We're Off! - Nai Harn, Phuket, Thailand
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sun 4 Mar 2012 00:38
| 7:46.472N 98:17.943E March 2, 2012 - March 3, 2012 We've cleared out of Thailand and moved around from Ao Chalong to Nai Harn on Phuket's southwest coast. We'll leave from here first thing tomorrow (Sunday, March 4) and head 1,100 miles west to Sri Lanka. Bruce, our trusty weatherman has sent our first departure forecast and all is well except there's not a whole lot of wind out there. A few thunderstorms, but not a whole lot of wind. We've been talking to Scorpio everyday on the SSB and they've had no wind (they are nearly to Sri Lanka). Yuck. We've vowed we will lower our speed tolerance and sail slow in an attempt not to motor the whole way. We have nearly enough fuel on board to motor that far, but why would we want to? We estimated the trip will take us 9 days, but it could be longer given the no wind situation. It doesn't matter. We are not in a hurry and we have enough food on board to last several years. Don is under strict instructions not to fish until space is cleared in the jam-packed freezer. No wind means calm seas, so at least we we'll have an appetite. While underway we'll upload/download email twice per day via the satellite phone, so feel free to email us! Just keep in mind that we won't have access to the internet, so don't send any attachments or internet links and when replying to an email from us, don't include our original email in your message. Using the satellite phone to upload/download email is sloooooow. Slower than the original dial-up internet service, and sat phone time is not cheap. Don't let all this discourage you because receiving emails while we are on a passage, especially a long and boring passage, is our main form of entertainment. So, please, entertain us. We haven't done a passage this long in a while….2008 was the last time: Galapagos to the Marquesas, 17 days. This one shouldn't go on for 17 days, but it will be plenty long enough. Galle's harbor in Sri Lanka will probably look darn good to us despite the filthy water and dodgy mooring. Arriving is one of the best parts of an ocean passage. That and a sky full of stars. We're looking forward to that. The bon voyage party. We had said good-bye to Michael and Jackie on Lady Kay the last time we left Thailand…but here we are again. Jackie cooked us an excellent meal tonight and the six of us, Jackie, Don, Michael, Sue and John had our last meal together for a while. We'll see John in Mauritius as he has bravely volunteered to do the last, and most challenging, leg of our Indian Ocean Crossing with us (Mauritius-Reunion-South Africa). Sue will join us in South Africa. It's possible we'll see Jackie and Michael in London on our way home from South Africa this summer. At any rate, this may be the last night we share an anchorage with both Lady Kay and Storyteller. Wow, we've all been together for the better part of four years. Saying good-bye is never fun, but the good thing about boaters is that you never know where or when you'll see them again, but you will. Either Don or I will update the blog every day while we are en route to Sri Lanka, starting tomorrow. Cheers - Anne |