Parlay - Where's Parlay

Retired in October 2013 and sailed down to Queensland. In July 2015 decided to sail around SE Asia taking our little dog Whiskey with us this is our journey for our friends & family

Vessel Name: Parlay
Vessel Make/Model: Irwin 52
Hailing Port: Darwin Australia
Crew: Ray, Shaunnaugh & Whiskey
Recent Blog Posts
13 May 2018 | Belitung

May 2017 to 2018

Parlay and her crew went into boring mode as of last May due to the fact that we had to put her into dry dock and fly back to that third would county called Australia to visit friends and family and to do business. We left Parlay at Pangkor island marina about 200km west of Kuala Lumpa. Shaunnaugh flew [...]

13 May 2018 | Belitung Indonesia

May 2017 to May 2018

Parlay and her crew went into boring mode as of last May due to the fact that we had to put her into dry dock and fly back to that third would county called Australia to visit friends and family and to do business. We left Parlay at Pangkor island marina about 200km west of Kuala Lumpa. Shaunnaugh flew [...]

12 August 2017

Where's Parlay- Pangkor Marina

Hi Everyone,

11 July 2016 | Koh Phangan

29/6/16 to 6/7/16

29/6/16 to 6/7/16

02 July 2016

Koh Samui 1 June - 28 June

1 /6/16 to 28/6/16.

