Happy Christmas

Marita3
Mark & Helen Syrett
Tue 25 Dec 2012 12:10
We wish all our family, friends and blog readers a very Happy Christmas.
We are now in Phuket having sailed up from Penang via Langkawi.
The waters were very crowded with fishermen many of whom had bamboo fish traps with nets strung out between them
We arrived at Langkawi towards dusk
and moored at the Royal Langkawi Yacht Club---another ''Royal'' club not in it's prime!
We sailed from there to the south end of Phuket Island via three anchorages. First was Koh Tanga
then to Koh Rok Nok
and Phi Phi Don, all accompanied by a small fleet of American boats
We then crossed over to Ao Chalong to pick up George and Harriet and clear into Thailand.
Because of the tidal range there was a very long pier of several hundred metres so they provided pink buses as transport
We met George and Harriet and H soon settled into life on board
George bought her a snorkel which then had to be tested
and some swimming
We returned to Phi Phi Don but this time anchored off the main town
Life ashore was a little bit different
stalls selling everything from souvenirs to ''themselves''
but Helen got to know the prospective daughter in law better over a couple of mojitos---a good start to share the same taste in drink
Then off to the Yacht Haven Marina to meet up with Henry, Livie, Rufus and Kit, again via a few islands, firstly Phi Phi Lee where The Beach was filmed.
an overnight stop where we were sold prawns and small lobster---delicious
and finally to the marina on Friday. Camelot had already arrived and their Norwegian guests flew in on Sunday. We spent Christmas Eve celebrating Christmas the Norwegian way which included eating rice pudding (porridge as they called it) with a hidden almond. The lucky winner (Rufus)
won a marzipan pig!
they had Christmas cake on Marita in a rain storm so a bit of a squash below
they then performed a special Norwegian dance involving an elf----all a bit confusing for those watching!