Kids Week at Nai Harn Beach
28 March 2016 | Phuket Thailand
Kim
It was a sad day leaving Khoa Lak. We had spent a week surfing at our favorite beach in Thailand. The surf was pretty flat and it's getting to be time to start provisioning and get ready to cross the Indian Ocean. The water was super calm and we could see our anchor clearly on the bottom as the boat floated over it. It looked like there were some crabs and a lion fish camping out by the anchor. The bottom is devoid of any shelter so I think after a week some of the animals thought our anchor might make a good home. When we pulled the anchor up it was covered in what turned out to be Calamari Squid eggs, and I'm talking hundreds of them. We pulled a few off and put them into a bucket which became a great science lesson for Zack. The others we scraped off and left to their fate, most likely lunch for the crab and lion fish. Zack researched them online and then he dissected several of them on deck. We left a bunch in a bucket to see if we could hatch them but they were soon forgotten and without regular water changes they cooked in the heat and began to stink. They were then given a burial at sea.
We pulled into Nai Harn bay for one last ha rah with our friends. Our sailing group is splitting up with boats heading in different directions, some across the Indian and some back to Australia and New Zealand. We came into the bay with Chantey and found Allure and Dream Maker already there. Simpatica showed up the next day and the kid pack was all there with 8 kids, from 8 to 14 years old. It's great how boat kids can hang with kids that are different ages. None of the kids got a lot of school done that week but they did have a great time together and that's what it's all about. They spent most afternoons boogie boarding in the small surf. Zack took a board in once and got a few rides, but nothing like Khoa Lak. We also had a couple of knee boarding sessions. Zack has been trying for a while and he finally nailed a 360 on the knee board. He was stoked! He even did three in a row and was pretty full of himself for a while.
After a great day of hanging out on the beach and the adults having a paddle board bar behind Chantey (Will puts his paddle board in the water and we all hang around it floating on life jackets having a cocktail or two) the kids showed up and told us, (yes, told, not asked) that they were all going out to dinner on their own. There was a big night market set up on the beach with lots of food stalls and they were going in together, no parents needed or invited. OK. We gave Zack some cash and he was off. Shayla is really cool about being the kid dinghy driver and does a lot of picking up and dropping off. The adults decided to have a little beach hang out of our own so we could at least be somewhere easily reachable. The kids had a great time of it. Zack got himself a chicken stick and a corn on the cob and a sprite with a push up stick candy for dessert. It's pretty cool that they get to have these experiences and I hope Zack understands how really special this is.
We spent a day in Old Phuket China Town on what we are calling "Maria's Tour." She read about a famous noodle house and some other attractions and we set out to see what we could see. We did find the noodle house. It must have been famous because it was packed. We waited for a bit and were able to get a couple of tables. There were four women making noodle bowls straight out and watching them work was actually the highlight of it for me. It was cool to see how methodically it was done. There is a case in the window where the customer chooses the basic ingredients, like chicken or shrimp or fish balls or pork and the type of noodles. Then the magic happens. There are spoons of sugar, salt and seasoning added, squirts of chili paste and herbs. The noodles are plunged into broth to cook and then noodles and broth are added with some local spinach leaves and dried shallots or boiled eggs. All the bowls are a little different but they are colorful and delicious and all made in a process that takes less than 2 minutes. Wicked!
We spent the rest of the day walking around taking in the sights and looking for dessert street which never really materialized but the kids found a cart selling bowls with shaved ice and soda poured over it. We found the oldest natural medicine shop in Phuket and there was some crazy stuff in there, think dried animal and sea creature bits, yuck. All in all a fun but hot day.
While we were in Nai Harn Karen and I decided to do some provisioning. It's easy enough to grab a bus into Au Chalong and a taxi back. It's a bit more work but a lot better than bringing the boat to Au Chalong which is too dirty and hectic to swim or play in the water. The kids were having too much fun anyway to split them up. So we spent the entire morning loading up on staples at the Makro. We got back to Nai Harn and when I looked for the hand held radio to call David for a pick up I discovered that I had forgotten to bring the radio We were stuck. I went down to the beach to try and signal Dean to come in but his boat was too far out and he wasn't seeing me. We had some lunch at the restaurant nearby and then Karen decided she would make a swim for Dream Maker, in her underwear. I felt like a heal because it was my fault that we didn't have a radio but her under garments were far more bathingsuit-esque than mine so she graciously volunteered. She swam out to Dream Maker and Dean was a bit surprised to find Will's wife at the back of his boat in her panties but he was a gentleman and we were rescued. I got back on the boat and as I was unpacking groceries and telling my story Zack pulled the radio out of my backpack, right where it should have been. Not sure why I couldn't find it but, sorry Karen, and at least we have a funny story to tell.
So kids week culminated in a big sleep over on Simpatica. Simpatica is a big catamaran and Toby and Elsie are both easy going and maybe a bit naive on the sleep over thing. Their boys are 8 and 9 so they actually sleep. The rest of the kids had what is now known as the "stay awake over" They did not sleep. Except for Zack and Luke who passed out some time after 2am and promptly had their faces drawn on with permanent marker, which does thankfully wash off of skin. They spent the night out on the trampoline and we could hear them from our boat. Zack asked me in the morning if we had heard the kids partying all night long. Really? Partying? Not so sure we are raising this kid properly, but he's having a good time. Toby took all the kids knee boarding as a means of dropping them off in the morning and it was another great time had by all, except maybe Toby and Elsie, but they were laughing about it just the same. What a week!.