Fai Tira Blog, Phuket, Wednesday 15th December 2010 08:10.20N 98:20.38E

 

 

Our stay at Pen/Batu Maung shipyard was extremely interesting with us working alongside the locals busily painting and antifouling their large wooden fishing boats. As you have seen in our previous blog we managed to find the offending piece of equipment that was causing so much noise and worry.  Well it seems that the rope cutter was to blame for the banging at the back of the boat which has now disappeared with the removal of it.  While we were staying at the shipyard we were accompanied everywhere we went by a troop of really friendly dogs that virtually lived under our boat during our stay.

 

 

 

Here are two of the puppies which were really great. If I could have smuggled one aboard I would have brought it back to Dartmouth as a pet.  They were just so playful.

 

  

 

On Wednesday the 8^th of December we watched as Fai Tira, with a re-antifouled bottom, was lowered into the water.  We said our goodbyes to the manager Jeffery and his fellow worker Alvin and headed off for an overnight 70 nm trip to Langkawi.   We planned to go south around the bottom of Penang Island and then head north west up the west side of the island to try and keep away from the hundreds of fishing boats that ply these waters.

 

 

 

As Penang disappeared into the distance we came across a flotilla of fishing boats heading out for the night and laying their nets across vast amounts of ocean and therefore trying to snag the odd sail boat that came by.  Remembering we do not now have a rope cutter it is essential we try to miss the offending nets.

As the night progressed the weather worsened and yet again we had a headwind and tide against us.  We battled on through the night getting drenched on each watch until we arrived on the southern tip of Langkawi.  The Italian couple had told us about this really nice anchorage with cliffs rising vertically out of the water. We stood off until it got light and ventured in very gingerly as our depth sounder has gone on the blink.

 

 

We weren’t disappointed, the location known as Fjord Anchorage was spectacular.  We dropped the hook and had a cup of tea and went to get some proper rest. Later that morning I awoke to see a large monkey hanging off of a tree at the top of one of the cliff faces, and we later had sea eagles swooping around us.  The place was so peaceful and such a contrast from the hustle and bustle of the shipyard we decided to stay the following night.

 

The following morning we headed for Langkawi and another marina.  We needed to check out of customs for Malaysia, as we were heading for yet another country.  Next stop Thailand.

 

 

I checked us in and out again at the same time and then we headed into town.  Langkawi is a tax free island and the town reflected this with every other shop selling duty free booze, cigarettes and chocolate. We wandered around and found a place to eat that sold beer which was quite difficult as most of the population is Muslim.

 

 

We ate at a Chinese seafood restaurant and then wandered around the night market which was very interesting. John and Jeremy spent some time negotiating the price on some very cheap sarongs.  We headed back to the boat thoroughly shopped out.

 

The next morning we headed back into town so that John could get his trusty old Tiva shoes mended and then headed for a duty free shop to stock up our beer, wine and gin stocks for Christmas.  Ten slabs of beer and six bottles of gin later we headed back in a taxi to stash the bounty in the bilges.

 

That evening we had been invited to eat on board Moonbeam with Colin and Sarah, who believe it or not, have a house in Dartmouth just a couple of hundred yards away from ours on Brown Steps.  We had a terrific evening and headed back to our boat very replete.  

 

 

A very nice Norwegian boat built in 1894. 

 

The next morning we set off yet again on a 130 nm trip to Phuket Island and a town called Chalong.  The trip was the worst we have had in a long time. First we encountered what we could only think were fish traps and then we had strong winds on the nose again with big swells, followed by heavy down pours not to mention dodging the fishing boats. Do you get the picture.  Horrible!!!!

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Fish trap things and heavy monsoon rain were just a couple of things to make our journey miserable.

 

 

John was feeling very unwell but stuck to doing his watches (he wasn’t on watch when this photo was taken).

 

 

 

We were all so pleased to have arrived as you can see.

Chalong on the Island of Phuket is the place where we needed to check into Thailand.  It has one of the longest piers we have encounter on the trip and they even run a bus to the end to save your legs.

 

 

After an amazing walk around the town we met up with Paco and Bob, from Nautiboytwo, at the yacht club for a quick beer. We discussed the trip up to Yacht Haven Marina before heading back to Fai Tira for a quick shut eye.  The evening saw us wandering the streets looking for somewhere ethnic to eat. We ran the gauntlet of lots of Thai women offering all sorts of types of massages.  Does anyone know what a bang bang massage is? 

 

 

The morning saw us heading north to the top of Phuket Island in perfect motoring weather, passed the town of Phuket itself, which is dominated by a massive Buda on top of the highest hill. The fishing boats were still playing with us and we gave them a friendly wave as usual as they passed by.

 

 

 

We passed some spectacular islands which were featured in one of the James Bond movies (The Man with the Golden Gun) and crept into the estuary leading to the marina hoping not to collide with the bottom, as we still haven’t got a working depth gauge. We met up with Tony of BWR and sorted out some repair work before retiring to the bar for happy hour and catching up with everyone’s experiences of Malaysia.

 

Today I have met Judy at the airport and we are looking forward to a relaxing week in a resort hotel.

 

 

Our beach.