Happily Gryphon ll’s electrical supply is now much enhanced with the new solar panels soaking up the sun aloft a newly erected steel arch. It was a quick and efficient job. When we arrived at Royal Phuket Marina Chris dinghied to Boat Lagoon next door,  the main centre for marine services in Phuket, to arrange an appointment for a visit from the steel fabricators.

Royal Phuket Marina was very difficult to get into as the entrance channel is through shallow mud flats barely sufficient for our draft and although the Marina management say they will provide a pilot to guide yachts in they were impossible to contact on their standby VHF channel. We had booked in advance but our arrival seemed unexpected, however, the marina boys got us into a good berth and greeted us with icy cologne scented face towels which were very welcome. This marina, built in what was once a mangrove swamp, is like an amphitheatre surrounded by apartments, it is airless and hot. About half of the pontoons are given over to large speedboats that provide tours out to various tourist hotspots and in the mornings when they leave the noise and fumes are horrendous. We wanted to get out as soon as possible and were very pleased when Chiaochan Khammuang better known as Sang came promptly from his base in Boat Lagoon to do a survey for the work we wanted and give us his estimate.

We had a design in mind but he put new ideas forward which would give us more flexibility, he showed us many photographs of previous work he had done which was impressive. We decided to go ahead with his design and also to replace our cockpit guard wires with stainless steel bars which would strengthen everything. Sang was happy to do the fitting elsewhere so we decided to leave Royal Phuket and move to Yacht Haven an open and airy marina at the northern end of Phuket.

It was a relief, ah... and Mammas and Pappas a local village restaurant is very good too. We had a good evening celebrating Chris’s 60^th birthday there with friends Peter and Gisela from yacht Comodo.

Sang orchestrating the work of the fabricators.

The finish is excellent, the frame fits in perfectly and the new bars have been blended into the existing pushpit frame really well with excellent welding and polishing.

A happy and hardworking crew, they had everything made and fitted in a day and cleaned the boat down when the work was finished.

We also got an estimate for a new bimini but unfortunately couldn’t get the work done as quickly as the steelwork. Many yachts coming into Thailand have completed long journeys like us and like ours their canvass items have been beaten by sun and salt spray so there is great demand and not enough skilled workers to go round. We would have been stuck in the Marina waiting for measuring and fittings for some while which we didn’t want because – great excitement, our son Peter is flying into Phuket from China to spend the Chinese New Year national holiday with us. We haven’t seen him since last May when he left England so are just so pleased.

The bimini can wait and we will stitch it yet again in the meantime.