Photo: Christmas Eve ashore
After 3 months in New Zealand for the birth of our gorgeous granddaughter, Isla, catching up with family and friends, enjoying some of the walks in the Waiheke Walking Festival, theatre visits for Chicago, Wicked and Michael Jackson Circ Du Soleil, we headed back to Thailand. Arriving at Auckland Airport, 04:30 Tuesday 3rd December 2013, we approached the check in counter only to be told we would not be allowed to board the flight as we did not have a ticket out of Thailand. We explained we would be sailing out of Thailand and that our ticket was the return portion, returning to Thailand. No luck, apparently as non Thai residents we had to have a ticket out of Thailand to be allowed on the flight or a valid entry visa. Our previous visas had expired when we left in August; we therefore had to purchase a ticket for a flight out of Thailand, one we would never use. The lady at the ticket counter was very good, “This happens every day” she said, and promptly found us the cheapest tickets, making sure the date was within the 30 day on arrival visa. Unfortunately when we returned to the check in counter, she had hit the wrong button and the date was incorrect, no issue the counter clerk sorted it for us. Eventually we boarded the flight and arrived in Bangkok later that day.
Our hotel was in central Bangkok, close to the usual very large shopping malls. We went for a walk and had a quiet evening. The next day we booked an evening dinner cruise on the river and again went out walking. The streets were very crowded and road side stalls lined every inch of the pavements, the roads were extremely busy, traffic police blowing whistles to stop and direct traffic were a constant noise. As we turned a corner we were faced with a large political demonstration against the Thai government, not wanting to get involved, we turned around and went to another mall. At 6pm we were picked up at the hotel and driven through the crowded, busy streets to the river. The drive through the small side streets, we assumed to avoid the traffic jams on the main roads, was fascinating, again to the constant sound of whistles. The night street stalls and markets where everywhere, crowds of people thronged the streets, we didn’t know where to look next. The river in Bangkok is man made and is lined with high class hotels and apartments. We motored down to the Rama VIII Bridge, before turning back to return to the dock, the food was good and there was plenty to see.
The following day we flew to Phuket, arriving back on Dol at 13:30, all looked good. It was now time to restock, do the must do chores before heading back out to go cruising. After dinner with Claes and Laila “Comedie” and Wayne and Ally “Blue Heeler”, (we were disappointed to discover Chilli, a café we liked, had closed down) we left Royal Phuket Marina 48hrs after arriving back from NZ and dropped anchor in Panwa Bali. Gail was heard to say “I hope we don’t have to use the channel into Boat Lagoon again” as we headed out with a pilot on board.
It always surprises us how much longer tasks take when cruising. We needed to replace the house batteries, at home this would be at most a 2 hour job, it took us almost an entire day, from 09:00 till 15:00 by the time we ferried the new batteries out to the boat, swapped the old batteries out and took them ashore.
14th December we arrived in Telaga Harbour, Malaysia after a quick trip down from Phuket, stopping at Koh Lanta, met Steve and Anne “Recluse” and Koh Lipe, met Mike and Juanita “Keris” and Kelvin and Ruth “Island Sonata”. When we re-enter Thailand in a week or so it will renew the boats visa, due to expire early January, giving the Dol another 6mths. We planned on staying in Malaysia no more than 36-48hrs, enough time to clear in and out, do some duty free shopping for Christmas and then head back north. Sunday morning, Brian went and cleared out and checked with the fuel wharf that it was OK to come in for fuel. We had already been warned by fellow cruisers that the marina’s ATM and Eftpos machines were not working and they would only accept cash payments. When we arrived at the fuel wharf there was a large launch and a smaller launch fuelling. We waited and went onto the wharf when the smaller one left. However, the fuel dock had run out of diesel and the marina petrol station would not fill jerry cans, so we left and headed north, with excess Malaysian Ringgits we had obtained in Kuah to pay for the fuel. Once out of the bay and across the border into Thailand, we lowered our Malaysian courtesy flag and once again raised our Thailand courtesy flag on the flag halyard.
First stop Tarutao, then an early start to meet up with Mike and Juanita “Keris” and Kelvin and Ruth “Island Sonata” at Koh Kradan. What a delightful anchorage, clear water, reef for snorkeling and 3 resorts, one of them “Hidden Paradise” had a great restaurant. All the resorts appeared to be quite busy, how do people find out about these places? We stayed 2 nights then had a great sail for a couple of hours, then motor sailed to Koh Phi Phi Don North, anchoring near Monkey Beach. The following day it was a great broad reach sail into Panwa Bali, check in and call that visa run complete.
We stayed in Panwa Bali a couple of days, Brian fitted the new dinghy wheels to the dinghy – what a difference they made, it is now easy to pull the dinghy up the sandy beaches, we had dinner ashore with friends, often 5 couples which, when ordering dinner and drinks, saw the usual method of ordering “Family 1, Family 2, Family 3 etc” which we have encountered in Asia and one morning we had to assist a local fisherman who had caught the Dol in his nets. After trying to free the net without success, Brian had to put on his mask and snorkel, dive under the boat and cut the net from around the propeller. The fisherman left with his haul of fish and luckily minimal damage to his nets as we saw him continue fishing not 20 minutes later.
Monday 23rd December was a major shopping day. We hired a car with Anne and Steve “Recluse” and hit the shopping malls; we also went to Rolly Taskers, which, according to the advertisement on their wall, is the largest purpose built sail loft in the world at 9038 sq mtrs, it also has a very well stocked chandlery which was heaven for the guys.
We were still in Panwa Bali for Christmas Day due to strong winds on the west coast of Phuket. We had a great day, the two catamarans, Keris and Island Sonata, rafted together and we had a shared lunch/dinner with 20 friends, food was in abundance and all excellent. This was a great way to spend time with our friends from the Indonesian rally as we are all going our own ways in the New Year, some sailing around South Africa, others doing the east Malaysian rally then back to Australia or New Zealand, some remaining in Thailand/Malaysia for another season and others like ourselves shipping to Turkey. We don’t know yet where we will be for New Year, but no doubt it will again be very social.