Category: Uncategorized

So after leaving Langkawi, just outside the main harbour area I saw this boat, I had mentioned her before,  She was from Grimsby and had a rich history as a working boat.

This was the picture I posted last October. Very sad to see this, she has been on the rocks for six months or more now, so I can’t see her being salvaged, but who knows.

I headed off in very calm seas, but thunderstorms were forecast and I could see lots of them on the horizon, however they seem to like the land, Langkawi, behind me was covered in heavy cloud, and the mainland to my port side was the same, yet it was quite sunny over me for most of the trip.
This particular cloud set was heading for me, or so it looked, by this time I was well on my way and the winds were picking up to 15knots, so I rolled in the headsails a bit. I wanted to put a reef in the main, but by now the autohelm was not able to steer the boat. I had let her get unbalanced, with a full main, and not much headsail, she had a lot of Lee helm, or was it wetherhelm, and would veer widely off course. So I was left to hand steer for the last two hours of the passage. I could have started the engine, turned into the wind and sorted it, but I was enjoying the ride, regularly hitting 7+ knots. The wind had started off on the beam, but was now behind, and the waves were causing me to surge forward, almost like surfing, but at 16 odd tonnes, she takes a lot to surf. Not to many obstacles, but I got close to these fish sticks. These are big sticks, the water it 25ft deep here, the idea is that barnacles grow on them, things eat the barnacles, bigger things eat them and even bigger…. Then the really big fishermen come along and catch the big fish.
Talking of fish, I did catch one, honest, it was massive, well I reckon it must have been, but of course it got away, but the manner it did was amusing. I was trawling a line behind from my fishing rod, the lure was a big squiddy thing, big enough to catch a small whale, anyway, as usual, the reel started running out at speed, just as I was doing some other critical job, probably furling sails, by the time I got to the rod, and put the brake on, a lot of line had gone out. I took the rod out from its new holder on the very back of the boat, (Spoiler Alert) right next to the wind turbine, I could feel the pull from the fish, it was very powerful, I raised the rod high and then a bang, clunk and twang as the line snapped, First thought that the  fish had broke it, but no, I had got the line caught in the wind turbine and it had snapped at the end of the rod. Now, a little like my kedging cock up, I looked up to see the line was taught from the turbine, all the way back to the fish, so not all was lost, what was even more impressive was that the turbine was winding in my catch, the fishing line had wrapped around the blades and was now accumulating on the axle as the strong wind kept it turning. I thought this could be very cool, it would haul the fish right up to eye level, and then stop, I could just lift the fish off and dispatch it, if the turbine hadn’t already, I think there might be a market for something similar out there. A quick reality check, and I thought there’s not enough room for all the line on the axle, and like getting something wrapped on the prop, when it does come to a stop, the force of it can do some damage. So I stopped the blades tuning and slowly removed the line. By now the fish had bitten his way through the line and buggered off. While hanging off the back of the boat, high up, one hand on the turbine, one on the solar panels, and the cutters between my teeth, I thought one slip and it’s bad news, the autohelm would have just took the boat on it’s merry way, leaving me to pray for a fishing boat to pass! I must make a rule to clip on when on my own.

There were quite a lot of big fishing boats, and two of them had a massive net enclosing them, I thought I had left enough space to pass behind them, but as I approached I could see the top of the net, buoyed, and covering the area of a football field around the boat, incredible, I can confirm my gybe preventer does work!

I was making such good progress, I passed my first destination, and my second and went for the third and last possible stop before Penang, it was a very small island Pulau Bidan, but when I arrived the wind was blowing 20-25 knots from the north and the sea state was getting quite rough, perhaps 1.5-2 mtr waves and coming from the NE and NW at the same time. I found a corner where the waves were a bit subdued, but still rough, and within an hour of setting the anchor the wind shifted making it very rolly. It was now getting dark, so I just hunkered down, had a butty and an early night. As I have done the last two times I anchored, I set the Drag Queen App up to alarm if I move more than 300ft from my anchored spot, but forgot to press the activate button, so that was a waste of time. The winds dropped through the night, I checked every hour or so. Finally I woke at 8am to a calm sunny day, looking out the cockpit it was hard to match the image below with the harsh weather from the night before. But it was a gorgeous start to the day.

From here it was 4 hours down to Penang, I had had an email from the boatyard that they could lift me out in 2 days time, then I got an email from Pangkor marina that it would be ten days before they could haul me, so I decided to head to the boatyard and anchor and chill for a day or so.
Penang was busy, lots more land reclamation going on, I went through a restricted area by mistake and realised when I saw a giant loch ness monster style pipeline sticking up, that explained the big yellow and black cardinal buoy on my port side, that should have been on my starboard side. These things aren’t on the charts as they happen so quickly, but no harm done.

This yacht was huge, the crew all waved to me as I passed, which was nice.

This next bulk carrier was even larger ,you can see the barge next to it being filled. I don’t know what the cargo was, but possibly powdered land they use so much of here.
So then there was the old bridge to pass, I wasn’t too worried about this, I had been under it a few times now, and knew we would fit.

