Daily life

We have been in the Marina for a few weeks now.  Life in Phuket is very relaxing, massages, facials, good fresh Thai food.
In between we do boat chores, the water pump stopped working and Rob found the pressure switch had gone. Thankfully the local marine store had one and it was quickly replaced. He had to lie in the space under the seat to get to the pump, had to take a photo.

Today I braved a local hair stylist. Khun Sek, at his salon with the cute name 'Again Salon'. The cut and dry included a 15 min head massage during the washing.  90 min and 300 baht later I was very pleased with the result.

While I was there Rob went for a 1 hour massage at the shop next door.

He took this photo of me at the massage parlor, with its very pretty entrance.

The results of Piracy

We are back in the Marina and of course the rain and storms have stopped.

There is a ship here loading many yachts for delivery to Turkey. These are all round the world cruisers who have had to find an alternative method of crossing the Indian ocean to get to the Med, due to the threat of piracy.  Sad they wont see the beautiful islands of the Indian Ocean.

Our fridge stopped working on Saturday (thank heavens we have 2) and the thermostat had to be replaced. We had great service from an company called 'Chill' and it was working again on Monday morning. There is always something to be seen to on the boat.

The best thing at the moment is the air-conditioner Rob had installed. Its a normal domestic split unit that you would put in your home. It works very well, what a pleasure to have a cool boat. The normal air-conditioner on a boat uses sea water and takes lots of maintenance.
This also means that when we are taken out and put on the ground for storage, we dont need water to run the air-cons.

Returning to Phuket

Our trip back to Phuket was not so comfortable as we were hit side on by the swells and Westerly winds.
We did 3 stops and each night we were kept up by big lightening and rain storms.

This is Phi Phi don, but the small beach on the north of the island, away from the tourist spots. Nice snorkeling. The cliffs are amazing with lush growth of tall trees as well. The lightening here was very close, its amazing how bright the strike is. Now when there is lightening around, I put computers, VHF radio, cell phones etc in our oven. This is supposed to shield the goods from the electric field that occurs if the boat is hit. The lightening will destroy every electrical gadget on the boat if we are hit. The chances of being hit are very small, but I have seen two boats that have been hit so I am a bit cautious.


Tried my hand at line fishing for squid. Its a small lure that gets pulled through the water in jerking motions. We saw them come and look at the lure but they swam by. Next time.

We beat the NZ boat with a total of 9 Tuna caught against their 6!

Langkawi, Malaysia

We then moved on to anchor in the bay of Langkawi to be close to the town. Its well set up with a little dingy doc and we hired a car for 50 Ringgits (R125.00). As we are now in Malaysia, we headed to immigration and Port control and booked ourselves and the boat in and out of the country. No charges and minimal paperwork for a change.

There is a large park on the shoreline with a huge statue of an Eagle welcoming visitors that arrive by sea. Very impressive. Its a small town, full of 'duty free' shops selling mostly liquor and chocolates. We stocked up on Tonic water and other goodies.

From our boat we could see what looked like a castle from Disneyland, its the Bella Vista Hotel.

This is Telaga marina where we filled up with Diesel at 2.85 Ringgit a liter. (R7.15)

The mountain in the back ground has a cable car station at 708m with panoramic views. We did not get to go up this time.

Rebak Marina, Langkawi 2 March 2012

We are now in Rebak Marina, which is on a tiny private Island called Rebak. It only has the Marina and a beautiful Taj Hotel. We get to use the pool at the hotel which is a really nice bonus.  Had a delicious Lamb Masala last night, at the Marina restaurant. Good to eat tasty red meat again.
Found this photo of the island.

Fish at last!

3 days of no fish at all. We stared at the whistler waiting for a bite.  It makes quite a splash!

Then on our stretch from Ko Lipe to Langkawi we caught FIVE Tuna!

They were 32cm long.

So we beat the New Zealand couple, 5 fish to their 3 fish!

At last, we have fresh fish again.

Ko Muk and Ko Lipe

Our trip to Langkawi was in 3 legs, first night we spent in Northern bay of Phi Phi Don. This was very noisy as the music from all the clubs floats out on the water.
On the next leg to Ko Muk we found Bob and Deidre a South African couple on yacht 'Plane Sailing' They showed us where to anchor and took us to the entrance of the Emerald cave. Unfortunately the tide was to high to enter the cave which comes out in a amazing hong. We will have to explore this another time. That night a huge storm built in the NW and we watched the torrential rain fall.

Ko Muc

Tropical Storm

From there we went further south to Ko Lipe. This is one of the last Thai islands before crossing into Malaysia. It is a small island with lots of little shops and restaurants. We will make a stop there on the way back. We left 'Plane Sailing' there and moved on to Langkawi.

Bob and Deidre on 'Plane Sailing'. They are an amazing couple who left SA many years ago and have travelled around the world. They have many interesting stories to tell. All this started after his retirement. Living life to the full!