past the yachts on anchor at full speed with no thought to the wash and wake they create. That with the strong wind that was blowing made it quite a choppy anchorage and not best for anyone who hasn’t had the experience of living on a boat before.

Koh Lipe is no longer the quiet undiscovered island it was 12 years ago. It is now almost overloaded with tourists pouring in from the mainland everyday on day trips or for an extended stay at one of the many hotels that have been built.
But we still managed to have a very relaxing 4 days here, swimming, snorkelling and generally just lazing around on the beach. So much so that we really didn’t want to leave.




Back to Langkawi and this time we checked into Telaga Marina and B&K checked into a nice hotel just along the beach from us.

Once they got their room sorted out and an upgrade to a very nice one overlooking the ocean it was back to exploring Langkawi.  They hired a scooter for the day and zipped around the island while Jerry & I did boat jobs.

We took the cable car to the highest point on Langkawi which was quite spectacular. I am not fond of heights so the trip was a bit scarey for me, especially as I sat between Jerry who discussed the pros & cons of what could go wrong with machinery and Ben who insisted on sticking his head out of the small window whilst leaning on the door that didn’t lock! Just like he did when he was little. But it was well worth the nail biting experience and I am glad I have ‘been there, done that’!

We are now back in Perth as Jerry has finally had his double hernia op that he has been waiting on for 2 years. Returning to TToo this Sunday where he will continue to rest for a couple of weeks before we head up to Thailand. We are thinking that a couple of weeks back in Rebak Marina where we can enjoy the luxuries of the resort will help with Jerry’s recovery…it’s a tough life!

2014–Happy New Year!

As we roll into a new year we discuss with other yachties  sailing plans for the next year and where we will be next Christmas. It  seems that nobody is in any rush to go anywhere in particular as having arrived in Langkawi the general feeling is  this is a good  place to take a breath, enjoy the surrounds and spend some time just relaxing.

Now I can hear you all laughing at “relaxing” and thinking this is what we have been doing since we moved on-board, but it’s not all been easy sailing and we seem to have been constantly on the move to get to the next anchorage. So for now we are “relaxing” and just enjoying being on the boat or in a hammock as this picture shows!

Christmas was good. We had a week in Rebak Marina as planned and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We made full use of all the facilities the resort had to offer, lots of socialising ,riding our bikes around the island, reading & relaxing.  Christmas Eve the yachties all got together for drinks & nibblies and Christmas carols. I happened to be one of the few who new all the words to every song so I was up front conducting and singing at the top of my voice! Much to Jerry’s horror but it was ok ‘cos everyone had drunk a fair few drinks by then so no one really noticed my very bad singing voice!



We had Christmas lunch at the resort. A huge smorgasbord of all kinds of food. A lot of Malaysian dishes but there was the traditional turkey with cranberry sauce and roast vegies, no yorkshire pudding though ! Delicious assortment of sweets to choose from, free champagne and good company.

After lunch we retired to the pool area for a cooling dip & a snooze then it was time for sundowners at the beach bar.

New years eve we anchored TToo off Pantai Cenang beach and found ourselves a table at a beach bar serving very cheap drinks & some nice food. We had a lovely evening and at midnight the restaurants lit bonfires along the beach, set off fireworks and  just about everybody wrote a message on a Chinese lantern, lit it and sent it off into the sky. It was a beautiful sight.
    



Surprisingly enough we both awoke new years day with clear heads but my feet were killing me! So I thought I would go ashore and have a reflexology foot massage. What better way to start the New Year.

We are now anchored back at Kuah town, it’s easy walking distance to all the shops for supplies and boat bits, plus cheap restaurants. We have a few things to sort out like internet…again, and then we will find a nice little quiet bay to anchor in and maybe do some painting touch ups.
News from home is always welcome, so please when you get a moment drop us an email and tell us what your Christmas was like and what plans you have for new year or just to say hello, we would love to hear from you.