Nai Yang Sky

During the dry season, one of our favorite places is Nai Yang Bay in Phuket Island, Thailand.

Here are some sunsets we enjoyed, and a picture of a moonset that turned into a work of art for Darrel.

Sometimes the sunsets are silver.

Sometimes the sunsets are dusky red.

Sometimes the camera just goes crazy!

Let Me Check Your Body

Swimming suits don’t last a long time on CanKata. Between the sun, salt, chlorine (from marina swimming pools), and laundry detergent, the colour soon fades and the elastic soon gives out. I can live with the fading, but the stretched elastic can lead to OOPS – BOOB (see previous article).

While in Nai Yang – one of our favourite beaches on the island of Phuket in Thailand – we stopped at a small beach store to see what sort of swim suits were available. I was looking for an over-the-shoulder top versus the halter-neck tops that are so popular here. We had been searching for quite a while.

The friendly sales lady greeted us with “Hello! Welcome!”

Darrel asked her if she had any bikinis with over-the-shoulder straps. “Yes, yes. Come in!” was the answer.

So we entered the shop, and then she grabbed my shoulders and said, “Let me check your body!” She grabbed my breasts to check their size, then she cupped them to estimate their heft, then she felt my rib cage to estimate the girth, and so on with my stomach and buttocks. “I have your size!” she announced.

She found a box, entered it head first and dug around for a few seconds. “Here, try this on”, she commanded. “If you no like color, I have others!”

The little shop, jammed with all sorts of lovely sun dresses, short-shorts, halter neck tops and so forth, had a shower-curtain type dressing room. Our lovely sales lady pulled the curtains around me and waited patiently while I changed.  When I stepped out of the curtain, she yanked at the bottoms and stuck her hands in the top and announced, “Too big!”

Back her head went into the box and out came a smaller suit. “Here, try this on. If you no like color, I have others!” (Yes, it’s true: all her statements ended with an exclamation point).

When I came out of the curtain the second time, I was not subjected to another pat down. “Ah, yes, very good!” declared our lovely sales lady. “You like color? Here, pick the one you like!”

Up until now, we have not discussed price. Darrel and I had set the budget at 600 baht ($20 Canadian). While I’m searching through her selection looking for a color that looks good even when it has faded, I ask her the cost.  “450 baht – special for you because you first sale for today!” she said with a shining smile.

“How much for TWO?” was the only response I could think of.

In the end, we bought THREE, at the price of 400 baht each.

“Now, does Mister need a swimsuit?” she asked. “Will you be measuring me?” was the only response Darrel could think of.

He didn’t get one.

OOB - Object Overboard

It was the Christmas season, and we were partying on S/Y Ketoro with a group of friends. As happens at boat parties, a glass was knocked overboard. The next morning, when the conditions were perfect for a search, we donned our snorkel gear and undertook the search for the glass. No luck. It was not to be found.

Later that day, I mentioned to Darrel that we should make a simple device consisting of a buoyant object, a weight, and enough line suitable for the anchorage we happen to be in. “We could call it an OOB”, I suggested. All sailors know about MOB (man overboard); the OOB is a slight variation.

So Darrel dug in our lockers, located a small buoy we found on the beach, stole some fishing line from my gear, and retrieved a heavy piece of redundant hardware that he had buried deep in our bilges. He put it all together, and – Voila! – Our first OOB.

We presented OOB 1 to our friends on Ketoro. They have since used it (in stand-by mode when replacing zincs and as a hammer to insert the zincs – how creative) and are pleased with the results.

We have since made OOB 2. It is amazing how many spare buoyancy objects and weights a catamaran can hold in her bilges. So next time we lose a clothes pin or zinc or wine glass, it won’t be OOPS … it’ll be OOB.