After the New Year we headed out to explore the Similan and Surin Islands. These are a chain of islands about 40 miles off the coast of Phuket. There has been very little wind here and we have had to motor almost everywhere. We arrived at Ko Similan about mid day and picked up one of the park moorings. You need to secure a mooring early as there are numerous dive charter boats out here and you are not allowed to anchor in anything less than 50 meters as this is a national park. The moorings seem to be well maintained and there are a fair amount available. We did notice some of the dive charter boats anchor and some motored around for the entire night. The ranger's arrived to collect their fees straight up. We forgot to ask if the captain was free and ended up paying 400 Baht each and 100 Baht a night for the boat. We only paid for three nights for the boat and did not see another ranger although we spent 5 nights in the park. We were not approached by rangers in the Surin Islands so did not pay there, although there are meant to be rangers. The "national park" thing seems to be only a means to collect fees. The tour boats anchor all over the reefs which are destroyed and we saw many fishing boats in the park boundaries fishing. The results are that there are limited fish to support the reefs and the coral is not thriving. The beaches on all the islands were pristine and definitely worth the visit. The anchorages are not well protected and do tend to be quite rolly. We spent most of our time snorkeling, and although it wasn't great, the water is the perfect temperature and it is easy to spend hours swimming around watching all the scuba divers who are more numerous than the fish.

We sailed up to Ko Bon to swim with the manta rays at Manta Rock. The snorkeling here was a little better but the bay was still rolly. The islands are all very small so they offer little protection from the waves. We were with Allure so we all jumped into our dinghy and went to the point of the island to see mantas. Unfortunately the manta rock is a lot deeper than any of us are able to free dive. It was overrun with divers but we were not able to see any mantas. We did have a nice snorkel back around the island. Allure took off for the next island but we decided to just stay the night as it was a bit late. They called in the morning to say they were heading for the Surin Islands. We dropped the mooring and made the long trek up to the Surins. The Surin Islands are a small group of very picturesque islands. We tried to pick up a mooring next to Allure but it turned out to be a ball of line and hooks that must have drifted in from a long line fishing vessel. David cleaned it up out of the water and we went to pick up a mooring offshore at a little rock upcpropping that looked like it would be a great snorkel. We jumped in to disappointment. We did see a moray eel and the biggest, still alive, spider conch we have ever seen. I think we are becoming jaded with the snorkeling. We have been absolutely spoiled by the South Pacific and I fear nothing will ever live up to our expectations now. I will try not to be negative but over fishing is destroying the waters of SE Asia. The next day we moved the boat to the mooring field in between the two islands and had an amazing nights sleep in total quiet and flat waters, bliss. We joined Allure for a jaunt to the beach. We were looking for the sea gypsies village but found a campground instead. The boys played in the trees and we walked around, it looked like a nice out of the way place to camp. There seems to be a lot of camping going on in Thailand. We went back to the boats for a bit of lunch before continuing our quest to find the sea gypsies. We spent a bit of time scrubbing the hull and decided to give the reef next to us a quick try while we waited for Allure. The reef was pristine! It was the nicest reef we have seen in ages. We spent almost four hours in the water exploring the reef, then a few tourist boats showed up and inundated the reef with tourists. Time to get out! We hauled the dinghy and had a relaxing evening onboard.

