by Judy Handley | Dec 25, 2008 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand |
Day 64, Year 4: Merry Christmas from Windbird
Date: Thursday, December 25, 2008
Weather: Overcast, Rainy Day
Latitude: 08 degrees 01.582 minutes N
Longitude: 098 degrees 49.055 minutes E
Location: Ao Nang, Krabi Province, Thailand
CHRISTMAS EVE-I’ll start by backing up a bit. We wrote our little Night Before Christmas poem in the log last night, but I didn’t get to write about our day. We had hoped to check into Thailand at 9 am and be on our way by 10:00. But that didn’t work out. For whatever reason, the Port Authority offices didn’t open until after 10:30 and it was noon before we got back to Windbird. That didn’t leave us enough time to make it to our destination, so we made new plans. Phuket is an island that hangs off the western coast of southern Thailand peninsula forming Phang-Nga Bay. It is about thirty miles across the bay to the Krabi Province. Right in the middle of that bay there are couple of large islands, so we decided to go halfway and stop on the southern tip of Ko Yao Yai. The winds are blowing from the northeast now and we were headed northeast. Lucky for us, there wasn’t much wind yesterday, so we made the trip just fine. We had our Christmas turkey on the way-Spam Turkey. I bought this in Singapore to have when Kevin and Claire were with us. It was in a conversation with Kevin’s parents a few years ago that I was convinced that Spam might not be as bad as I thought. So in honor of the Kevin’s parents, we enjoyed Spam Turkey for lunch!
Once anchored, we headed for shore to explore one of the Muslim stilt fishing villages in the bay. We tried to reach the northwestern part of the bay to a village mentioned in the cruising guides, but it was just too shallow, so we went to a village of the eastern side of the bay. There was a concrete wharf that we tied to and then made our way up the steps. There were a few men fishing off the dock and even though they spoke almost no English and we speak no Thai, we understood that it was fine to walk through the village. As always, the children were so very friendly chanting “hello, hello, hello” and we found one young man who could speak a little English. The sign said Ban Khlongdinniu, so we are assuming this was the name of the village. We walked down the concrete road and watched men making fish traps, took pictures of the children, stopped by the little store they call a mini-mart, and took photos of the surroundings. All of the homes and buildings in these seaside villages are built on stilts. At high tide they are sitting in water, but it was low tide while we visited so we could see the complete structure of the little wooden shacks with corrugated tin roofs. As we were walking back to the wharf we realized that something had happened. Everyone started rushing toward the wharf and then one man stopped to tell us that there had been a terrible motorcycle accident. The narrow road winds around the bay to the other side and motorcycles are the only form of transportation. We tried to slip away quietly as it appeared that the accident had been fatal. Our thoughts have been with the people of that village and it is our sincere hope that maybe the man was just unconscious. The visit had been so pleasant but ended so tragically that it was difficult for us to get back into the Christmas spirit when we returned to Windbird. But we put on Christmas music, had smoked salmon and cream cheese on crackers with olives as an appetizer, and then watched the White Christmas video in the cockpit while Mark cooked a marinated port roast with potatoes and green and red peppers on the grill. We ate dinner while watching the movie and had a great time. We even pretended that the white mosquito netting surrounding the cockpit was snow. Well, that one stretched our imaginations, but it was a great evening.
CHRISTMAS DAY–Our Christmas Day weather has been overcast and rainy, but nevertheless, most enjoyable. Santa didn’t wake us when he visited and we actually slept until almost 8:00. We have had early mornings since Kevin and Claire arrived, so the late get-up was a bit of a Christmas gift to ourselves. We immediately left the anchorage at Ko Yao Yai and cooked a big Christmas breakfast and opened presents while underway. Kevin and Claire brought gifts to us that our kids had sent to them as well as gifts they brought for us and we had things for them, so it was great fun opening presents as we motored across to Ao Nang.
We wanted to get to Ao Nang by noon so that we could do a little inland exploration. We arrived on time, but once we went ashore we found it was going to be cheaper and easier to wait until tomorrow morning to do an organized jungle trekking tour visiting all the locations we had planned plus we will to ride elephants. That gave us the afternoon to walk the street in Ao Nang and do a little shopping. The big thing here is the fabric. There are beautiful Thai silks, cashmere wools, and all combinations thereof. Kevin splurged and is having a new cashmere wool suit and a cotton shirt hand-tailored for him. It is amazing that they can do this in one day, but there will be a fitting at 7 pm tonight and the suit will be completed by tomorrow afternoon. While Kevin and Claire stayed in town to shop, Mark and I returned to Windbird so I could get photos ready to upload and to write this log. Shortly we will return to shore to upload photos, make some Skype calls to our kids and family, and have dinner. The chicken and stuffing is going to have to wait until tomorrow night, but the restaurants here look too good to pass up.