10 June 2016 | Koh Samui

P. Rendang to Koh Samui

25/5/16 P. Rendang

May 2017 to 2018

13 May 2018 | Belitung
RAY JONES
Parlay and her crew went into boring mode as of last May due to the fact that we had to put her into dry dock and fly back to that third would county called Australia to visit friends and family and to do business. We left Parlay at Pangkor island marina about 200km west of Kuala Lumpa. Shaunnaugh flew out to Darwin a week earlier than me as I had to stay behind and work my arse of on Parlay 12 hours a day in the searing Malay heat (can you hear the violins playing). From Pangkor you have to get a taxi to the bus station then a 4 hr trip to the airport and an overnight stop as the bus didn't leave early enough to catch the morning flight. Then to Singapore then to Perth to visit family and accountant, where Shaunnaugh met me the next day. From there we went to Coolangatta to visit our Daughter and son in law, Ricky and Drew, then to Brisbane to visit Shaunnaugh sisters Pippiane and Jasmine. Then off to Darwin to work our arses off in the searing heat again. Back to Pangkor, finish all the dry-dock work, then launch and replace the vinyl on the galley floor. Shit let's get out of here and sit on our worked off arses for a while. Sailed straight to Penang and anchored 200mtrs south of bridge no 2 or maybe it's no 1 as it was built first. For those who don't know, Penang has 2 bridge/causeway things connecting it to the mainland. The short one is 12 Km long. Don't drive over it just for fun because if you're in Penang long enough you will eventually take a wrong turn and end up on one of them and 30 km and 12MR toll fee later, (if you are lucky enough to have a toll card) you will be back in Penang. I of coarse have never done it once, twice maybe, but not once.
Anyway I am literally a little off the beaten track. The main reason we came to Penang is to pick up a 3 month Thai visa so we rush off to the Thai embassy and how unusual there having a 4 day holiday. What's it for? Because we can. Oh well, let's make the best of it. We hire a car (that took us a day) and cruise the sights took the wrong turn again and end up being forced into a traffic jam that led us into the biggest shopping centre ever, shit how do I get out of here before Shaunnaugh notices, TOO LATE. Now where here we may as well have a look she says. I think it would be more fun to drive over both the bridge for the fourth time, I reply. I loose. Another day gone. Four days later we go back to the embassy and we find out what the holidays were for. The Asian games were on. And Malaysia did so well that, you guessed it they have decided to have another day of to celebrate. O well if you can't beat them Join them. I wish I lived and worked in this county. They really have got it right here they have public holidays for everything. They hardly cook because they eat out and sing karaoke till midnight and get up and start work at 10am. Now you know why I call Australia a third world county.
We finally get our visa and sadly it's time to leave after one more accidental trip over bridge no 2 (O well at least we can see that Parlay is still there).
We find out that Ricky has decided to move her beauty salon and has to fit out the new one but only has 10 days to do it. The mouth goes into gear before the brain, we'll fly over and help it says. The brain always a little slower than the mouth screams at the mouth, shut up you dickhead. Shit you always get us in trouble. But Ricky knows about the quick mouth and the slow brain and jumps in, OH THAT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU COULD. . Bugger. We get the boat into a marina, madly book flights, and we arrive 6am. Off to work. Two days later Ricky suggests we knock off early to rest ourselves a little. How about 10Pm? That's great Ricky, thanks. You are the best boss.
We get most of it done and fly back arriving 7am. Bob and Shaz have just finished the Raja Muda race regatta and are waiting to join us on the boat to go down to Thailand as that is what we had planned but we were just too tired so we cruise Langkawi and play games and drink. When they get off we anchor at Cenang and do nothing for a week.
