Our first days in Phuket, Thailand
19 April 2014 | Yacht Haven Marina
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First of all, let me say, we made a mistake when we got to Thailand. Nothing wrong with Thailand, just our timing. We got here on Thailand's New Years. In many countries, New Years last just one day. Not so in Thailand. Here, it started on Saturday but businesses may be closed for a week or more.
We got in on Sunday, early in the morning to make sure we got in on a high tide. Once in the marina, we put covers on everything and tarps to keep the Sun off the deck. We sprayed water on the decks to keep them cooler. the big goal is to keep things cool. The nice thing about Boat Haven marina is that it has a nice breeze blowing through it just about all the time, especially in the evening to cool the boat off.
We did find out that it was a holiday until after arriving. No problem, we would just check in to Thailand on Monday. OOPs, Monday was a government holiday also. As a matter of fact, the government extended the holiday through Wednesday!!! It's now a four day vacation. No knowing this, we rented a car and with Terry and Christine, off Teka Nova, we headed for Immigration, Customs and the Harbor Master. I even put on long pants!!! Being a holiday, they didn't even open till ten o'clock,instead of nine. We were hit by fines for coming in on a holiday. Six Hundred Baut by Immigration and another two hundred by Customs for not bringing our boat to Chalong Bay to check in. We'd heard of a people being assaulted when in that harbor so we just went to the marina instead. It was about $25US in fines. We would have had to wait till Thursday to check in and having arrived on Sunday, they wouldn't have liked that.
Having a car, we went all over town seeing other marinas, Boat Lagoon and the Royal Phuket Marina, as well as several chandleries. The bad thing is that all of them were still closed for the holiday. BOO! In the end, we visited several grocery stores and we got our phones and internet dongle re activated.
Tuesday was a jobs day. When we leave a port, I make a list of things that need attending to when we get to the next port. This way, once written, I won't forget it. Works like a charm. Most are simple jobs but they still need attending to. Both of us went at it. Tracy jumped the gun by defrosting the freezer on Monday morning so it would be ready to go if we found meat when we were shopping. I slowly ticked them off as they were finished. On Monday morning, we were visited by a local named Bik. He was looking for some work so we hired him to polish the stainless steel around the deck starting on Tuesday. He took our polish and a toothbrush and went at it
On Wednesday, Terry and Christine got a car to run more errands. We tagged along as we still wanted to see the shops at Boat Lagoon. We need to get some projects done while we are here. I'd called several electricians on Tuesday only to be told it was a holiday week and they would get back with me on Monday--maybe. Once we got to Boat Lagoon, again, all the shops were still closed for the holiday. Rats! We did find the Chalamark store open. Chalamark is a company that makes and sells inflatable dinghies. Puff, our poor dinghy is now on her last legs. There is still a leak we haven't been able to find and she takes on water inside here fiberglass hull. We've seen Chalamark dinghies all over Malaysia's mainland and they look like great boats. We got a nice tour of the showroom and found one that should take care of us nicely. We figure to pick it up when we come back in a couple of months. Puff will be fine for a while yet. We, again hit more grocery stores so we are now well stocked for food all over again. As for snacks, well Thailand doesn't have much of what Malaysia had so we may have to wait till we get back there to restock.
Thursday was another job's day as was today, with several more tasks completed. With the holiday now officially over, I called some shops to have them come out to give us bids on taking off our teak decks and re doing them. One store I visited at the marina was still closed. One put me off till Monday since he still thought it was a holiday and the third was at our boat with in the hour getting info and taking measurements. We hope to get an estimate from him in a day or so. He did tell us that we can have the work done while in the water, we would just have to move to E dock from C. No problem there.
Today, we dragged all the anchor chain out of the locker and washed it with fresh water and straightened it out. For some reason, as our chain goes around the windlass, it picks up a clockwise rotation. After several anchoring, it gets really twisted in the locker and resists coming out around the windlass. Several times, I've had to drag the chain our of the locker and line it out on deck spinning it in a counter clockwise rotation to get it straightened out. This time, we just pulled it all our and did it on the dock.
As to the Thai people we have met, they are extremely polite and courteous. Alway trying to please you if they can and very friendly. It's the first country that we have been in where you don't see English on signs around town or in the shops. In Malaysia, it was Malay, English, Chinese or Japanese and Arabic. Here, it's just about only Thai. We have to look in the windows to see what they actually carry. Phuket reminds us of the Philippines with their buildings and roads. The drivers--just like it is all over southeast asia-- drive crazy with people, some times four at a time, on a small scooter zipping through traffic without a care in the world. Zipping around cars and buses, alway trying to get to the head of the line in the lane so they can take off again when the light turns green. I'm just glad Terry was driving.