The second bridge is a bit lower and really doesn’t look so easy, I really thought I might hit it, even though we have been under it twice before.

So as I approached the second bridge at the southern end of the island, near the boatyard I gave them a call on the off chance they had an opening, and sure enough they said to come over and they would haul me. Brilliant, but a bit scary as the entrance to the travel lift dock is fraught with jagged concrete obstacles, and a strong cross current is hard to handle. However the timing was perfect, we are getting into neap tides now, much milder, and I was 3 hours before high water, where the tidal flow is less. I got in with not much trouble. I could have done with my fenders a lot higher, but we didn’t scratch anything, the steel rub rail might need a polish.

So it was with great interest I watch the boat lift, and sure enough the damage from the grounding was superficial.

Scrapes on the bow where we hit the rock, gelcoat damaged, fiberglass intact.

After she was washed, the hull looked great, the antifoul has lasted the last year well.

I thought there was a bit of vibration from the prop, this explains it. This is just 6 weeks fouling, must make a note to keep cleaning it often. I have a very small amount of tiny blisters, but 99.99% of the hull is blister free, so I think the work we did last year worked well.

So the plan now is to fill the scratches and grooves, prime, then put another coat of antifoul on tomorrow. I have cleaned the prop and put a new anode on, tomorrow I will grease it, and possibly adjust the pitch if I can work out the correct setting. Then we launch on Thursday and I head south. I plan to get down to KL or maybe even Singapore before Kathy flies out. Then I am thinking we will try to get to America’s PNW after all. I need to be in Japan for the middle of May if I want to be safe from cyclones, The route is Singapore-Hong Kong-Japan-Seattle, so there’s a lot to do.

Paul Collister

Continue reading “On the hard”

Yes I was talking with chappy earlier at the fuel dock who spoke Malay and he enquired about the name, he was an Iggy Pop fan and liked the name, I think? Anyway, I pointed out that it often caused amusement with the Malaysians when I had to give them the name, and he explained that it would, given sister means gay here. The Malaysian government have banned gays, and officially these aren’t any, except, it seems, for my boat,”Gay Midnight” and she is quite brazen about it !!

I was up early and got the boat ready for the trip, fuelled up and left at ten, after giving some boat handling lessons to a lovely couple from Estonia who are just starting their sailing adventures, having bought their first boat here, from a guy I became friendly with when Tim was over last year, and now they want to head off into the blue yonder, just once he has worked out how to leave the dock.

The wind was strongish from the east, 10 knots at Langkawi, building to 20 by the time I arrived near Penang. It was a great sail down, with thunderstorms threatening all the time and plenty of things to dodge. I will write more tomorrow, as right now I’m at anchor in a rather uncomfortable spot just north of Penang. I couldn’t get to the shelter of the main island before dark, so I pushed on to the last island before Penang, much further than I had hoped, but then I was making between 6 and 7.5 knots most of the time, under full sail.  All of the islands en route are long thin affairs and generally lie North/South so great if the wind is from the east or west, but by the time I got here the wind had changed to the NNW, So I sheltered on the SSE corner of the island,  not much shelter as the waves, which had risen to 1.5m were getting round the whole island and the wind, a steady 20knots was everywhere. Anyway I dropped the anchor and it’s holding very well, I just have to pretend I’m crossing the Atlantic and it’s a bit choppy an the boat is bouncing around a lot, in order to get some sleep. As I write this the wind has dropped to 15 knots and the sea calmed a little, so that’s good.

Things I need to put in tomorrows blog, once I work out how to get the pictures off my iPad are, birds on the sheets, Caught a fish, but it got away, and nearly took me with it, Almost drove through the biggest fishing net I have ever seen, self steering hassles, and fish sticks up close.

 

Paul Collister

Tomorrow morning I’m going to slip my mooring here in Langkawi and head south. In theory this should be a simple operation. The plan is to get some fuel at the dock here, then I can do a 3-4 hour trip to an island called Pulau Paya (2 on the map), if all is going well I might continue onto another island 3-4 hours ahead called Pulau Songsong (3), I have stopped here before a few times doing the sail from Penang (4/5) to Langkawi. It all depends how quickly I can get away, the fuel dock doesn’t open till 9am.
The plan so far is to get as far as Pangkor Island (8/9), which is not far from Kuala Lumpur by Friday. There I can haul out the boat and check how much damage I did on the rock. I  can also see if the osmosis has re-appeared and I may try to adjust the Max-Prop propellor to see if I can’t get some better efficiency from it.Since Kathy went home I have been busy doing chores on the boat. I have fitted the new Throttle and gear cables, Changed the oil and filter, cleaned out the raw water filter and changed both the fuel filters. On my last Volvo engine on the baba 30, I only had to look at the fuel system to induce an air leak into the system. These were always annoying, often they would hide while the revs where high, but as soon as I throttled back entering the marina the engine would stop and not want to start, good game. So after changing these filters I bled the system and it has started perfectly, high revs, low revs, it works great. I haven’t tested the new cables away from the dock, but they seem fine now. What could possibly go wrong 😉