Finally we are off to Thailand (Phuket) for Christmas/New Year and to pick up my slave driving daughter and husband as they are coming for a sail from Phuket to Langkawi and then they are staying for my 21st birthday. We have Christmas with Chris, Claire and Ryan off the Yacht Quasar in Na Harn bay and moved to Patong bay a few days before New Year. In Patong we anchored with the other boats in the south of the bay. It was terrible, the ferries taking people off the cruise ships went straight through the anchorage and it had a swell coming in there as well. At night it was a bombing range as the lanterns rained down apron us. In the morning we called the other boats and told them we were moving to our favourite spot in the north eastern corner of the bay, an area called sunset beach and would call them and let them know how it was. It was beautiful, flat calm and no boat so we radioed the other to tell them of our discovery and as expected no one came to join us. We forgot that we were the one that when we pull into a crowded anchorage everyone else leaves. Oh well New Year by ourselves. We had a good couple of days walking around Patong looking at all the sleazier than me type of people. Then New Year's Eve morning comes and we are still by ourselves and two more boats come in to the bay but are heading towards the other boats. Suddenly one turns towards us and comes past close and I finally wake up that it is Adrian from Anthem who travelled up with us from OZ a few years back. He anchors and comes over with his crew for a drink. We go to town and when we get back that afternoon there are about 7 boats anchored around us. We all go to dinner together and then to Clair and Errol's boat to see in the New Year. Their boat (Restless M) has a Baby Grand piano so we have a singalong. Patong bay is an amazing place on New Year. There are never any less than 50 to 100 lanterns in the sky from sundown to 2am and the fireworks are on all night as well. I'm glad we moved away from the bombing range. A great night had by all.
A week later we move down to Nar Harn to pick up Ricky and Drew who arrive late today. It's going to be a big day and it's our wedding anniversary. In the morning we get caught in traffic and it takes 2 hrs to get to central about 15km away. We get our stores and as we come out of the shop the heavens open. It's pouring. We have to lug our stores over rocks and sand in pouring rain and when we get to the dingy it is full of water from the rain. I bail it out and we get to Parlay and she's dragged anchor a bit but the anchor has reset. I pull anchor in the pouring rain and move to a safer area, the anchor doesn't bight so we try again. Yes it in, and we have to leave to pick up Ricky as its 1 ¼ hrs to the airport. We can't leave the boat in this anchorage in these conditions so Shaunnaugh stays with Parlay.
It takes THREE ;;;;;; HOURS to get to the airport. My nerves are shot to shit from driving bumper to bumper in torrential rain. I find Ricky and Drew and they haven't been waiting too long as immigration took a while. We buy beers for the drive home and the rain has stopped we get a perfect run home. I drink most of the beers. My knee is stuffed from being on and off the brake all day. We make it and Parlay and Shaunnaugh are still there.
We awake the next day and the weather is perfect. We all jump off the boat into the crystal clear water and perfect water temperature. Have breakfast ashore and set sail for PP Leah or Maya beach where the movie the Beach was filmed. Perfect sail over and we pick up a mooring straight away. More swimming kayaking and snorkelling it's fantastic. Why is everything going so well? BOOM a clap of thunder and instant cats and dogs. The storm snuck up on us from behind the hill, but luckily there is not much wind in it and it is actually quite nice and brings out some great photo opportunities.
We drop the mooring and take off to PP Don (the party island) straight ashore for a yummy Indian meal then off to the fire show. Then to the Thai kick boxing. Admission is that you have to by 2 buckets of alcohol. We get a good seat but then we find out that it's the audience that has to do the fighting. You can nominate to fight someone in the crowd so I think,,, I know I'll fight Shaunnaugh, but then I play it safe and ask the Mauri guy talking to Drew if he will fight me but he chickens out with a lame excuse of I'm not fighting an old man" what are you talking about its my 21st birthday next week. Anyway he end up fighting the biggest and toughest guy on offer and cleans him up. I go congratulate him and let him know that he fought the third toughest person there after Shaunnaugh and me He's a great guy and see's the funny side thank goodness. All the fights were great and most quite funny, especially the girls and we had a wild night.
Next few days we cruise up the coast via the emerald cave, Ko Kraden, Ko Petra and Ko Lipi to Langkawi to catch up with the family flying in for my 60th birthday. and you all thought I was 21.

