Week 2 of our Thailand “would-rather-be-sailing” trip.

We prayed for wind and got more than our share on one day, a very cold fridge on all others. Honest guys, this is a mass tourism region and will never ever be a sailing region, the most important thing is missing: WIND !

Sat 18.3.17 – 13,2 NM

KO KRADAN-SE Bay 7°18,6 N-99°15,6E to

KO ROK-between Rok and Nai 7°12,9N-99°04,2E

We decide to go back to Ko Rok, my favourite island so far. It is 2 hours of motoring but there is some wind, maybe we can sail. No way ! As soon as we round the southern tip of Ko Kradan the winds dies down once again. Here we go again.

Round lunchtime we reach Ko Rok and are in shock. The pretty beach is filled with about 25 speed boats and dozens of longtails. Tons of people are on the beach and in the water. This is “Maya Bay, Phi Phi style”, overly crowded, overflowing with tourists. One of the speed boat drivers tells me they are here every day, and most will be gone by 14:00, which is true. We have the beach to ourselves again.

Dinner in the small resaurant ashore, it only opens 17:30 to 19:30, better be on time. We get distracted by the sunset which turns the sky a blazing red, later a creamy blue, plus there is this one huge oyster lying on the beach. Shit, I should have brought my wide angle and tripod. Dinner is funny, we sit amongst Thai families, order by the number on the menu, nobody speaks a word of English so we organise everthing with “hand & feet”, but that works pretty well. Food is good and extremely cheap, $ 15 for the four of us !

A soft breeze is blowing, we know the routine by now: soft wind from NW at 22:00 and during the night (just  a few exceptions), by morning from NE, stops at 10:00, dead calm till around 16:00 when the wind comes again, mostly from SW or W. So for tonight we are all set up for a night on deck, Ancilla and Rolf on the bow, Jürg and me in the stern as before, sleep well.

Sun 19.3.17 – 18,5 NM

KO ROK 7°12,9N-99°04,2E via KO MUK-Charley Beach 7°21,5N-99°17,5E to KO LANTA-Old Town 7°31,7N-99°06,3E

Well, today was a day of changed plans ! We got our wish for more wind, not exactly at the right time, but we got it. But let’s start at the beginning. We leave for Ko Muk, will give the Emerald Cave another go either in the afternoon or tomorrow morning. After 2 hrs by motor we reach Charley Beach on the SW side of Ko Muk. The water is again like a sheet, not a ripple in it. Don’t ask about the wind please !

We are hungry and go ashore for lunch. On the south side of the beach is a viewpoint restaurant with colorful blue, red, yellow, green and pink plastic chairs. It looks friendly, and the view from up there must be great, so that’s where we are headed. The view is great, the wind is blowing, we sit in the shade, it is so nice here ! The food is nothing much, we’re not going here for dinner, no matter how good the view. As it turned out we weren’t even on the island anymore at dinnertime….

As we sit, it blows and blows… plan A was to go to the Emerald Cave after lunch, but we’ve changed to plan B, will do that tomorrow. The spot is too good to leave, we’ll do a taxi tour of the island this afternoon. But we change the plan once again, are now at plan C, why sit here when there is WIND !

So we leave the beach, as we look back there are huge threatening grey clouds behind the island, the way we were looking it seemed fine, now that we look back we are a little worried. We leave Ko Muk and head out in the open, lovely wind, 15-20 knots, this is cool. Soon we decide to skip the whole Emerald Cave thing and head for Ko Lanta, only about 12 NM away ( in a straight line that is). We are doing fine, are on course for the beautiful little Ko Bu Bu, but the clouds behind us are catching up on us, it looks really bad, dark and dangerous, thunder and lightning, what if a storm hits us in the night, we will not be very well protected in Ko Bu Bu.

So we change to plan D: and head for Ko Lanta’s old town which is well protected to all sides, hope we reach it in time. The sun will set at 18:30, we have light till 19:00 max. It’s a race against the clock, behind us the thunderstorm, in front of us the sky is on fire, blazing reds, orange, pink, it is so beautiful, but please hurry!

In the very last light we anchor in front of Ko Lanta’s old town. We only see lights and it it too dark to even see the very long jetty but we are safe for the night. The wind howls around the boat, it starts to rain. Since we can’t see any depth, can’t even see the jetty we dare not go ashore, so Rolf &Ancilla cook penne al ailio & oilio, since oil and a bit of garlic is all we have left. We will all smell lovely tomorrow…

Mon 20.3.17 – 15,6 NM

KO LANTA-Old Town 7°31,7N-99°06,3E to

KO LANTA-Old Town 7°31,7N-99°06,3E

Today things didn’t really go as planned either ! I sleep on deck till another monsoon rain hits us. The weather is very, very dark and cloudy, a good day to go ashore and explore. It says we can go to the jetty at high tides over 2m, so we wait till 11:00, then we hit the town. A friendly local takes our rope and help us out of the dinghy. Coincidentally he also has a taxi, one of those motorbikes with a side wagon, sort of a cross between a tuk tuk and a motorbike, and will guide us in town.