What could go wrong is the weather!Above is typical of the weather here now. It’s forecast for thunderstorms for the next 7 days. A met office warning to shipping for the Malacca straits for today warned small ships to stay home, the forecast said in areas of multiple thunderstorms, waves could reach 12ft high with 30 knt winds. However that was for today, no warnings for tomorrow. I have a variety of sources for weather information, The national weather services for maritime service, the equivalent of the uk shipping forecast is a main one. I make a lot of use of grib files. These are weather data files you download over the net. They are a very compact form of data, so ideal for loading over HF radios, or expensive satellite links. With a viewer on your PC you can see the data as wind and wave patterns as shown belowThis covers the area I will be in tomorrow. It is animated on our iPad, showing the changes every hour over a 96 hour period. Here is the legend/key expanded

So the worst weather tomorrow will be at 17:00 and you can see inshore the wind is about 5 knots, calm, and further offshore, at the extent of where I might be, the wind increases to 15 knots, very healthy for sailing, plus it’s from behind me, so that’s even better. Also the waves go from <1m inshore to 2 mtrs offshore, This might make it a bit more lively, but as they are in the same direction as the wind, and behind me, I’m not too concerned. The only problem is that at some point there will be a strong current flowing north, on the ebb tide, this will slow my progress down and make it less fun, but at the same time, well actually 6 hours later or earlier, the tide will be pushing me along adding a couple of knots to my speed. I think High tide is about 5pm, so the southbound current will be strongest between 3 and 6 pm, roughly. and the current against me between 9-12pm.

I bought a stack of squid from the street market last night, and had them for dinner just now, I’m very pleased at how quick I can prepare them, ripping the body out, removing the plastic spine thing, and skinning them, all in seconds now. Just need to work out how to catch them myself. I don’t eat the tentacles, seems like to much effort, which I know some will think a crime.
I read an article today about how Trump was turning off GPS Accuracy for non military use, and would allow Americans and certain others to buy a license to use it. This would not be great news for sailors, even worse for satnav users, I was concerned. He was quoted as saying it was a great way to raise money for ‘the wall’, he might even make so much money from it he would build a second wall on the Canadian border. At that point I checked the date on the article to see it was the 1st April, I’m just hoping it was a hoax. It did make me think though, just how dependent we are on GPS these days. However I think the European system should be online soon, oh, just realised, as a Brit, we might not be allowed to use it, damm 😉 !!

Paul Collister

Kathy is back in Liverpool now and I’m having to endure this relentless heat on my own. Actually, I decided to go crazy now she has left and yesterday I headed off into town for some fun. First stop was the department store where I bought an omelette pan, guess what I’m having for dinner tonight, and a food processor. Next I bought a giant bag of kit-kat chocolate bars, it’s going to be wild back on the boat tonight, I have already ground some coffee beans up that I’ve had since Tim was here and made a very strong cup of coffee. I might even make up a smoothie with all the fruit that’s hanging around (literally) on the boat.

Seriously I have made a list of the chores and tasks to work on. They are:

1. Work out where our next stop is, somewhere between Africa and America (not the Atlantic side) is as close as I have it now.
2. Sort out the head waste system, somehow the holding tank is filling up, yet it’s not connected!
3. Get the engine looked at, it’s like I used to be, smoking and drinking too much
4. Get a new canopy made, the current ones won’t last much longer
5. Get the boat hauled out, the hull checked for damage after the grounding, and some new antifoul
6. Get the water-maker into service
7. Source some new solar panels, these computers/phones use more power than I thought
8. Buy a liferaft
9. Wash the hull and polish, this could wait till the haulout
10. Fit the WiFi aerial.

There’s quite a few other minor jobs as well, but these are my main tasks I need to complete in the next week or two, certainly before Kathy gets back.

I have uploaded these two videos to accompany Kathy’s blog about the river trip in Tarutao, It doesn’t look as good as it was, honest. I’m still trying to learn what works and what doesn’t, probably should have taken a video making course before I started this trip. Must also remember to keep the lens clean, sorry 🙁