May 2017 to May 2018

13 May 2018 | Belitung Indonesia
RAY JONES
Parlay and her crew went into boring mode as of last May due to the fact that we had to put her into dry dock and fly back to that third would county called Australia to visit friends and family and to do business. We left Parlay at Pangkor island marina about 200km west of Kuala Lumpa. Shaunnaugh flew out to Darwin a week earlier than me as I had to stay behind and work my arse of on Parlay 12 hours a day in the searing Malay heat (can you hear the violins playing). From Pangkor you have to get a taxi to the bus station then a 4 hr trip to the airport and an overnight stop as the bus didn't leave early enough to catch the morning flight. Then to Singapore then to Perth to visit family and accountant, where Shaunnaugh met me the next day. From there we went to Coolangatta to visit our Daughter and son in law, Ricky and Drew, then to Brisbane to visit Shaunnaugh sisters Pippiane and Jasmine. Then off to Darwin to work our arses off in the searing heat again. Back to Pangkor, finish all the dry-dock work, then launch and replace the vinyl on the galley floor. Shit let's get out of here and sit on our worked off arses for a while. Sailed straight to Penang and anchored 200mtrs south of bridge no 2 or maybe it's no 1 as it was built first. For those who don't know, Penang has 2 bridge/causeway things connecting it to the mainland. The short one is 12 Km long. Don't drive over it just for fun because if you're in Penang long enough you will eventually take a wrong turn and end up on one of them and 30 km and 12MR toll fee later, (if you are lucky enough to have a toll card) you will be back in Penang. I of coarse have never done it once, twice maybe, but not once.
Anyway I am literally a little off the beaten track. The main reason we came to Penang is to pick up a 3 month Thai visa so we rush off to the Thai embassy and how unusual there having a 4 day holiday. What's it for? Because we can. Oh well, let's make the best of it. We hire a car (that took us a day) and cruise the sights took the wrong turn again and end up being forced into a traffic jam that led us into the biggest shopping centre ever, shit how do I get out of here before Shaunnaugh notices, TOO LATE. Now where here we may as well have a look she says. I think it would be more fun to drive over both the bridge for the fourth time, I reply. I loose. Another day gone. Four days later we go back to the embassy and we find out what the holidays were for. The Asian games were on. And Malaysia did so well that, you guessed it they have decided to have another day of to celebrate. O well if you can't beat them Join them. I wish I lived and worked in this county. They really have got it right here they have public holidays for everything. They hardly cook because they eat out and sing karaoke till midnight and get up and start work at 10am. Now you know why I call Australia a third world county.
We finally get our visa and sadly it's time to leave after one more accidental trip over bridge no 2 (O well at least we can see that Parlay is still there).
We find out that Ricky has decided to move her beauty salon and has to fit out the new one but only has 10 days to do it. The mouth goes into gear before the brain, we'll fly over and help it says. The brain always a little slower than the mouth screams at the mouth, shut up you dickhead. Shit you always get us in trouble. But Ricky knows about the quick mouth and the slow brain and jumps in, OH THAT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU COULD. . Bugger. We get the boat into a marina, madly book flights, and we arrive 6am. Off to work. Two days later Ricky suggests we knock off early to rest ourselves a little. How about 10Pm? That's great Ricky, thanks. You are the best boss.
We get most of it done and fly back arriving 7am. Bob and Shaz have just finished the Raja Muda race regatta and are waiting to join us on the boat to go down to Thailand as that is what we had planned but we were just too tired so we cruise Langkawi and play games and drink. When they get off we anchor at Cenang and do nothing for a week.
Finally we are off to Thailand (Phuket) for Christmas/New Year and to pick up my slave driving daughter and husband as they are coming for a sail from Phuket to Langkawi and then they are staying for my 21st birthday. We have Christmas with Chris, Claire and Ryan off the Yacht Quasar in Na Harn bay and moved to Patong bay a few days before New Year. In Patong we anchored with the other boats in the south of the bay. It was terrible, the ferries taking people off the cruise ships went straight through the anchorage and it had a swell coming in there as well. At night it was a bombing range as the lanterns rained down apron us. In the morning we called the other boats and told them we were moving to our favourite spot in the north eastern corner of the bay, an area called sunset beach and would call them and let them know how it was. It was beautiful, flat calm and no boat so we radioed the other to tell them of our discovery and as expected no one came to join us. We forgot that we were the one that when we pull into a crowded anchorage everyone else leaves. Oh well New Year by ourselves. We had a good couple of days walking around Patong looking at all the sleazier than me type of people. Then New Year's Eve morning comes and we are still by ourselves and two more boats come in to the bay but are heading towards the other boats. Suddenly one turns towards us and comes past close and I finally wake up that it is Adrian from Anthem who travelled up with us from OZ a few years back. He anchors and comes over with his crew for a drink. We go to town and when we get back that afternoon there are about 7 boats anchored around us. We all go to dinner together and then to Clair and Errol's boat to see in the New Year. Their boat (Restless M) has a Baby Grand piano so we have a singalong. Patong bay is an amazing place on New Year. There are never any less than 50 to 100 lanterns in the sky from sundown to 2am and the fireworks are on all night as well. I'm glad we moved away from the bombing range. A great night had by all.
A week later we move down to Nar Harn to pick up Ricky and Drew who arrive late today. It's going to be a big day and it's our wedding anniversary. In the morning we get caught in traffic and it takes 2 hrs to get to central about 15km away. We get our stores and as we come out of the shop the heavens open. It's pouring. We have to lug our stores over rocks and sand in pouring rain and when we get to the dingy it is full of water from the rain. I bail it out and we get to Parlay and she's dragged anchor a bit but the anchor has reset. I pull anchor in the pouring rain and move to a safer area, the anchor doesn't bight so we try again. Yes it in, and we have to leave to pick up Ricky as its 1 ¼ hrs to the airport. We can't leave the boat in this anchorage in these conditions so Shaunnaugh stays with Parlay.
It takes THREE ;;;;;; HOURS to get to the airport. My nerves are shot to shit from driving bumper to bumper in torrential rain. I find Ricky and Drew and they haven't been waiting too long as immigration took a while. We buy beers for the drive home and the rain has stopped we get a perfect run home. I drink most of the beers. My knee is stuffed from being on and off the brake all day. We make it and Parlay and Shaunnaugh are still there.
We awake the next day and the weather is perfect. We all jump off the boat into the crystal clear water and perfect water temperature. Have breakfast ashore and set sail for PP Leah or Maya beach where the movie the Beach was filmed. Perfect sail over and we pick up a mooring straight away. More swimming kayaking and snorkelling it's fantastic. Why is everything going so well? BOOM a clap of thunder and instant cats and dogs. The storm snuck up on us from behind the hill, but luckily there is not much wind in it and it is actually quite nice and brings out some great photo opportunities.
We drop the mooring and take off to PP Don (the party island) straight ashore for a yummy Indian meal then off to the fire show. Then to the Thai kick boxing. Admission is that you have to by 2 buckets of alcohol. We get a good seat but then we find out that it's the audience that has to do the fighting. You can nominate to fight someone in the crowd so I think,,, I know I'll fight Shaunnaugh, but then I play it safe and ask the Mauri guy talking to Drew if he will fight me but he chickens out with a lame excuse of I'm not fighting an old man" what are you talking about its my 21st birthday next week. Anyway he end up fighting the biggest and toughest guy on offer and cleans him up. I go congratulate him and let him know that he fought the third toughest person there after Shaunnaugh and me He's a great guy and see's the funny side thank goodness. All the fights were great and most quite funny, especially the girls and we had a wild night.
Next few days we cruise up the coast via the emerald cave, Ko Kraden, Ko Petra and Ko Lipi to Langkawi to catch up with the family flying in for my 60th birthday. and you all thought I was 21.

