Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Still in Nai Harn bay
This year here is sure different than last year. Then we had almost no wind and this year we have had lots of it and are still anchored in Nai Harn bay which is not a problem as it is very beautiful. So it has been some more boat jobs and cleaning plus reading books and making some plans for when our friends Doug and Thelma arrive mid Feb. It is a long way to come and the first few days will be a blur until they get over the jet lag. There are some of our other yachtie friends here so lots of social stuff going on as well. We will probably stay here until the winds drop a bit maybe on Friday.
Saturday, January 18, 2014
Thailand
Well we finally left Rebak on Jan 05 for Ko Lipe which is all of 25 miles away but a whole different world. The water in the ocean here is clear and the life in Thailand is a lot more free and easy. The island is small with no cars and manly just sand roads for tuk tuks and a few motor scooters. It is a bit of a throw back to the 70's with lots of back packers just hanging out and enjoying some relaxing time. We spent three days here and enjoyed just being out of the marina and getting all the systems on Kilkea up and running.
After our rest it was time to move up to Ko Lanta about 65 miles to the north. It was a fun day with winds up to 25k We had a fast sail and managed to work out how to sail again. This may sound strange with all the sailing we have done but after ten months of not doing it we really had to think what we were trying to do. The good new is that we didn't break anything and the boat ran well. We spent a couple of days just staying in the bay and going ashore for lunch and dinner. We had a nice lunch that actually turned into dinner on a lookout restaurant overlooking the bay. Nice way to kill a day. We then sailed and motored up to Ao Chalong bay where we cleared into customs, immigration, and port authority. We stayed there for a few days enjoying the beach restaurants for dinners and did manage to rent a car to drive into Phuket so that we could hook up with internet and phone service as well as get a new high pressure hose for the water maker. We now are in a small bay. well not that small, called Ni Harn just on the south end of Phuket island. Here the water is clear and there are lots of beach bars / restaurants and other boats that we have met in the past. We will just move slowly up the coast towards Myanmar (Burma) over the next few weeks and enjoy the swimming and warm weather. Not so hot at this time of the year and we can sleep comfortably at night. This will change by mid March with the temps going up on a daily basis but for now we are really enjoying Thailand and hope their political problems do not involve us tourists.
After our rest it was time to move up to Ko Lanta about 65 miles to the north. It was a fun day with winds up to 25k We had a fast sail and managed to work out how to sail again. This may sound strange with all the sailing we have done but after ten months of not doing it we really had to think what we were trying to do. The good new is that we didn't break anything and the boat ran well. We spent a couple of days just staying in the bay and going ashore for lunch and dinner. We had a nice lunch that actually turned into dinner on a lookout restaurant overlooking the bay. Nice way to kill a day. We then sailed and motored up to Ao Chalong bay where we cleared into customs, immigration, and port authority. We stayed there for a few days enjoying the beach restaurants for dinners and did manage to rent a car to drive into Phuket so that we could hook up with internet and phone service as well as get a new high pressure hose for the water maker. We now are in a small bay. well not that small, called Ni Harn just on the south end of Phuket island. Here the water is clear and there are lots of beach bars / restaurants and other boats that we have met in the past. We will just move slowly up the coast towards Myanmar (Burma) over the next few weeks and enjoy the swimming and warm weather. Not so hot at this time of the year and we can sleep comfortably at night. This will change by mid March with the temps going up on a daily basis but for now we are really enjoying Thailand and hope their political problems do not involve us tourists.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Year
We have had a very busy Christmas season with lots of dinners out and with friends and just relaxing around the pool. We had a great Christmas eve dinner by the pool with turkey and all the trimmings. Also were lobster and prawns, smoked salmon and a host of other great foods. On Christmas day the hotel put on a big champagne lunch that required a afternoon nap. All in all it was very nice but not as good as being at home for the holidays. The week flew by and we did get some of the boat problems fixed, at least we hope we did. New years eve saw a lot of the yachties at the hard dock café for dinner then lots of boat hopping until midnight when we all gathered on the beach with champagne in hand to watch the fireworks and bring in the new year. Lots of fun and we did manage to stay up until 0130 so at least we know we are still alive and kicking even at our age.
2014.... Kilkea II has now been with us for eight years and we are starting our ninth cruising year on her. Our plans at this time are to leave for Thailand on the 4th??? and be up there for a couple of months before coming back here on March 17 to haul out and have the bottom painted and whatever else we find we have to do. Past that we do not have much of a plan as it starts to get very hot here after mid March with April probably the hottest month of the year. Who know where we will end up! One thing for sure is that the pirate situation in Somalia is still bad enough that we cannot sail up through the Red Sea, which is where we would like to go getting us back in the Med next year. One thing we want to do is to travel up to Chaing Mai in northern Thailand as it is in the mountains and every one we have talked to say it is very beautiful and cooler than on the coast.
It is hard to believe that we have been gone eight years on our five year voyage plan that we started with back at the beginning of 2006. Well I guess someone has to do this sort of stuff and it might as well be us as we are still enjoying all the travel and strange countries and different foods. The main fun thing is meeting all the different people from everywhere in the world on the yachts and in the countries we visit. I guess that as long as our health holds and we have the ambition we will continue with this life path until something better shows up. Right now we are looking forward to going back to Thailand and moving Kilkea II again as she has been at her mooring now for eight months which is longer that we have ever had her sitting.
We wish all our friends and readers of this blog a very Happy and prosperous new year.
2014.... Kilkea II has now been with us for eight years and we are starting our ninth cruising year on her. Our plans at this time are to leave for Thailand on the 4th??? and be up there for a couple of months before coming back here on March 17 to haul out and have the bottom painted and whatever else we find we have to do. Past that we do not have much of a plan as it starts to get very hot here after mid March with April probably the hottest month of the year. Who know where we will end up! One thing for sure is that the pirate situation in Somalia is still bad enough that we cannot sail up through the Red Sea, which is where we would like to go getting us back in the Med next year. One thing we want to do is to travel up to Chaing Mai in northern Thailand as it is in the mountains and every one we have talked to say it is very beautiful and cooler than on the coast.
It is hard to believe that we have been gone eight years on our five year voyage plan that we started with back at the beginning of 2006. Well I guess someone has to do this sort of stuff and it might as well be us as we are still enjoying all the travel and strange countries and different foods. The main fun thing is meeting all the different people from everywhere in the world on the yachts and in the countries we visit. I guess that as long as our health holds and we have the ambition we will continue with this life path until something better shows up. Right now we are looking forward to going back to Thailand and moving Kilkea II again as she has been at her mooring now for eight months which is longer that we have ever had her sitting.
We wish all our friends and readers of this blog a very Happy and prosperous new year.
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