Going in

Heading home

Paul Collister

We are back in the yacht club, it’s not like a real yacht club that we have back home, this is a marina, and now it’s grown to quite a big commercial operation. The office hangs off the end of a large development of apartments/hotel rooms, trendy designer shops and the usual array of franchised food and drink outlets. However, having said that you can see from the header picture I just uploaded, you get some cracking sunsets from Charlie’s bar. The complex is a short walk from a decent shopping mall, and a nice walk a little further into town, but not for the faint hearted when the suns out. I’m ok being an Englishman (mad dogs and all that).
We have had a week here, and haven’t done a lot really, the gang of grey ships we passed through on the way into the harbour were part of a huge military showcase here for the International Maritime and Air Festival, I think that’s the front for what is more honestly known as an arms fair. But we have had fighter jets flying overhead all week, some of them are very noisy. It coincides with school and public holidays, so the whole island has been rammed.
I was very pleased to find my favourite hardware store here stocked the cable I needed for the broken gear stick, so I picked up two, as the throttle cable is the same age, and presumably on its way out. It took the best part of two days to change the cable, as the steering had to come off, the bracket on the engine was seized, on and I had to saw off the connecting rod and fabricate a new one. I took the opportunity, while I was deep in the bowels of the boat to do a few other jobs, like cleaning the raw water filter, and generally cleaning the hull inside. I also managed to identify a couple of jobs to add to the list, like replacing one of the water hoses, that seemed a bit crunchy when squeezed.
I have put a few pictures of the binnacle, which is the thing that has all the engine and steering controls on it, mostly so I can remember how it all works in the future 😉

The new cables waiting to be connected

The gear works well, but I have a problem with tension on the throttle, I have a practical solution, involving a clamp, but it’s abhorrent to me as an engineer, so I’m musing on a better solution, I will probably post to the baba owners group for their wisdom on the matter. Basically a big spring at the engine end is always pushing the throttle back to idle, much like the spring on a car’s accelerator peddle, but unlike a car, you don’t keep your foot on the throttle, you need cruise control, the clamp I took off, basically crushes the cable casing onto the wire inside, that can’t be right.
Still, I have a strong elastic band that works amazingly well for now 🙂

The authorities here threw a maritime parade for the holidaymakers this week, about a dozen big cats, motor boats and old schooners were dressed up with lights and TV screens and paraded around the harbour/bay for a couple of hours, they seemed popular, I can understand that as the Malaysians seem to love their bright LED lights, and these boats were so decorated, that to me they looked like garish fruit machine/one armed bandits, on steroids. One catamaran had the whole side covered in a wall of flat screen tvs displaying flashing lights, 80 style pop video effects and adverts. 

The fireworks at the end were nice, above the giant plastic eagleFinally I managed to upload one of my videos, it’s me and kathy swmming around the boat in Ko Phi Phi. The boat is in about 8 metres of water, so clear.
Let me know if it doesn’t work.

We are hiring a car tomorrow, it’s Kathy’s last day here, so we are going to take a ride to the top of the big hill here in the gondola ‘sky ride’ and also stock up on a few bits and pieces. We will also check out the food festival in Chenang.

Paul Collister

 

 

Saturday 11th March   The Stony Magnificence of Koh Pethra

We weren’t in too much of a hurry to move on from Koh Muk this morning, so it was 10 30 before we weighed anchor and began the journey to Pethra. Not far into the journey, however, Paul noticed the instrument panel wasn’t showing any life so we couldn’t monitor the temperature or the engine revs. We had to stop so that he could do checks on it until he fixed the problem (the sealed fuse was intermittent apparently).

It was midday by the time we motored off and by 2 o’clock we were once again able to have all three sails up and no engine. The next three hours were very chilled. Captain Mainwaring, our trusty autohelm performed well with the steering while we watched out for marine traffic and life (no dolphins at all have been seen yet, although they are around apparently).  Pethra from a distance was long and large with high, undulating rocks. We motored around it to locate the most sheltered area.  The steep side of the biggest mountain on the island’s eastern side blocked the sunlight and gave us instant relief from its heat and glare.

It was 5 30 by then and we also felt the benefit of a cooling gusty wind. There was only one catamaran in the distance and a couple of longtails moored near a tiny fishing village on the beach further along. The sea swell made it a bit rolly on board but, not unbearably so and it was peaceful enough for an overnight stop. Paul had the rest of his squid for dinner along with some of my homemade veggie burgers. We were able to eat in the cockpit and watch the moon rise.

Pethra’s steep rock faces are home to thousands of sea swallows and it’s a protected island, so it isn’t possible to go ashore. We heard all sorts of different bird calls after the sun had set. With the time, and the silence to actually listen instead of merely ‘hearing’ them in the background, it sounded almost as if they were communicating with each other. It’s nice to think these birds have the island to themselves. Not all the birds of Thailand’s islands have been so lucky. The delicacy known as bird’s nest soup comes from the dried saliva the swallows or swifts use to build their nests and these have been illegally plundered, threatening the birds’ habitat as well as the environment. The nests are mostly commercially produced now but some guide books warn that rangers on protected islands are armed with guns to deter nest thieves.

Sunday 12th March  Tarutao National Park

We set off for Tarutao at 8 30 and on the way I read up about it in our out of date (1999) pilot guide. It was described as old, mysterious and primitive with sea turtle nests, a library and a museum. No wonder Paul had told me it would tick all my boxes. The sea was virtually deserted and very calm with diamond-like sparkles on its surface, and watching them was almost hypnotic after a while. At midday Paul pointed out Malaysia coming into view in the form of Langkawi Island and I realised how much I’m looking forward to seeing it again. It was the first place I spent any length of time when I came to Asia last August so it feels a bit like a home environment if that makes sense. Meanwhile, we had western Tarutao to explore. This island was our first port of call back in October when we left Langkawi but we had stopped on the eastern side when the weather had been windy and rainy. This time we picked up a mooring buoy in weather hot and sunny enough to require putting our canopy up for protection.