Where's Parlay- Pangkor Marina

12 August 2017
Shaunnaugh
Hi Everyone,
After our trip back home to Australia we have arrived back in Pangkor Marina, I had heaps of requests to restart the blog so here it goes;

We are in Pangkor marina at the moment, Ray has reinforced the galley (ship's kitchen) floor, he removed damaged wood under the fridge & replaced it with new hard as steel wood from the sawmill. He has also reinforced the hatches with heaps of screws & wood, he has reinforced most of the beams underneath the floor and at the moment he is removing the teak beading from the hatches, which will be replaced with new beading once the tiling is completed. We were really impressed that the floor was in good condition after 27 years, it shows the original builder took care when they built this ship. We are due to leave the marina on the 20th August but if the floor is not finished we will stay until it is completed, Ray said it will take a while for the skirting to be completed because it's going to be a jigsaw puzzle. Plus it has to be sanded & varnished.

We are happy here at the moment our neighbors are friendly & the wet season rains have started, cooling off the evenings. My only gripe is I am limited to how much I can use the galley because there is no sealed floor.

Tomorrow we are taking the day off, we are planning a ferry trip to Pangkor island for lunch & a bit of R&R. Poor Ray's back needs a rest. Until next time

29/6/16 to 6/7/16

11 July 2016 | Koh Phangan
Ray Jones
29/6/16 to 6/7/16
Nereid dropped anchor at Bo Phut, so I jokingly asked them to come for storm drinks instead of sundowners as we seem to get storms just before sunset, anyway I must have cursed us because at about 4pm the storm from hell hit. A small charter yacht was first to take off dragging the pick it flew past us like he was under full sail but finally he got it under control and pulled up about 100 meters behind us, then it was Nereid’s turn and not long after it was our turn to drag. Luckily the boats that dragged anchor all had their crew on board, the only boat at anchor that didn’t have any crew didn’t drag and he came out to his boat just as the storm abated. Ian and I both agreed that the wind was probably about fifty Knots. It increased by 5 knots per beer we drank, while discussing the storm at the markets that night. We had a great time at the markets and went to 3 different areas to listen to bands.
The next day we left for the “Ang Thong National Park, 21Nm to the west of Samui. We motored all the way and dropped the anchor with the idea of going and looking at the islands interior lake. We were told we had to go to park headquarters to pay park fees and that Whiskey (both the dog and liquid form) was not allowed ashore at the National Park.
We stayed the night and went in around morning to the HQ bay and paid our 640 TB and had a looked around. We decided to climb the mountain to the lookout the next morning. When we started the trail there was an abundance of the cutest black and white faced monkeys, they put on a good show for us leaping from tree top to tree top. The trail was paved at the lower section but the steeper upper section was raw. The last 30 metre was sharp coral type rocks on the edge of a cliff face. I went ahead to check out the trail and found the going difficult and dangerous. I indicated to Shaunnaugh that it may not be worth getting injured just for the extra 20 meters. As it was she had started up about 10meters and had become stuck. I was only a few meters from the platform so I thought I would go up and take a quick photo. As my head got above the platform I could clearly see that there was a mating ritual being performed by 2 homosapians. Thankfully they were male and a female. I wasn’t sure what to do, should I take photos? Maybe I should film it for one of David Attenboughs wildlife shows or just go up and applaud the performance. I was also hoping that these people who were obviously overcome by their wild surroundings didn’t try leaping from the tree tops. In the end I stayed below the platform and took some photos of the mountains and island below while listening to the noises of the ritual above, after the last groan I went up and took some photos of the view of the other side of the mountain.
When we returned to the boat we pulled anchor and move on to look have a look at the natural stone bridge, the lake and the islands to the north. We decided to give the lake a miss as it was another two hour hike and we hadn’t recovered from the last one and I didn’t think they could outdo the previous wildlife show. We stayed the night and moved to the much talked about Koh Tao 25Nm north, famous for its clear waters and good diving.
We dropped anchor in Hin Wong bay with guidance of Frank a local of 20 years of German decent who is married to a Thai woman. We went ashore for lunch at Diane’s restaurant. The bay is boulder fringed with one small beach which our new acquaintance, Frank, showed us as I had to tow him in as he had run out of fuel. After lunch we had to pass a beach bar to get to our boat and an Aussie guy struck up a conversation so we had to stop for a drink. When I say Aussie he was born in France and moved to Ireland and then immigrated to Stralia. Boy, what an accent he had, he was with a Canadian girl and they were having a conversation with Mol, the local Thai owner of the bar and beach. The conversation was interesting to say the least, especially being that Mol can do lots of different accents.