We are having a different kind of Christmas this year but enjoying it. We certainly miss our children and are looking forward to talking to them this evening. We hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas to all!
by Judy Handley | Dec 24, 2008 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand |
Day 63, Year 4: Sea Gypsies
Date: Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Weather: Overcast with Evening Sprinkles
Latitude: 07 degrees 53.570 minutes N
Longitude: 098 degrees 35.502 minutes E
Location: Ko Yao Yai South, Thailand
So checked in to Thailand this morning but it took much longer than we had hoped. And are now underway. We can’t seem to stay in one place for a day. So sea gypsies we are, a lifestyle we love. And we composed this little verse to celebrate the season:
‘Twas the night before Christmas and onboard the yacht,
We had left Ao Chalong having spent all our Bhat.
Pretending they’re Santa, both Kevin and Claire,
Worked sneakily wrapping the presents with care.
While Judy sat down to finish her log,
Mark ate all the chocolate in lieu of egg nog.
When in through the port holes there shone such a glow,
We all went on deck to see the light show.
But instead of Rudolph who glowed red for kids,
For us it turned out to be luminescent squid.
We have seen cliffs and lagoons and schools of bright fish,
And all scorched all our tongues on a spicy Thai dish.
While we wish that you all could be here onboard,
There’s not enough beer for that ravenous horde.
So to family and friends who are so far away,
We will think of you fondly on this Christmas Day.
So raise your beers now in a toast to this day,
For Windbird is sailing once more underway.
by Judy Handley | Dec 23, 2008 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand |
Day 62, Year 4: Phi Phi Don to Phuket
Date: Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Weather: Beautiful, Sunny Day
Latitude: 07 degrees 49.210 minutes N
Longitude: 098 degrees 21.464 minutes E
Location: Ao Chalong Bay, Phuket, Thailand
Before leaving Phi Phi Don this morning we made an early morning snorkeling trip across the bay to Long Beach and Shark Point. We jumped in the water and had a very nice snorkeling experience. The coral was more varied than we have been seeing and the fish life was plentiful. Kevin and I saw one shark cross our path and there lots of little barracudas, so both of these gave a little excitement to the morning. We then went back across the bay to Monkey Beach where we swam with loads of little fish among some very nice coral. We spotted a huge lobster hiding in among the rocks and we saw either a very unusual sea snake or a very unusual eel hiding among the rocks. We saw more pipe fish and nudibranchs, so it was a very successful snorkeling morning. We also saw a monkey on Monkey Beach. So we left Ko Phi Phi Don feeling like we had experienced it all. We had a wonderful sail most of the way to Phuket, but as we got nearer to the island the wind came around behind us and the motor went on to get us to port by mid-afternoon. Unfortunately we didn’t get ashore until almost 4 pm and Customs and Immigration closed at 3 pm. So we will check in to Thailand tomorrow morning and take off shortly after.
In order to go ashore here, you take your dinghy to the very long long jetty that comes out from the shore and walk quite a distance down the jetty to shore. The town is unremarkable but we did find a supermarket, some little veggie and fruit markets, and a great little German-Thai restaurant, The Anchor, where we had an early dinner. On our way back to Windbird we stopped by to say hello to Nancy and Steve on Toboggan, the only other cruising boat we recognized in the harbor, and then we returned to Windbird. Tomorrow morning we will head back to town to formally check-in to the country, buy gasoline for the dinghy, check our land-based email account, and then head back across the bay to Krabi Province which promises even more spectacular scenery than we have seen to this point. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we will traveling from the east coast of Phuket to the west coast of mainland Thailand. On Christmas Day we hope to travel inland to a national park and to a Buddhist temple, so it will certainly not be your typical Christmas Day. But we will be near internet access and I am still hoping for a Skype call to our kids on Christmas Day evening. That might be an optimistic hope, but then it is Christmas, and miracles can happen.
