Kohs and Hongs (part two)

Thursday 23rd Feb

It was hard to believe we were anchored when I woke up this morning – it had been such a calm, still night there was no movement at all on the boat. I was up at 6 30, in the cockpit with the binoculars watching the bats soaring above the peaks of the Hong in the early morning light. When Paul got up around 7 30 he said it was time to get going – this happened to coincide with our neighbours on the catamarans doing a jolly morning workout routine: facing each other from the decks of their boats, they sang and chanted whilst dancing and exercising and cheering each other on. We weighed anchor and moved on.

A jolly start to the day

For most of the morning, the autohelm and I took on the steering and watching while Paul tried to get a signal to send his work reports.

Captain Mainwairing steering
Scenes unsullied by human intervention on our way to Panyi

We were heading for a small Muslim fishing village called Panyi which has quite a fascinating history. Two families from Java, Indonesia set out at the end of the 18th century to seek a suitable place to settle and make a living from fishing. It was agreed that whoever found such a spot first would raise a flag to alert the others, which is how the village came to be called Panyi (panyi means flag). All the families living there today are said to be descended from those original settlers. We had read up about it and looked at images online. It looked an incredible place – a village built on tall wooden stilts at the foot of a limestone cliff and boasts a market, souvenir shops, seafood restaurants and a notable mosque.  As we got nearer to it a longtail boat followed us from behind until it was close enough for the guy at the helm to gesture that he would show us where to anchor. We weren’t sure if we had a choice or not, and he led us to somewhere different from where we’d intended to drop it, but there were fishing buoys around and he may have been keen for us to avoid nets so we stopped where he’d indicated. The area was full of other longtails and motorboats carrying visitors to and from the piers of the village. It’s a popular destination to visit for lunch in the seafood restaurants or an afternoon of browsing the stalls.  After we had anchored the guy in the longtail drew alongside to tell us he would take us ashore and guide us around the village (for a fee, naturally). He didn’t really want to take no for an answer until I made the universal sign for sleep and even then he said he’d come back later.

We wanted to wait until all the day visitors had departed anyway.  He returned as promised at 4 o’clock just as were getting ready to go across. He got the message when he saw the dinghy but we thanked him for the offer and had a friendly chat with him about the village.

It was short hop across to the visitors’ jetty and some small boys came running up, eager to help Paul tie it up. I was struck by how flimsy the structure seemed as we walked off the pier and into the ‘streets’. The stilts are wooden and are sunk into thick, smelly mud teeming with all kinds of wriggling creatures. I couldn’t help thinking how awful it would be to topple in; the walkways are fairly narrow, often with no barriers on the sides.

Koh Panyi
Paul getting some help

Luckily there was no risk of being jostled because all the day visitors had gone and we seemed to be the only visitors there. This fact made me feel slightly awkward because it felt like we were gawping at people’s houses at times, especially as you could see right inside to their living area while walking by. The central part of Koh Panyi is a concrete floor that connects to a row of tiny souvenir shops, and from there a narrow maze of uneven planks leads to the villagers’ wooden homes.  It would be easy to become disorientated in the network of walkways and small shops, all of which sell gifts such as tee shirts, batiks and handmade items made of shells and coconut shells.

Souvenir stalls

The stilts holding the village!

Away from the centre, the space opens up between the wooden houses and you can see the seafront where all the restaurants are…but the smell lingers. We ambled around the souvenir stalls, had a look at the grand and gleaming mosque but were unable to go inside because only Muslims can enter it, and then on to the floating football pitch, built out of bits of wood and fishing rafts by local children back in 1986. Football is popular here despite the confined space, and we saw a group of boys playing it underneath the cliff.  We had intended to eat here but we weren’t hungry enough and as it looked as if it was about to bucket down with rain, Paul was keen to get back to Sister Midnight in case the anchor dragged. The dinghy trip back was a wet one: the heavy shower and a strong wind started just as we were getting in it, and we felt quite cold by the time we reached the boat (feeling chilled really is a novelty here). The anchor had held well despite the strength of the squall – we hadn’t moved an inch. Some more pics below of Koh Panyi Village.

The mud below -lots of wrigglies in there!
Floating football ‘field’

Storm clouds just as we left

More of that paradise stuff, sorry

Yes it continues, lovely unspoilt beaches, crystal clear waters, relaxing sails, blah blah blah. Nothing really exciting to report.

We spent Thursday in Phuket town, checking out and picking up spares for the trip, we restocked at a few stores on food and drink, and went to immigration, Harbour Master and Customs to check out. Back to the boat, and a very low spring tide, so everything was exactly the same as the last time we loaded up the boat bringing the trolley down a very steep ramp to the pontoons, however this time I stayed out of the water. One thing I realised, is that as I fell backwards into the water, I pulled on the trolley to try to stop myself falling, and that’s what helped bring it onto my head. I should have pushed it away from me, that way I would just have got wet and the trolley may have stayed ashore. I wonder how fast your brain would have to work to suss that out in the split second you have. Obviously faster than my old grey matter.

So Friday morning we left early on slack water, 3 hours before high tide, and headed off to Ko Yao, a big island with a few villages and had a lovely overnight stop, Saturday we left early without going ashore and continued straight on to Phi Phi Dom, arriving an hour or two before sunset.

We were lucky to pick up a mooring buoy here, as anchoring is difficult, the waters very deep off the coast, and is sandy, which isn’t the best for anchors, they prefer mud. also as the water gets shallow, there is lots of coral you could damage, or even get your anchor stuck under. I have a system ready to deploy when I drop they anchor, that will allow me to get a stuck anchor out, but I haven’t tried it yet.

We are here primarily so Kathy can visit ‘The Beach’. If you don’t know what ‘The Beach’ is , then you’re probably not a Leanordo fan. It’s going to be very crowded, but it has to be done. Later today I hope we can scoot across the rest of phang Nga bay to Ko Yum, just off the mainland Thai coast where we continue our journey south to Malaysia.

I have some good footage of fish I shot yesterday with the goPro, will try to edit that up.

As far as our position goes, there is little AIS coverage on the internety around here, but I self report to Marine Traffic via my mobile phone each day and on passage. If you want the latest position, check us out here.

AIS Position details here

The Autohelm is behaving well since I fixed the rudder feedback, so fingers crossed. Everything else is working well. so All’s good here in Paradise 😉