The party was broken up when the 5 o’clock storm hit, 1hr early then expected so we bolted back to the boat. Whisky who is generally petrified of storms sat on my lap in the dingy with her head up as we flew into the driving rain, once on board she danced around on deck in the rain barking like there was no tomorrow. We still haven’t worked out what got into her as normally she would be a shivering wreck.
The next day we asked Mol if she could organize a car to take us over to the main town on the other side of the mountain. This was done in a very high Tec manner of screaming out to Diane, at the restaurant up the hill, who told us that it won’t be long and proceeded to wander around to find someone. After about 20 minutes we decided to walk but the hill was the steepest I have ever seen so we gave up just as our ride arrived. Thank goodness we didn’t walk. In all these islands around here they don’t build the roads in a zig zag over the mountains they go straight up. They are so steep if you have 2 people on a motor bike, the passenger has to jump off and walk as the bike just can’t make it. We had a good day in the big smoke but were happy to get back to our secluded little bay with Mols secluded little bar. This time Hubert the French, Irish, Aussie had two of his mates an American Swedish Aussie with A.D.D and he liked drinking red bull and an Aussie born and bred which was good because he could translate for the other two, we had lots of laughs with them even though was hard as it was understand what was being said.
The next day off to Koh Nang Yuan which are three small islands joined by a beach at neap tides. The beach will submerge on high water springs. An interesting place but I have been to a lot of places like this but without the tourists running all over it. It would have been a nice place once but they have turned it into a commercial jungle. We had lunch and sailed on to Mango bay in central north Koh Tao and we picked up a mooring, had a swim and went to a restaurant up the top of a 100 metre stair case looking over the bay. We had 5 star views and 5 star meals.
The next day all the dive boats come and fill all the moorings and commence diving instruction. A lot of people come here to do their dive tickets as it is cheaper and after watching them it looked quiet thorough. The water is very clear here and there are a lot of divers around and under our boat so I put on some goggles and have a look around. There are lots of hollow blocks about ½ a metre square stacked on the sea floor; I think it is to encourage coral growth to go to the sandy areas from the existing coral growth on the shore line fringe reef. I am not sure if this is a good idea or not.
Spent a few days here relaxing, swimming, diving and mowing the grass above the waterline on the hull and then sailed back down to Koh Phangan to get internet and vegetables. We sailed down the west coast as the weather was flat and it would be OK to anchor there however all the beaches had fringe reefs making it hard to get ashore with the dingy. In the end we up sailing around the whole island calling in to Haad Rin or full moon party bay for lunch. We organized a take away curry for dinner. It was too rollie on anchor here so we pulled anchor and travelled up to Haad Thong bay and the anchorage here was perfect. There were three other yachts were here Quasar, Brick house and Nereid. We made arrangements to go to dinner with Ian and Alison and they came back to our boat for Bailey’s, chocolate brownies (made by Shaunnaugh), some shit music and jokes.
We have a special effect on people as we woke up in the morning, Nereid was gone. That’s one boat down and two to go, we will work on them today. We had a quiet day doing paper work and fixing auto pilots. Chris from Quasar invited us over for sundowner drinks and said that Brickhouse would be there too. It was a good evening and we came back and had our take away curry for dinner. At 4am a storm blew up and my anchor alarm went off. We were dragging anchor and coming down on Quasar quite quickly in the 40knot squalls. I started the motor and drove forward to stop us hitting Quasar and the wind shifted about 60 degrees pushing us away from Quasar I eased the engine down. I was as happy to see that the anchor had reset with us 50 meters abeam of Quasar. Chris called up as we were closer and I told him the situation and we agreed it was safer to stay as we were until morning. We rode it out until first light and the wind had dropped to 30kns and we pulled anchor and reset 200 metres away. I was sure that would have that special effect on them and they would leave but it looks like they’re stuck with us as a strong wind warning has set in for a few days.
We had about 30 local fishing boats come and anchor in the bay because of the bad weather. They are anchored in two groups of 10 with only 1 or 2 anchors down and as soon as the wind picks up 1 of the groups take off all still tied together, they all calmly cast off from each other and go and re-anchor in smaller groups. The other group of 10 goes through the night with no apparent problems.

