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