Now I wished for more wind, but whoever is in charge up there is overdoing it ! We leave at 14:00, set sail as soon as we leave Ko Lanta’s old town, not a major sailing day but we get to do 4 knots or so, which is absolutely brillant sailing here…. The sun is shining, the wind is blowing, is picking up, getting stronger and stronger ! As we reach the southermost point of Ko Lanta the full force hits us, near 20 knots wind and rising, dark grey skies coming at us at tremendous speed, oh shit. The whole horizon is the darkest of grey, we hardly get past the little rocky outcrop at the bottom of the island, it has taken us 2 hours so far, we have to cross, up against the wind and waves, we are getting no where. With this wind and a storm brewing, we won’t be safe on the west side of the island where we were planning to go, nor in any bay on the west side, so we do the only sensible thing, we turn around and head back to old town.

The wind is up to 27 knots know and getting stronger, the rain is torrential, you can’t look ahead into the rain, you have to shield your eyes, the only good thing is that we’re doing well over 7 knots, top speed at 8,5 ! To be honest I’m having a ball and loving it, some action at last ! In about 30 min we are back behind the island which blocks off most of the waves, the wind is still at full gale. We take the sails down and motor the last few miles to our anchorage at the end of the jetty. Jürg has to put his diving mask on to go let the anchor down or he won’t see a thing, that’s how bad the wind and rain are. We’ve seen storms in the past 9 trips, but this one beats it all.

We have our anchor drink below deck, nice and warm ! Normally it is unbearably hot and humid down there, for once it is just right.

Tue 21.3.17 – 30,8 NM

KO LANTA-Old Town 7°31,7N-99°06,3E to

KO PHI PHI-Tonsai Bay 7°43,9N-98°46,2E

We leave at 08:30 sharp, we have a long trip ahead of us. Since the weather conditions, and more important to our planning, the wind direction has changed from NE to SW we need to get to an anchorage that is sheltered in possibly every direction. The ones we’d picked on Ko Lanta or Ko Pu are west facing so no chance to stay there overnight, especially since every afternoon the wind changes to SW and picks up dramatically. The only option witin reach that is left is Ko Phi Phi, the one we liked least ! It  will have to do.

As soon as we round the south end of Ko Lanta the wind, which normally disappears from around 10:00 to 16:00,is already there and keeps blowing. The bad part is that it is absolutely head on, no chance to sail against that, we would take twice as long. So it is a motor day again. As expected the skies turn a nasty grey again in the afternoon and the wind is back up to 20 knots, but we manage to get to our anchorage just in time, just a lot of wind, luckily the worst part of the rains passes to our south. Our plan worked, we expected just that to happen ! So far the wind increased just about every day round 16:00, it’s early today.

After anchor drinks and a shower we head to town, tie up our dinghy under the pier, and shop for souvenirs for a while. This is probably the place with the biggest selection we will find on our trip. We walk through the maze of little alleys, streets and side streets, buy the last few provisions we need, then stop for drinks again at a place, decorated all in white, called ACQUA. The drinks are okay, we sit and chat, write cards, send whats ups, the menu looks good and it is a splendid place for people spotting, so we decide to stay for dinner and it turns out to be the best dinner of the trip. Compliments to the ACQUA team.

Wed 22.3.17 – 32,1 NM

KO PHI PHI-Tonsai Bay 7°43,9N-98°46,2E via KO DAM KHWAN-North  7°37,5N-98°48,4E via KO HONG-Krabi 8°04,9N-98°40,9E  to KO YAO NOI-Channel 8°04,9N-98°36,5E

We leave at 08:30 after a lousy night, it was so hot and humid, from midnight on the wind totally stopped, the party on land didn’t, music and laughter till the early hours. Whilst passing on the east side of Ko Phi Phi we do a photo shoot on the bow, the ladies in blue & white, very nautical, the guys in their new pink shirts, very pink shirts I must admit….

We pass Ko Mai Phai where we did a snorkel stop on our longtail trip last week. It would be so beautiful with its incredibly blue water, but unfortunately any nice spot here comes with a beach filled with speedboats and the place overflowing with tourists. That’s one of the main problems here, where ever you  go, there are always dozens and dozens of speedboats and longtails, and masses of people which totally ruin the exotic beauty of the scene, you just don’t want to go there and be Nr. 327. Okay you can stay and wait till they are all gone, but we can’t and not every pretty spot is also a good overnight stop. Next stop is planned at two little islands joined by a reef and sand bank, the are called Ko Dam Hok and Ko Dam Khwan. I am expecting crowds again ! And so it was. But it was sooooo cool !

The sandbank was half submerged by the time we got there, meaning most of the crowds had gone, good for us. About a third of the sandbank from Ko Dam Khwan is still there, there are longtails all over the place and the water is the most crystal clear bright blue. Jürg and Rolf go snorkeling, Ancilla and I go out for a photo shoot. It is great here and for a change the sky is not hazy but a clear blue.