We pulled up on to the main beach at 4pm so that we could check in at the ranger’s office. Tarutao is a national park so there is a small admission fee (about £5) that goes towards its upkeep. It’s also an eco-tourist destination and is popular with backpackers because the basic accommodation is cheap and tents and sleeping bags can be hired for sleeping on the beach. After a brief chat with the ranger we went for an exploratory walk. The chalet-style accommodation is scattered throughout the wooded area, which also has shower facilities and a restaurant. We came upon the library which contained some intriguing old books, while a few modern paperbacks formed what was probably a book swap facility.

There was what looked like it might have been, or about to be, a games room but was full of dusty table-tennis tables, and abandoned bats and balls. Other buildings that might have once been intended as shops or cafes were in a neglected state. Walking down the centre path we saw some guests outside their chalets painting and meditating and a few people were cycling and jogging. It seemed to be an ideal ‘back to nature’, ‘away from it all’, ‘meditative retreat’ resort, it just doesn’t seem to get the amount of visitors it expected.

On the beach we saw a group of Buddhist monks sat around a couple of rudimentary tents and a little further down a couple of girls sharing one of the camp’s camouflage style tents. These few people had the whole beautiful seafront to themselves. The long white beach was populated only by sand crabs when we walked along it (signs warned of box jellyfish in the water and of monkeys from the forest who like to pilfer belongings). The tide was coming in, creating warm rivers to paddle in and it was blissfully quiet.

As it was almost sunset we bought a couple of drinks from the mini-mart and sat on a bench to watch it.  We had intended to eat in the restaurant but I didn’t fancy navigating the dinghy over the rocks in the shallow choppy water in the dark, especially as it had proved tricky enough spotting them in daylight!

Monday 13th March   Cruising Through the Mangroves

We had to endure the heat of the hottest part of the day but it was a trip that had to be done! A river wends its way through the lush mangroves and thick forests on Tarutao. We’d seen it when we arrived and knew that it was possible to dinghy through it but the tide needed to be right. 10 o’clock was the best time according to Paul’s research so we slapped on factor 50, donned hats and filled up with fuel for an ‘African Queen’ style trip through the jungle and swamps of Southern Thailand. Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration but as we got further in it did remind me of a jungle heartland. It was fabulous. The pictures show it better than I can describe it, although I can relate that the sounds of birds and monkeys added to the jungle-like atmosphere. I half expected to see crocodiles poking their heads up out of the still, murky water. At times, the tree branches were so low we had to duck but they did at least provide relief from the searing heat of the sun’s rays. We spent two hours enjoying the stunning scenery on that river and we had the whole place to ourselves. Below are quite a few pictures of the trip 🙂

Our next destination was to be Ko Lipe but it would be too long a journey, leaving at 12 as we were, so after slipping our mooring Paul looked for a suitable halfway point. Fifty one islands near to Tarutao form the National Park so there were plenty to choose from. Ko Tanga looked ideal but it turned out to be very deep close to the shore and then went shallow very suddenly so it took a fair bit of negotiating and a few attempts before were secure in 20 metres of water (all good practice). We could see an island called Ko Khai not too far away. This island has an arch which is popular with couples who want to walk under it to prolong their relationship or something. Anyway the island we chose was a lot more peaceful for the lack of any arch (fewer longtails and dinghies racing past).

Tuesday 14th March Koh Lipe (pronounced Lippy)

Both of us were up in time to see the sunrise this morning, but unfortunately it was blocked by clouds when it rose. We set off For Lipe not long after that so that we’d have more chance of picking up a buoy if there were any available.  Koh Lipe is a picturesque holiday resort and the bay looked crowded with a variety of vessels as we got nearer to it.  Quite a few boats and ferries were already moored or anchored and we took some time to suss out an appropriate spot. We thought we were in luck finally finding a free buoy after we had motored around and decided that it was too deep to anchor in most parts, while some of the free buoys were too near the coral for our boat. The free buoy turned out to be too good to be true because as we were tying to it a guy came over in his dinghy to warn us that it wasn’t safe – his boat had drifted off it the night before. Back to the drawing board then and after one failed attempt to anchor in 23 metres of water, we had just got it set and I was putting the gear into reverse when the gear lever went loose in my hand. I called out this news to Paul, expecting him to say it does that from time to time, and to fix it immediately but when he looked at it he said it was well and truly broken. I wasn’t sure how serious this was and tried not to imagine all kinds of disastrous scenarios. After three hours of investigative work in the midday sun with noisy longtails racing past us, Paul managed to construct a temporary solution in the form of a very rudimentary gearstick made from wire and a bolt! He worked at it in his usual calm, methodical and logical manner. I have to confess that the combination of noise and the sticky heat, as I fetched tools from the cabin and helped to test various parts as he compiled them, stressed me out quite a lot (to put it mildly). A relief then, when just before 5, with all the tools put away, it began to get cooler and we prepared to go ashore.