Koh Samui 1 June - 28 June

02 July 2016
Ray Jones
1 /6/16 to 28/6/16.
After arriving in Ko Samui we spend a few days at the North Bay (Bo Phut). It has a tourist district to the West and a more local scene in the east. So we mix it up between the two. Some of the food in the tourist district is actually eatable which is surprising (we have a saying in Thailand tourist areas the more you pay the worst the food is the taste). I think the reason for the food being Ok is that these bars and restaurants are owner operated and not part of a corporate also there are no rubbish franchise outlets.
Billy Kitson and Steve, both who I know from the old East Freo days and a mate theirs Bob were holidaying in Koh Samui. They came to the boat to catch up and we had beers, lunch and beers, went sailing, with more beers and just to finish it off we had BEERS. It was a good day and many a good story was told well at least the ones we could remember.
My niece Sue arrived from Bali. Bill and the boys come around to Bo Phut and we sailed around to Lamia Beach where they are staying. It’s about 12 Nm on the east side of Koh Samui. We dropped anchor and had a swim and then we continue what we didn’t finish the other day, beers and bullshit. I think Bill is in his element on the boat as he was a cray fisherman for 23 years and he’s also good at beers and bullshit.
We all went ashore have dinner and we spend the night on anchored here and in the morning set sail for Koh Phangan about 12Nm to the north of Koh Samui. We had a good sail up in 10 to 15kn beam reaching. Once we got behind the land we start to get catabolic winds or bullets off the mountains. Sue reckons this is great as when the strong gusts hit, about 25kn, we heal right over and speed up but we decide to reef the sails. In the process one of the deck blocks disintegrates showering bits of plastic and metal everywhere which immediately causes huge amounts screaming and shouting. Anyway the screaming and shouting worked and we soon have everything under control and pulled into a bay half way up the east coast. This place is so tranquil and we immediately go ashore and have lunch and a walk along the foreshore amongst the rocks which has pathways meandering through all the holiday houses. It is absolutely beautiful and we find that the houses go all the way up the top of the hill. It only costs about AU$20 a day to hire one of these holiday cottages. We spend the next few days going from bay to bay along this coast and find that they are all similar, the imagination to build these buildings on top of huge rocks is amazing, some bays are more relaxed than others some are even yoga retreat with heath food and drinks. One of the yoga retreats was probably our favourite.
We have a great sail back to Samui but we all decide that there is not enough wind and it is a well known fact on our boat that you have to drink beer to get more wind, so we go to work with Sue leading the way, 4 beers later and we’ve got 15 Knots of wind. I tell Sue to stop as we have enough wind now, but she wants to go faster, she’s on a mission, so I decide to help. We manage to get the anchor down just before the storm we drank up hits. We go ashore and attend the markets which have lots of traditional food like boiled egg Kababs, deep fried silk worms and crickets and my favourite chicken feet. We end up at the Billabong surf club to watch the band and Sue chats up 3 Thailand businessmen that are drunker than we are. We have a good time talking to them and go home and sleep well.
Next day got a Taxi to Lamia to watch Freo win their second game and catch up with billy and co.
We hired a car for 800TB about $30. Best deal we could get. Most wanted 1200TB and some as high as 2000. It is a near new car so we are happy and spend the next 2 days cruising around Samui. We get down south and there doesn’t seem to be much happening and we find a beautiful little bay and restaurant and ask for lunch, the guy says that they are closed as it is Sunday and we start to leave disappointed but he says he can open but only to serve beer, so we stop for one and sit in the veranda and it is so peaceful as we are the only ones here. After we move on to find somewhere to eat and come across what we are looking for a good seafood restaurant. The food was great and we decided to go up the mountains to do some waterfalls. Did one and then tried to go to the second one with Siri (that stupid computer girl) directing. We ended up going down tracks barely wide enough for the car, but as everyone knows hire cars can go anywhere. We were going in to people’s private farms and if they didn’t look so upset I might have stopped to buy some eggs. Our plan was to travel straight over the mountains back to the boat but Siri couldn’t work it out, so we went the long way home and chilled out and watched the amazing lightening in the clouds.
Next day we did the big Golden Buda, the skydiving thing and local Thailand markets and food super market called macro which specialises in bulk buying which I think Sue was quite interested to see her line of work from a different perspective. We also went up a mountain near the Airport and went to the Pagoda wat (temple) which was interesting but as it was above the airport it was more interesting watching the planes take off.
Next day took Sue to the Airport and dropped the car back and pulled anchor and sailed back to Phangan. Saw Sue’s plane take off and bank right to Singapore smack on time. Sue was good company will she was here. We are going to have to find something to ween us back into our mundane life. I know just the thing, full moon party at Had Rin Nok. This is the biggest and best full moon party in the World. We go to lunch to phone everyone on face time just in case we don’t survive the party. Have a few beers at lunch to put us to sleep this arvo so we will last at the party. Have a couple of drinks while we put on our glow paint and glow sticks and hit the beach at about 10pm. It is so full on I estimate the crowd at about 15000 there is a new DJ and dance platform about every 50 meters so you just keep moving and find the music you like to dance to, everyone is dancing all the time. That is of course unless you aren’t sliding down the water slide, doing the limbo under the limbo fire pole, doing acrobatics on the high bar, joining in one of the200 metre conga lines or going for a swim. This is a bucket list must do. Because we are old farts we go home early at 4am as we have to get some sleep as the after party starts at 7am. We sleep in and go ashore and have breakfast and turn up to the after party to have a look. We are late, it is 10am and there are only 150 people there but most are well under the weather. We watch the comical scene for about 10miniutes and decide to head home checking one fallen soldier we found was still alive and in care before we left him.
We find out that our friends Ian & Alison off SY Nereid have arrived at Samui so we sail down to meet them. They are at Chaweng which is the most populated area on Samui. It is a place we haven’t been so we go for a look. It is full of resorts so we catch a cab to Lamia and eat there and watch one of the better fire shows I have seem. They love fire shows in Thailand. A good time is had but we don’t like Chaweng so we sail back to Bo Phut as we need to dump rubbish and stock up on veges.
As we enter the Bay I get a radio call from Chris off SY Quasar how we met at the Tiomen Islands. He has just cleared in to Thailand and we make arrangements to share a hire car to do our shopping ECT. We pick up veges and garbage bags at the local street market but leave the crickets, silkworms, and frogs for Chris, Clare and Ryan. We do the rest of our shopping at Macro, look for some electronic stuff for Ryan (Chris’s son) and we use the car to pick up so diesel for Parlay

