Cruisers again
JJMoon Diary
Barry and Margaret Wilmshurst
Fri 11 Feb 2011 09:21
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We are
back in Rebak, our SE Asia home, but we had a good little cruise down from
Phuket and we feel a bit more like proper cruisers again.
The day after our friends in Troubadour left the end
of our pontoon for the Indian Ocean everything fell into place for us; the
generator purred, the fridges hummed, the engine ran without leaks and all
seemed well with the world. Even the ship's clock was ticking again.
We wondered, briefly, whether we should have gone with them after all. It
was a foolish thought and with every passing day we are more confident that we
took the right decision. We hung about for several more days tidying up,
provisioning, carrying out useful tasks and enjoying the social life of the
marina. Then on January 27 we cast off near the top of the tide at 1600
and wound our way back down the shallow channel. This time we engaged a
pilot, one of the regular marina staff, and arrived at the seaward mark without
misadventure.
We motored over to the palm-fringed island we had
visited before and had a comfortable night although the tidal stream runs fairly
swiftly through the anchorage, which makes swimming difficult if not
dangerous. Here we were attacked by our first gremlin; the generator would
run smoothly but would not charge the batteries. After some time
investigating the problem I realized a circuit breaker had tripped - the sort of
thing that can be forgotten after being off the boat for a while.
We decided to take a more scenic route south rather than
the shortest route. This would lead to islands closer to the coast and our
next stop was Phi Phi Don, another very touristy island. Taking our lead
from the (out of date) pilot, and thinking we knew better than our informal
advisers we made for the large bay at the south reputed to be at the centre of
things. It was awful. All the best places to anchor were occupied by
dive boats on moorings and large and small high speed ferries and speedboats
were kicking up a terrific wash as they roared up and down the buoyed channel to
the jetty. We pottered about for a bit, then retreated to look for a
quieter anchorage further north. This we found although as we were
motoring in we were called up by a catamaran on the way out letting us know that
it was "very noisy until 0200". We did not find it so - just a raft of
eight local speed boats whose two-man crews chatted animatedly but bedded down
quietly from about 2100 to 2130 causing very little disturbance.
 At last an anchorage to our
hearts' content.
The following day we sailed to Koh Muk where there is a
nice attraction known as the Emerald Cave. On the way we were assailed by
our second gremlin - we were taking in water and could not find the
source. Those circumstances are always worrying and as soon as the anchor
had bitten we made a determined, methodical effort. It took some time,
although it should not have done so. The last place I looked was the stern
gland, which I had tightened recently. When there is any significant
volume of water aboard it is difficult to see drips or dribble from the
gland. The leak was soon rectified but again we were glad it had not
happened in the middle of the ocean. The famous cave is worth a
visit. It takes the form of an 80m long pitch black tunnel which opens out
into a circular Hong (Thai for "room") about 60m across and open to the
sky. The walls are draped in lush foliage above a sandy beach.
Visitors must swim in or paddle; motors are not allowed because there are bats
in the roof of the tunnel. All quite memorable. The anchorage nearby
is one of the prettiest we have visited for a long time. We enjoyed it so
much we stayed for three nights before sailing off to Tarutao, a Thai island
just north of Langkawi.
  The Emerald cave was quite an
experience; a very dark tunnel opening out to a tranquil beach.
After one further night we made the short hop to Rebak,
arriving in the early afternoon and immediately feeling very much at home.
We had some good sailing on the way south and were able
to ensure that the running rigging was working smoothly and the standing rigging
properly tensioned. Most regrettably we do not always sail when we
should. JJ Moon has a relatively large engine and fuel tanks and it is all
too easy to rely rather heavily on the old adage "gentlemen do not sail to
windward". We still have some sailing conscience left and feel
unreasonably pleased with ourselves when we have harnessed the wind properly and
minimized our carbon footprint, as on this occasion we did.
Now another gremlin became apparent: the fridge that was
purged and re-gassed in Phuket had ceased to function; something that crept up
on us over the course of a week. This is very inconvenient as friends are
due on board and the weather remains very hot. Another good reason to be
thankful that we are not at sea. As if we needed further reasons.
Recent copy emails indicate some disharmony in the
Thailand to Turkey fleet, at least as far as communications go and it has not
even left the Maldives. It may all be a terrible misunderstanding but
there is general anxiety about the increasing range of the pirates' reach and
the increase in number of attacks. This has lead to stress and
difficulties in the fleet. Then there is Baccus, which was abandoned south
of Sri Lanka in awful weather while trying to join the Vasco de Gama rally
leaving Cochin in mid January. We knew the boat and her skipper from the
Sail Indonesia rally and we had bumped into him on Rebak just before we
left for Phuket. He was suffering at the time having just returned on
board to find that one or more of his batteries had blown up spraying acid
widely over the accommodation. His wife was being treated for breast
cancer and was unable to join him for the next leg of his round the world voyage
so he had two Belgian volunteers as crew. All three were picked up by a
Maersk freighter organised initially by Falmouth MRCC. We were talking to
an Australian couple over supper the other day who were caught in the same
weather pattern and after 750 miles, utterly exhausted and nearly out of fuel,
turned back to Rebak - another 750 miles. They are recovering now,
thankful that they still have their boat and each other but it was pretty
harrowing.
Rebak seems very nice and comfortable, particularly as
we purchased a small air-conditioning unit from friends who were off across the
ocean. Currently it sits in the main companionway, a bit of a nuisance to
climb over each time but....bliss!
Breaking news: We learned by email yesterday that
several boats on the TTT convoy, including our particular friends have decided
to ship their boats back to the Mediterranean on the deck of a
freighter. The risks of piracy are too great this year and now there
is serious trouble in Egypt resulting in advice not to proceed through the Suez
canal.
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