No surprise to find there were several longtails and daytripper boats near the shore, and as the water got clearer, lots of jagged rocks came into view and had to be negotiated in the dinghy. Our first impressions of Lipe weren’t very positive. The path we took from the beach trying to locate the shops led us onto a dusty and smelly building site, teeming with flying insects. When we eventually came upon walking street though, it was a vibrant and colourful area, full of backpackers and hostels and shops (including a couple selling second hand books :)). There were pubs and restaurants, Thai massage rooms, tattoo parlours and quirky cafe bars where customers can lie on comfy loungers and watch films. Vendors stand outside their establishments beckoning you inside, and all the time motor bikes roar up and down the crowded streets. We bought a few provisions, browsed some of the shops and then went for a much-needed drink and dinner on the beach.

Kathy

 

Monday 6th March Koh Jum

I had intended to get up in time to see the sunrise and have another look at the deserted beach in the morning light, but was disappointed on both counts. It was too cloudy to see the sun in all its glory, and boats had already begun to arrive by the time I woke up at 6 o’clock. I made a coffee and sat in the cockpit watching longtails head for the shore one by one, much as I had watched them depart the evening before. We didn’t linger long after Paul woke up because we were both keen to move on, so at 8am we slipped our mooring and motored off.  As we passed slowly by the rest of Phi Phi Lee’s coastline we remarked on how much more attractive its other beaches looked – and they are probably a lot more peaceful too.

They will have to wait until we visit these parts again, however, because we were steering towards our next destination – Koh Jum.

We’d heard lots of good things about this island, mainly from the sailing vlog ‘Follow The Boat’ we’ve been following on the internet but also from a couple of people who have been there. That it is beautiful and well worth seeing was confirmed from a bit of online research. Praiseworthy descriptions like the ones below from Travelfish and Rough Guide were the norm on several other independent travel sites (I guess ‘thin’ in the second description refers to the amount of people rather than their size, but who knows!):

Jum is a favourite with guitar-strumming beach bums and families looking to side step the party crowd.

 Jum strikes an ideal balance of great beaches, thin crowds and ultra-relaxing atmosphere. 

So enchanting is Ko Jum that we’ll go out on a limb to call it one of our favourite Thai islands. 

Jum is the sort of laidback spot that people come to for a couple of days, then can’t bring themselves to leave.

The morning was overcast but hot – we refreshed ourselves with a breakfast of fresh pineapple that had been sun-ripened in the cockpit.  On a very calm sea, all we saw for almost the whole way were a few fishing buoys and one or two other yachts.  As we got nearer to Jum at about midday it looked a lot bigger than I had expected, and was also a lot flatter than the towering islands we’ve been used to seeing. Covered in a forest of varying shades of green, we could see tiny chalet-like buildings nestling among the trees and the shore was lined with long white beaches. No other yachts were at anchor so we had the pick of the spots in this peaceful location: so far so paradisiacal then.

It wasn’t until we went ashore in the dinghy that the stunning beauty of the place really hit me. It’s high on the list of one of the most gorgeous places I’ve seen anywhere in Asia (I wonder how any more times I will state that – lots I hope). The afternoon light only enhanced its appeal, creating a clear contrast between all the colours on show: turquoise sea, green forest, blue sky and white sand. Again, I’m not sure that any pictures I took will do the scene justice. Not many people were around, just a few sunbathers and swimmers – very serene, and very hot, so we climbed up some steps to the first beach bar we saw. It was called Mr Boy Bar and the guy who served us (who may well have been Mr Boy himself) was chatty and friendly, although most Thai people are so it’s not that noteworthy. He told us the wine he had in stock was not good enough (!), so I had a gin and tonic instead; well it seemed rude not to in such a setting :). We spent an hour there taking in our surroundings and it struck me that it would be pretty hard for anyone not to feel relaxed in this tranquil environment.

Mr Boy, who turned out to be from Bangkok and had been in Jum for 12 years, told us the season had been notably quiet this year. This isn’t such a bad thing in terms of ambience for visitors like us, but not so good for the bars and resorts in the area who rely on tourism. We decided we would stay for two nights to make the most of the place. We chose to have dinner sitting at a table on the beach very near to the water’s edge (see pic below) and ordering it was an amusing interchange both for the young waiters and us as we all tried to make ourselves understood. I was proud that I managed to get a vegan green Thai curry and Paul had the catch of the day (Barracuda – the waiter’s arm gestures indicated that it was a very big fish :)). Little white sand crabs scuttled past us – fascinating to watch them, though I felt sorry for them when a couple of cats began pouncing on them, seemingly just for sport.