P. Rendang to Koh Samui

10 June 2016 | Koh Samui
Shaunnaugh and Ray
25/5/16 P. Rendang
After leaving Terengganu Marina we went to P. Rendang. We anchored in the small harbour where the marina park headquarters are situated; it smelt of diesel and was rollie so not a nice anchorage. As there was a storm approaching we didn’t feel like moving on and we decide to find a better anchorage tomorrow. Before bed we took Whiskey ashore and had a walk around, there were some turtle nurseries ashore and we were careful not to let Whiskey go into this area. We spent a quite night on the boat then went to bed early.
The next day we decided to try and find a better anchorage. While cruising around the island we passed some yachts in the Malaysia Rally, when we called on them on the VHF radio they didn’t respond, some yachts on rallies agree on a channel between themselves thus they communicate between themselves so this may have been the case. On Parlay we don’t do this, but choose dual watch which scans a nominated frequency and the emergency channel.
We continued sailing around but each bay was rollie and in the end we gave up and decided to go to the other island. We arrived at Perhantian Besar near the Arwana Resort, we were very happy with this anchorage so happy that we made a cocktail and had a swim off the boat. We didn’t like the resort but there were lots of nice places to eat so we went in for dinner. The tourists in this bay were mainly Malaysian and Chinese. The next day we went into shore to have lunch then we moved to the channel between the Perhantian Besar & Perhantian Kecil this wasn’t very good so we went over to a bay on Perhantian Kecil. This was a nice little bay, it had a lot of westerners, which means alcohol and our dog Whiskey is more accepted ashore and we decided to stay for 2 days and have a rest from travelling. Late in the afternoon on the 2nd day we were going for a swim when we noticed about 4 local fishing boats arriving in the bay. We thought this was a bit odd so we got out of the water to see behind the island a massive storm coming over. Ray immediately started hauling up the dinghy and I started to shut all the hatches and portholes on the boat. The first wind to hit us was about 30 knots, Ray got back in time to help me clip down the clears around the cockpit. I suggested we let out some more anchor chain but it was too late and we were being hit by winds up to 50 knots and rain. If we started to drag we would go out in the weather and let out more chain. I suggested to Ray that he change out of his sarong as it may blow off of him if he has to go outside. He said it already had blown away and he was naked getting up the dinghy. Dam! I missed it. One of the small fishing boats dragged during the storm but the rest of us stayed on our anchorage. When the winds stopped it kept raining most of the night. I’m happy we moved to this bay as according to local knowledge this was the right bay for the storm.
Although it rain all night we got a good night sleep and decided to continue on our way. We moved up the coast to an area Ray had picked on the map. When we got there I saw a seawall ahead and thought it would be nicer to anchor behind it, it was about 1hr away. When we got there we couldn’t find anywhere to anchor because of all the fish traps that were along the edge of the channel so we had to continue on. We found a little inlet in front of a village Ban Khok Khan. This village looks as though it had taken a beating from a gale as trees were blown over and the beach was so badly eroded that the houses had toppled over onto the beach. Most of the villages were living in humpies. Looking down the coast from where we had just come from there was a monster storm lashing the coast. So it looks as though we are going to get storms every afternoon/night. We decided to get an early start in the morning and see how far we can get up the coast. Just before lunch Ray and I had a major disagreement. He had found an anchorage he wanted to head for before Songkla we would get there before dark and I wanted to go straight through to Songkla arriving just on dusk or maybe after dark. We could not agree, as neither would give in we decided that we would continue all night to Koh Samui.
The winds picked up and we had the storms we had predicted. It has been a long time since we have had wind like that and so Ray was having so much fun sailing that I have got him to write the following because I only came and helped when needed.
Below is Ray’s version.
It was a very interesting night of which I enjoyed as it kept the adrenaline flowing and it was easy to stay awake. We had about 12 knots true wind, close reaching most of the day until all the storms came just before dark then the wind kept shifting and going up and down in strength so there was a lot of furling in and out. There were squid boats and trawlers everywhere and the occasional tug pulling a poorly lit barge.
The squid boats were helpful with their bright lights as you could head towards them and if there were any pots, fads or nets between you and the squid boats you could see them, doing this though mean I had to pass quite close to them but most of them were anchored. The squid boats I have seen in the past have had white or green lights but these had all sorts of colours. One I passed about 50mtr in front of his bow had the brightest lights and they were white, green, mauve, purple and turquoise, it was quite a sight but being the ever vigilant photographer I forgot to take a photo.
The trawlers were difficult as there were so many of them and they were so close together you didn’t know if they were pair trawling (towing a net between the two trawlers) or stern trawling. The trawler’s lights were something I’d never came across or studied in school. One of them had a very bright red and green light which from a distance looked like port and starboard but as I got closer, I knew there wasn’t something right because the angle of approach was changing but the red and green were still there, I finally, just in time, picked up the true navigation lights to see I was going to cross 100m in front of his bow. The super bright red and green were long tubes in the rigging and once again my photography skills let me down.
It was good to see sunrise but on the whole it was a heap of fun.

30/5/16 We arrived at Koh Samui at 17:00

Picture attached - Street art
Parlay's Photos - Main
No Photos
Created 9 March 2016
Some photos of us in Thailand
47 Photos
Created 7 March 2016
We caught up with Gayle and Ian for New Year and went crusing for a few weeks. We dropped them off at the marina then Lisa joined us for 4 days
42 Photos
Created 6 February 2016
We had some water damage to our floor so we decided to get it repaired at "yacht haven marina" they do a really good job. The named of the guy was Mali but I forget the name of the company
10 Photos
Created 6 February 2016

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