by Judy Handley | Dec 22, 2008 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand |
Day 61, Year 4: The Phi Phi Islands-Stunning Scenery and More
Date: Monday, December 22, 2008
Weather: Partly Sunny Day
Location: Ao Ton Sai Bay, Ko Phi Phi Don, Thailand
So far Thailand has been such a wonderful treat. The scenery is really stunning and each island has had something different to offer. This morning we left Ao Maya Bay on the west side of Ko Phi Phi Leh, motored around the south side of the island past another beautiful small bay, and then up the east coast. Like magic, a mooring ball appeared in the entrance to Hong Pileh, so we attached our lines to the five-gallon bucket that served as a mooring ball and took the dinghy into the Hong. I had
read that a hong is a cave, but it in this instance it is a long, narrow inlet with limestone cliffs rising straight up from the sea on both sides like a fiord. We started getting the picture of just how many tourists there are here as boat after boat full of tourists passed us going in and out of the Hong. There was no coral inside the little bay, so when we got back to entrance that is littered with coral, I jumped in to see if it was worth all of us snorkeling here. There was nothing spectacular, so there seemed no reason we should tempt fate by snorkeling where so many boats are going in and out. So we went on up the coast to what is called the Viking Cave. It is called this as there is very old graffiti on the walls, but it was not left by the Vikings. The characters are actually Chinese. But the entrance looked unbelievably difficult, so we just admired from afar. Swiftlets, whose nests are edible, nest in this cave and there was all sorts of scaffolding built in the entrance that would allow the retrieval of the nests. But nothing looked sturdy enough to entice us inside, so on we went.
We motored on to Ko Phi Phi Don as it was less than five miles. We arrived in busy Ao Ton Sai Bay and anchored right next to our friends Tory and Piet Hein on Double Dutch. It was noon, so we got in the dinghy to go over to say hello to our friends, and then headed to the town dock. This place is the heart of Thailand tourism and it is crawling with tourists from all over the world. Yet it really is just a little village with lots of little shops and even more restaurants. We picked a seafood restaurant for lunch and each of us was very pleased with our choices. If you are going to eat your way through paradise, you want to make sure the food is good! We then went back to Windbird to prepare for a short snorkel trip not far from where we are anchored. Claire spotted pipefish, something we had not seen before which was exciting. The coral was okay, but not very colorful, and the fish life was the same-okay, but certainly not as spectacular as the above water attractions.
We went back to shore for dinner and chose a beautiful location on the ocean front. Unfortunately the location was more luscious than the food, but we really enjoyed the setting. We had started our day with waffles and we ended it with Thai pancakes at a little stand on our way back to the dinghy. These pancakes are more like a crepe, filled with your choice of chocolate, pineapple, banana, and many other choices, or any combination of these things. These were great and topped off another wonderful day. Tomorrow we will make a couple of snorkeling stops and then head to Ao Chalong Bay on the island of Phuket. We’ll do a bit of land exploration and then head back out to explore the bay on the east side of Phuket. If the postcards are any indication, the scenery just gets better and better.
by Judy Handley | Dec 21, 2008 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand |
Day 60, Year 4: Snorkeling in Pee Pee
Date: Sunday, December 21, 2008
Weather: Clear Blue Skies; Wind for Sailing–Perfect
Location: Ao Maya Bay, Ko Phi Phi Leh, Thailand
I was “forced” into naming tonight’s log “Snorkeling in Pee Pee” which we did, but it is not as bad as it sounds. We arrived in Ao Maya Bay on Ko Phi Phi Leh Island. In Thailand, you don’t pronounce the ‘h’ in ‘phi’ and you pronounce ‘i’ as ‘ee’. So, in fact, we did arrive and snorkel in Pee Pee (Phi Phi). The water here is clear, but the coral in the bay has been badly damaged, so it is not as beautiful as snorkeling in the reefs off Ko Rok Nok. But each stop is beautiful in its own way.