We were up bright and early to head for Richeliue Rock on the way back to the mainland. Richelieu Rock is a pinnacle in the middle of the sea that nearly breaks the surface. The guide books say it is one of the best spots in the world to see whale sharks. Our friends on Per Ardua swam with whale sharks in Raja Ampat while in Indonesia and we are super keen to do it as well. It's January and the sharks are meant to be around starting in February but maybe we will get lucky! We motored the 25 miles out to the rock. When we arrived there were about 10 tourist dive boats already there. There is one mooring and it was occupied. Jason had beat us there and called to say he wasn't able to see anything but Zack and I decided to give it a go anyway. We had come all this way and we weren't just giving up.. David angled the boat in and we jumped. I will credit the Thai dive boat operators, they are very aware of people in the water and drive their boats accordingly. There was a lot of current and Zack and I had to hold hands and swim as hard as we could just to make it to the rock. It is a weird feeling being in the water and not being able to see the bottom. I don't like it at all but I put on the brave face so I don't pass my fears on to Zack. He doesn't seem to care. We made it to the rock and it was a bubble blower with all the divers swimming below us. It looks like it would be an amazing dive, but a snorkel it is not. We could see down to the tip of the rock and we did see a school of tuna which got Zack excited. It was just too deep and too difficult to fight the current. We swam back for the boat and climbed up the one step in rolling seas. A bit dodgy but we made it up and at least we can say we gave it a try.

We headed out and the wind had picked up enough that we were able to sail to Khoa Lak. There is a surf school in Khoa Lak so we figured if we were going to find good beginner surf anywhere, Khoa Lak was going to be our place. Allure took off the next morning to attend a meeting for the next rally they have joined to get over the top of Borneo and back home to New Zealand. We were up and ready to go early. We grabbed our boards and headed for the beach. That night I sent Allure an email wishing them all the best and telling them we were moving to Khoa Lak. We have found perfection! Small long waves roll into the beach and there are barely any tourists We are home! Zack can steer around people but I am a menace to society on the surfboard. I need a large clear area to be able to surf comfortably. We surfed for hours and then headed for the beach. The beach vibe is totally laid back and we headed for Memories beach bar to have some lunch. The food was great, Zack and I both had a fresh pineapple juice. This is our paradise. We spent 2 days here and could have spent forever but Zack was getting very sunburned and the weather was laying down so the waves were going flat. We decided to head to Au Chalong to have a work week while we waited for the waves to come back up.

Au Chalong is the main port on Phuket. It has everything but is a bit dirty and overcrowded, the bay is open and rolly with lots of commercial traffic. But, we have put the boat maintenance off for some time and it is time to pay the piper. We dropped off our dinghy at Cholamark Dinghy repair to have a cover made. Lots of boats have had them done and they look really good. They do take a while so that is why we have been putting that one off. As I write this it is still not done and we have been waiting a week. They do give you a loaner dinghy so not so bad. We wanted to get the Acrylic lenses replaced in all the hatches. The hatch over the galley has had a big leak for some time now but the price is about half of what the Acrylic alone would cost in the States so we want to do them all. Unfortunately when David tried to remove the hatches he found that he would have to ruin the pins to get them out. We have one set of replacement pins from the previous owner (Thanks Stan!) It was an absolute nightmare to remove the first hatch so we decided to only replace the one as it was the only one leaking. We have the hatch back and it looks beautiful but makes the other hatches look shabby. W e had the work done By Phuket Inter Woodwork Company. They did a great job and the cost was US $55. A bargain! Wish we could do them all. We brought the roller furling for our staysail in and it is still a work in progress. We all had dentist appointments. We went to Tooth Town and would highly recommend them. We also have done a lot of provisioning. We had stocked the boat up in Australia and have not done any major provisioning since. It is a sad day because we have only one block of Tasty cheese left. We left Australia with 20 kilos of Tasty on board, and now we are down to the last one. It was $6 AUS a kilo, that's about $5 US for 2.2 pounds of cheese. We should have bought a hundred blocks but I am grossed out by keeping cheese un-refrigerated. We have friends who have done it and Allure is still well stocked with cheese in the bilge. I need to work thru my phobias. The people of SE Asia are not big cheese eaters so cheese is super expensive here and there is not a lot of choice. We have found lots of other bargains on food and have made about 10 trips to various stores to get Flour Girl back up to stock on provisions. We are crossing the Indian Ocean this year and don't expect to find a lot of inexpensive food along the way so we will do a lot more shopping between Thailand and Malaysia.

As I write this we are all getting a bit antsy to get moving. Hopefully our dinghy cover will be back soon and we will be off to some more adventures.