Return to Thailand

Alcedo
David Batten
Sat 17 Jun 2023 18:58

>> 29 December, 2022. After nearly 2 years of Covid no travel restrictions and armed with a Thai pass, vaccination certificates, evidence of a clear PCR test and confirmation of accommodation and transport to an approved hotel, we were at last able to fly back to Phuket to retrieve Alcedo. After another PCR test at the airport, the taxi from the Boat Lagoon resort picked us up and we were able to take stock of our rather mouldy but otherwise apparently OK boat. At this point, we should like to give huge thanks to Kel and Diane from Hotspot, who checked Alcedo for us during the long Covid after Eva and Paul left the Boat Lagoon and who cleared the cockpit drains and prevented the interior being flooded, taped up leaking windows, rescued electronic equipment from a wet navigation area and sent us regular reports on Alcedo's status. Thank you both so much, we owe you a huge debt of gratitude.
>> 
>> Starting on deck, Skipper's Wife looking very determined!

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> After much discussion and soul searching and counting up pennies in various accounts, we had swallowed hard and booked a slot for Alcedo with Seven Seas on a ship, the Humbergracht, arriving Phuket sometime between the 6th and the end of January. As it happened, the ship got delayed by an outbreak of Covid in Ho Chi Minh City where they were filling the holds with coffee and a change of crew in Singapore. This turned out to be a blessing as it took us 3 days to get rid of most of the mould that covered every surface inside and out, more days of trying to eradicate some very exciting looking fungus that was growing on any damp wood, including inside the Garmin display in the cockpit and generally making the boat inhabitable. While receiving updates on the ship's progress towards Phuket, we also managed to get rid of most of the diesel on board, as required by the transporter, have the topsides polished and the antifoul scrubbed, get launched and find a replacement for the port engine heat exchanger which was corroded, a story in itself.


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