The beauty here is above the water. The limestone cliffs raise straight out of the water and tower above us. It is just phenomenal. And even though the underwater coral is not so beautiful, we did find amazing things. The limestone cliffs have been undercut and there are very interesting caves. Some we could swim into and in one of these Kevin and Claire discovered what looks like a porcupine pufferfish.. But this guy is over three meters long. That is longer than any of our fish identification books say a porcupinefish can be, but we saw it with our own eyes. And his eyes were at least an inch across. We just can’t find anything in any of our identification books that match what we saw, but whatever it was, it was amazing. We also swam into caves that opened up so that we could stand in them. One had an opening in the top so we could see the beautiful blue sky. And the adventures continued. At one point, Kevin and Claire started swimming through an arch. I was right behind them, when I spotted a black and white banded sea snake headed right toward Kevin. I tapped him and said “sea snake” and he immediately yelled at Claire to tell her to swim on faster. Kevin backed out with me and then I explained that sea snakes are deadly poisonous, but their mouths are so small that they can only bite you between your fingers or possibly on an ear lobe. I didn’t know if Kevin and Claire knew to keep their fingers together when swimming near one of these creatures so that is why I felt I needed to warn them. We regrouped, I explained, and on we went. I then spotted a baby black-tipped shark. So the underwater world here is quite interesting. The other interesting life here is human. There are speed boats, long tails, and sail boats in the bay, all with tourists aboard. This is a very popular place because of its beauty and because the 1999 film, The Beach, was filmed here and really popularized the location for tourist purposes. But most of the tour boats leave by sunset, so tonight we have the bay mostly to ourselves. And that will be the case until the tour boats return in the morning.
Our plan is to snorkel close to the boat in the morning, sail around to the eastern side of this island and explore another bay and possibly something called the Viking Cave, and then head north to Ko Phi Phi Don. This is the larger island just north of here and it is the center of tourism in this part of Thailand. We will be surrounded by signs of “civilization” there, but evidently the landscape is so beautiful that it is worth putting up with the crowds for one night. We’ll have a meal ashore and then head for Ao Chalong in Phuket the next morning. We will get checked in to the country, celebrate Christmas, and then continue our explorations to the north and east of Phuket in Phang Nga Bay. Evidently the scenery just gets better and better, so we are really looking forward to this.
So far Thailand has been fantastic. The scenery is spectacular and the sailing is great. We had another good sail from Ko Rok Nok to here today. The seas were a little rougher than we would have liked, but we did get to sail. So life is good. And I can’t end this log without noting that today is the first day of Hanukah and it is Winter Solstice. So Happy Hanukah to our Jewish friends and family . . . and here’s to longer days in the northern hemisphere.
by Judy Handley | Dec 20, 2008 | Sailing Logs Year 4, Thailand |
Day 59, Year 4: Underwater Day and Night
Date: Saturday, December 20, 2008
Weather: Clear Blue Skies-Perfect Weather
Location: Anchored Between Ko Rok Nai and Ko Rok Nok, Thailand
Today was just a perfectly beautiful day. We got an email from our daughter Heather this morning reporting on the very wintry weather New England. It is truly hard to imagine that from here, but evidently some people have been without power for days as a result of ice storms. Since we produce our own power, it is easy to forget how horrible it is in very cold weather with no heat. So we hope the predicted snow comes with no more ice storms and everyone in the Northeast enjoys a white Christmas with heat.
Claire got her wish for a clear day today and we went snorkeling early with bright sunshine. It is always so wonderful to watch the light play off the fish and coral in the water and this morning was just beautiful. It was so nice that we stayed in the water for a couple of hours. We then got back in the dinghy and headed toward Windbird. But halfway there, we decided to jump in the water again. We had forgotten the dinghy ladder, so Mark went back to get it while Claire, Kevin, and I snorkeled.
Mark returned and got in with us, but by the time we finally headed back to Windbird for lunch, we had been in the water for three hours. That is a record for us. I had a long commune with a family of clown fish and another family of Clark’s anemone fish. We also enjoyed seeing squid, Powderblue Surgeonfish (so beautiful), and a huge array of other species. We came back for lunch, had a reading break, and then jumped in the water and snorkeled our way to the northwestern corner of Ko Rok Nok.
It is always a treat to be able to jump off the boat and see wonderful sights underwater. On this trip we saw really large and beautiful parrot fish, a couple of triggerfish, and Kevin and Claire spotted a couple of blue ring angelfish. So we did snorkel ’til we dropped, but it was so much fun. But then there was more fun in the evening. We had a late afternoon nachos snack and a great steak dinner. But the most exciting thing was the interesting phosphorescent creatures in the water tonight.
What Claire first sighted looked like a phosphorescent sea snake, but on closer observation we decided that it was just a series of creatures lighting up the water. We’ll never know for sure what it was because when we turned on the high power search light, there was nothing there! So this will continue to be a mystery, but certainly an intriguing one.
Tomorrow morning we will sail away from this beautiful anchorage and head to Ko Phi Phi. The scenery will be more spectacular but we will be entering Thailand’s tourist center, so we will also have to share the beauty with lots of people.