Tuesday 7th March

It was nice to have a leisurely morning instead of preparing to move on. In fact most of the day was spent in a leisurely manner because of the heat. Some days I find it more physically draining than others and my energy is sapped (it feels almost like being put ‘on hold’ until cool enough to move again) so while Paul got in the dinghy and cleaned around the hull, all I could muster the strength to do was soak some clothes ready for washing and type up a bit of the blog. When it had cooled down a bit, we went through some safety procedures, such as ‘man overboard’ with the lifebelt and new dan buoy Paul had bought (hopefully we’ll never need to use them!!).

After I’d summoned enough steam to rinse out the washing, we went ashore, walked the length of the beach and ended up at another bar, strangely enough. This one overlooked a more rugged terrain that reminded me of the Cornish coast – huge rocks, rock pools and waves crashing onto the shore instead of gently lapping on it. In keeping with the overall surroundings, though the music was ambient – some reggae, some instrumental, no ‘muzak’ – and to complete the perfection a lovely black dog joined us and allowed me to fuss him for a while.

 

Paul had forgotten to put the boat lights on, so while he went back to do that in the dinghy I waited on the sand watching the sand crabs scurrying around and darting into their holes. We went for dinner in a nearby restaurant that was part of one of the resorts. It was high up, lit with fairy lights and had a great view over the bay (shame that my pineapple rice had bits of chicken in it though).

Wednesday 8th March Koh Lanta

An early getaway (8 30) to make the most of the cooler hours. There were lots of fisherman in one particular area so we had to watch out for their buoys and net markers for a while.  Within an hour the wind had got up and we were able to put the sails up and turn the engine off. For two hours we enjoyed peace without the noise of the engine and made good progress with the sails. The coast of Lanta looked empty of people as we drew closer, but it was full of resorts similar to those in Jum. The island is very long and we were heading for the far end of it, so it was a good opportunity to see the whole of its southern coastline.  A small fold-out map we’d been given advertised a plethora of clubs, bars, restaurants and beach party venues, complete with fire dancers! It’s a popular spot for young holidaymakers but we knew it wouldn’t be as manic as the hotspots of Ibiza or Cyprus – Thailand generally winds things up at 1am – or 2am if it’s a full moon party. We dropped our anchor at 3pm in Kantiang Bay among quite a few other yachts and catamarans.

When we went ashore at 5 we were met at the shore by two guys who turned out to be Glaswegian and they offered to help us carry the dinghy up the beach. They were just off fishing for their dinner they told us, in the cheerful manner that is the norm on these islands: everyone is so happy!  Sometimes it’s like we’ve been transported to the island from that old TV series, Fantasy Island, or Shangri-La maybe…nice though ;). My initial impression as we walked along was that it had a Mediterranean feel. It was clean, with a café and bar-laden prom offering everything from crepes to cocktails. Families and couples on the beach were either lounging in deckchairs or paddling and swimming. We headed for a bar with the apt name of ‘The Why Not Bar’ for a drink before walking along the shore as the sun was getting lower in the sky.

When we reached the spot opposite Sister Midnight we noticed there were comfy-looking loungers on the sand and thought it might be nice to lie on those and have a drink in the dusky light. Despite the bar associated with the loungers proclaiming that it was ‘happy hour’, the offer being ‘buy one get one free’, the cost of a glass of wine was around £9, so not caring that we might be thought cheapskates we had a glass of diet coke each (one being free) and were happy with that.

When we got to the dinghy to return to the boat, the two Glaswegians reappeared as if by magic to help us carry it to the water. They proudly showed us their catch of the day – an impressive bunch of squid. Paul is still having a run of bad luck in his attempts to catch his dinner so a tin of tuna had to suffice for him that evening.

Thursday 9th March Passage to Muk

There had been strong gusts of wind all through the night – not enough to make it rocky but Paul let more chain out on the anchor to be on the safe side. It was still gusting in the morning when we decided to go to Ko Muk, which had been described as another ‘must see’ destination, with the added attraction of a Hong that you have to swim through a dark tunnel to access. I told Paul I’d look forward to seeing the pictures he took of it! Before all that, however, we had a more pressing problem to deal with.  The anchor had been pulled tight due to the wind and in order to free ourselves I had to manoeuvre the boat a little bit at a time while Paul gave hand signals from the bow to indicate where to steer and when to stop and start until the chain pulled free. There was also the need to flake the chain so he had to come down to the anchor locker a couple of times to do that too. It sounds more complicated than it actually was and we managed it well, motoring off into 20 knot winds at 10am. It could have turned into a rocky ride so I stayed below to check on the stowing while Paul put sails up to utilise the wind.  We reached Ko Muk at 3pm and anchored in another lovely sheltered spot. Not long after we got there, a fisherman drew up with fish to sell (squid to be precise) and Paul bought some from him.  He then asked if he could come on board and look at the boat – he seemed suitably impressed with it. For the next hour Paul was on deck preparing the squid for cooking later – I didn’t know so much dark inky fluid could come out of one small creature, and Paul had several!