We stay well over an hour, then on to the next stop Ko Hong, which has an enormous hong, 200m in diameter. Loads of longtails cross us as we get closer, all are leaving ! We are very lucky to get there and find is deserted. Quickly tie the boat to the mooring and in to our dinghy. It is almost like the fjords in Norway, from above they look good, once in them it is just sheer walls rising on either side. Just the entering and leaving is cool.

From here one more hour to our final destination for today, in the channel between Ko Yao Noi and Ko Yao Yai on the eastern entrance there is a good fish restaurant. Entering the channel we have to strictly stay in the channel, it is rather narrow and only navigable at high tide and 2 hrs before and after. Beside that, anytime there is less than 2m under our boat the navigationsystem starts beeping like mad. A friend told us to anchor just west of the first headland and so we do.

Thu 23.3.17 – 23 NM

KO YAO NOI-Channel 8°04,9N-98°36,5E via KO KUDU YAI 8°11,8N-98°38,1E to KO PAN YI-Muslim Village 8°20,1N-98°30,4E

With wind at max. 7 knots, which is not worthy of putting up sails, we do yet another coffee cruise, this one along the east coast of Ko Yao Noi, spotting hotels with the binoculars. Just north of the island is our lunchtime stop, again in a gap, this time between Ko Kudu Noi and Ko Kudu Yai. This anchorage is a totally cool peaceful place, and since there is no beach, just walls rising to our right and left, there are no tourists either. Jürg makes pancakes for lunch, the favourite ones are those with banana and honey, no calories of course !

After lunch we do another photo shoot, in crew dress, girls in pink, boys in green. Wah, that is the shirt I wore when we hiked to the viewpoint, my major sweat day, I had put that far down in the laundry bag ! For the photo shoot I take it out again. We get more and more creative in our modeling….in the end we even hoist Ancilla up the mast to photograph us from up above.

We head north, then have to cross the shallows, a part with waterdepths between 1m and 3m, the first definitely being too shallow. We go as far as one can go, bis Ko Pan Yi, a muslim village on stilts, said to have good seafood restaurants. We get there by 17:00, one unfriendly guy soon arrives and orders us across the channel, further away from the waterfront restaurants which all have their own jetty. I am not swimming here with the whole town on stilts, letting everything drop…if you know what I mean. Because of the tide the water is already a murky brownish colour, it is not clean !

We go ashore at one of the restaurants, it is immense and deserted, not a soul around. Damn, another gruesome tourist trap. The back alleys are dirty, narrow, unfriendly. Back to the one waterfront place we see people moving around. The last tourist group is just about to leave, another gigantic place for 1000 people, and we are the only guests sitting in a sort of hallway. This is incredible, there are about 10 of these beside each other, but not a living soul in sight. Must be a tourist lunchtime stop only. We all hate it.

The food really is good. Ancilla and Jürg have soup, Rolf and me a shrimp curry which turns out to be bloody spicy. Rolf is getting redder by the minute and speaks in funny, high, squeeking voice, sweat appears on his face and his nose is dripping. Directly after dinner we go back to the boat for a nice and cold beer, after which our traditional cup of coffee. The Muezzin calls from his Mosque, it goes on for about 45min, after that it is very quiet. We all get our beds ready outside even though there is thunder and lightning in the distance. Hope it doesn’t rain.

Fri 24.3.17 – 26,3 NM

KO PAN YI 8°20,1N-98°30,4E via KO PHING KHAN (James Bond Island) 8°16,3N-98°29,4E to PHUKET-Yachthaven Marina 8°10,2N-98°20,4E

Last day on the boat. It is humid, no wind and bloody hot, every few minutes a longtail drives by at full throttle, no chance of sleeping any more, and it is only 06:00. We watch the sun rise, nice light on the village on stilts, but we’ve had it here, let’s go.

At 07:30 we leave Pan Yi and head south again to Ko Phing Khan, or James Bond Island. Some 007 was shot here, if not for that, not a soul would be interested in the place. We go ashore on the NW side of the island, only 2 boats there, that’s tremendously good… Only one place to go, follow the steps to the other side where the famous beach, lots of little shops selling tourist junk, and lots of chinese and russians already are. Half an hour later we are back on our boat and having breakfast in peace, this little outing cost us 300 Baht each ! Honest, it is not worth the money.

On the way south we follow the channel to Ko Hong, which of course also has a hong. My wishes come true as we pass an old chinese barge with red sails, great, now get it in front of one of the rockfaces. They don’t really show up when you want or in the right place, but soon after a second one follows, we get another chance.

Then it’s time to go back to the harbour, another 2-3 hrs by motor as usual. We get to the marina by 16:00 as planned. That was 294 NM in 12 days, of which we sailed about 50NM. One last coffee on the boat, one more sleepless night then we go to our wonderful hotel ‘the Slate’ in Nai Yang for a day of relaxing, an almost empty beach, a good bed in an airconditioned room and a long hot shower, before we fly home.

We had a great time, relaxed and got beautiful tans, had wonderful food, enjoyed tremendous snorkeling, but we won’t be back for the sailing !

For our best photo: go to gallery

 

copyright text and photo by  Astrid Bluemel for bluemelphoto.ch