We left Langkawi (Rebak Marina) in the second week of December and headed over to Koh Lippe where we waited for Island Sonata to arrive. They were only a day or two behind, having had to go to Penang to renew Visas. Koh Lippe is the first Thai island after leaving Langkawi, approximately 25 mile.

Yes, I have been really slack with the Blog for those of you who are following our adventures. My only excuse (which of course I find totally acceptable) is that we have primarily just been cruising backwards and forwards around Phuket And surrounding islands, many of the islands I have already blogged about.
The month of May did see us taking the boat down to Penang to get a 12 month non tourist visa. This meant we only had to check in and out of Thailand every 3 months and not every 30 days.
The Wet Season or the South West Monsoon Season was overall pretty good. We did get rain, more than enough to keep the water tank filled and some. July and August were the pick of the months, we had beautiful weather and little rain.
We have spent many enjoyable weeks in the company of various boats from the Sail Indonesian Rally, which we did, as you all know. Just to name a few, there was Dol Solene, Simply Sensational, Imagine, Infini, Rum Runner II. We visited many of the non touristy islands where we experienced great food and great people. Many of these places we kept going back to, as we felt it was like a home away from.
The end of August saw us returning back to Australia with a visit to New Zealand as well. It was great to catch up with family and friends. Snoopy was incarcerated at the Animal Welfare Centre on Phuket for the 6 weeks we were away. On our return he appeared no worse for the experience and we were happy with his condition etc, perhaps he may have been a kilo lighter due to not having little bites here and there though out the day.
We returned to Thailand early October, Keris came out of the water for anti fouling and a polish at Krabi Boat. Once she was back in the water and we had re supplied etc, it was back up to Phuket to play around for a month or so before having to go down to Langkawi. The visa for the boat was due to expire (the boat gets a 6 month visa) in early December and we had to leave Thailand to be able to get another 6 months. Also our very good cruising companions Ruth and Kelvin of Island Sonata had returned from an extensive trip overseas and we were eager to catch up with them and to get sailing again with them.
Langkawi is a Duty Free Haven, so it the ideal opportunity to resupply in Christmas, New Year and any occasion alcohol, at least enough to last until we get back to Langkawi in Late March.

On returning from Australia, we had Keris lifted out of the water for a much needed bum and prop clean. The waters up here are so warm, it promotes growth on the hulls, props etc very fast. Mike did all the work himself and we were back in the water Monday afternoon having been out for only 2 days. We left Rebak for Kuah Town the next morning. We needed to check out and to pick up the cover we had ordered before returning to Australia. We could not believe it when we discovered that the cover had not even been started (had almost a month), in fact, to say the least, Mike was fuming. We had already let Ruth and Kelvin know that we would rendezvous with them on either the Saturday or Sunday to reclaim Snoop. The woman making the cover said she could have it ready for Friday, around noon and it was. On receipt of the cover we high tailed it out of Kuah Town and anchored our first night at The Hole in the Wall.

No sooner had we stepped off the plane we were on our way into the City to attend to a few things. There was so little time and there seemed like there was a mountain of stuff to do. Two days after arriving I was off the N.Z. to spend a few days each with my son, Stewart and my Mum. Got to meet Evania for the first time, an extraordinary lovely person, who I'm hoping will one day become my daughter-in-law. I had a couple to wonderful days with the two of them before Mike arrived on the Friday. On Sunday, it was over to Mum's. We caught up with both my brothers, Stephen and Brian. Before we knew it, it was back to the airport for a return flight to Sydney. Another couple of mad days in Sydney and then up the the Sunshine Coast. With appointments and trying to see as many friends as possible, it was a hectic few days. It was back to Sydney on the 5th March and we flew out of Sydney for Langkawi on the 7th. All in all, though the time with family and friends was too short, it was a great trip. We did not want to abuse Kelvin and Ruth's generosity, it was wonderful that they looked after Snoopy.

We are headed back to Rebak as we are doing flying visits to Sydney, the Sunshine Coast and to N.Z. We will be leaving Keris at Rebak, it being a safe marina. We also need to rendezvous with Island Senata as they will be looking after Snoopy while we are away. Snoopy will be with them for approximately 5 - 6 weeks, hope he does not miss me toooooooo much.
We caught up with Island Sonata and Recluse at Koh Lantra where we had 3 days together before continuing on to Rebak. On arrival at Rebak we had a few days cleaning Keris etc and flew out on the 18th February for Sydney.

We have at least a week to fill in before we check out of Thailand and then another 3 or 4 days before we rendezous with Ruth and Kelvin, hopefully at Phi Phi Don. So off we go again for a few days.
Ao Labu is about 18NM from Ao Chalong. It is a very shallow bay, going ashore, we had to walk about 300 metres. We decided to take Snoopy with us....There is a Muslim village a little way up the river, though we did venture there. Really not a worthwhile anchorage.
The next day saw us heading Koh Rang Yai (28th January). Quite a lovely beach with white sands. On shore there are full recreation facilities, i.e. bike riding, mini golf, walking trails etc. We picked up a brochure, it advertises weddings, corporate days etc. The bungalow style accommodation looks a little run down, but the restaurant on the beach serves excellent food. We stayed 2 nights. When we came to leave, we could not get the anchor up, looked like we might be here for another night. The wind had come up overnight, we watched a boat drag and another also having troubles getting their anchor up. Mike said he would try again on high tide, a wait of about 4 hours. BINGO we were free. And it was back to Phuket, AGAIN!!!!!!!!