It was 5 30 by the time we went ashore, and still very hot. We went to the place where all the kayaks had had been gathered earlier in the day. Only one was left and the owner was nowhere in sight. A sign in front of the rocks informed us that this was ‘Emerald Cave’, which is what we had come to look at. The tide was too high to attempt an entry in the dinghy (well I thought so anyway). I suggested Paul could swim through and I’d wait but he said we’d try in the dinghy the next day after he’d checked the tides. We headed for the little beach opposite our anchorage and passed the last kayak leaving it, so we had the place to ourselves. It was gorgeous, and warm enough to have a swim in the clear water. I never tire of looking at the intricate patterns the sand crabs make. They remind me of the crop circles that were in the news several years ago.

Friday March 10th  Koh Muk and the Emerald Cave

The little beach opposite us looked particularly charming with the early morning rays of sunlight shining on it. However, because we hadn’t yet seen the ‘must see’ Emerald Cave we needed to move so that we could be near to it for our 3pm visit when the tide would hopefully allow us to go through in the dinghy.  It seemed a good opportunity to circle round the whole of Muk slowly so that we could look at its coastline in full, especially as it was such a clear and breezy morning.  The palm-fringed beaches on the opposite coast were lined with resort buildings that appeared to be deserted. Empty sun loungers were arranged neatly on the sand which was smooth and undisturbed. It will be a shame if these places go bust, but I suppose there are so many islands with similar holiday complexes there is insufficient demand for them. When we reached the spot near the cave we had a bit of trouble anchoring because the sea bed was strewn with rocks, and twice we had to pull it up and start again. The third attempt found a space for the anchor to dig in and then we just had to wait until the time was right. We set out on a choppy sea at 4 30, guessing that all the visitors who were part of excursion tours would have left by then. There were only a few kayaks and dinghies from private boats when we got to the cave, which looked a lot more accessible than the day before. Two of them were just leaving so Paul asked if it was ok for dinghies in the tunnel. We were reassured it was fine, as long as we had a torch (which we’d remembered this time) so in we went. It was easy to see why it had the name ‘Emerald’ in its name. The combination of the water and the reflection of the colour of the roof of the cave produced a vivid green colour. We had no trouble entering and I positioned myself at the bow with the torch to light the way as it got darker. I shone it on the roof to see if any of the bats the guide book had reported might be in residence, but there were none.  I definitely wouldn’t have swum the length of the tunnel, even though it was a relatively short dinghy trip it would have been a long dark swim with plenty of unseen marine life for company. It was a little like being in a fairground ghost train, with the light that emerged when we rounded a corner indicating the exit was ahead. A couple of kayaks and a dinghy were on the small beach when we got there so we added ours to them and looked at the glorious scene that was gradually revealing itself to us.

Paul had been concerned that we wouldn’t get the full benefit of the light at the time of day we were there. As it turned out, however, the late afternoon light lit up some parts of the cylindrical scene and left others in the gloom, which created a very atmospheric landscape. Then there was the silence! Half a dozen other people and ourselves, all talking in normal tones, yet it was so still and quiet, it was akin to the interior of a church. The steep sides were lined with plants and trees, some of them quite rare according to an information sign, which also revealed that it was once a storage place for smugglers’ contraband. I thought it was an incredible place and Paul liked it, but said it wasn’t as ‘awe-inspiring’ as the description in ‘The Hong Notes’ had led him to believe. I know what he means but I’m wary of becoming complacent when confronted with beautiful scenes every day as we have been. I like to ‘see’ them as if it’s the first lovely place of the trip.

Back on the boat we freshened up a bit and dinghied over to the main beach. There was a laid-back atmosphere prevailing when we got there, and we sat at a charming little bar at the end of the beach, looking out at Sister Midnight bobbing on the anchor. We had dinner in a restaurant we’d picked out as soon as we arrived. It was set fairly high up overlooking the bay. The view was predictably wonderful and I enjoyed my spicy papaya salad but the service was a bit slow and grumpy (actually it was quite refreshing after so much smiley niceness ;)). By the time we left, it had got dark and the lights were coming on in the bars and restaurants, but it was still warm enough for people to be enjoying an evening swim in the sea. Pics below of Koh Muk Beach in the evening.

Kathy

 

For Yasmin

Hope that’s all cleared up now Yaz

 

We checked into the Harbour Master, Immigration and Customs this morning, then we upped anchor and went to get fuel, however they didn’t have any. This was the main reason I went to Telaga yesterday, Oh well, we left at 12:00 and motored straight to Kuah, passed through a very large convoy of grey ships and their support vessels on the way, I wondered what the protocol was and if I would be asked to change course, but they didn’t care. Last night 4 fighter jets flew over us, in extremley close formation, very impressive. Kathy said ‘What’s Trump done now?’ which was kind of funny, and kind of worrying too. We managed to sail for the last hour went the wind changed from ahead to astern.
Now we are tied up in the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club. It’s nice to on a pontoon, plugged in to mains again. I can catch up on some of the jobs here. Mainly fixing the gear shift cable. we have good wifi here so hopefully I can upload some of the videos we took over our time in Thailand.

Paul Collister