By Darrel
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| Picking the right route, the right anchorages, and the right time. |
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| Some of our beautiful friends from Nai Yang, Phuket, Thailand |
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| More beautiful friends from Nai Yang. |
We left Nai Yang, which is located at the North West end of Phuket, Thailand
at 0830 on February 7, 2013. Since this will be our home upon our return we
thought it should be the official start and end of our circumnavigation.
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| Cankata feeling at home - sunset at Nai Yang. Photo by Ley of Crystal Blues |
We plan to spend about 5 years to complete this circumnavigation with
the following rough schedule:
2013 - Leave Phuket, Thailand and sail to Cape Town, South Africa
(approximately 6800 nautical miles)
2014 – Leave South Africa and sail to St. Martin, West Indies in the
Caribbean (approximately 6900 nautical miles)
2015 – Leave the West Indies and sail across the Caribbean Sea to Panama
and pass through the Panama Canal into the South Pacific (approximately 2400
nautical miles)
2016 – Leave Panama and sail to Papua New Guinea, Philippians, or
Micronesia (approximately 9400 nautical miles)
2017 – Leave where ever we are (as long as it is where we are supposed
to be) and sail home, i.e., to Nai Yang, Phuket (approximately 2500 nautical
miles)
I may as well tell you before you hear it from Loretta. The reason we
have to be back to Phuket by 2018 is because that is when my Thai Driver’s License
expires. Or is it really because that is as long as I can go without a massage?
Preparing CanKata for our Voyage
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| Our trampolines were reinforced and restrung. |
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| The man-overboard pole with new cover. |
Safety Items:
Our EPIRB (emergency beacon which automatically sends out a signal
identifying our position and to notify coast guard of an emergency on CanKata)
was still working but the battery was past its expiration date so we had to get
a new battery and have the unit tested and recertified.
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| The EPIRB, handy for testing and in case of emergency. |
We had more flares than required by Canadian and USA Coast Guard but
again some of them had reached their expiration date so they were replaced.
Our standing rigging is now 6+ years so it was time to hire a
professional rigging inspector to determine if everything is okay. After a very
thorough inspection, the inspector informed us that it is quite evident that
CanKata is a very well maintained yacht. He did however find a few minor
recommendations that we have since corrected.
Our Personal Flotation Devices undergo an inspection every 3 months, but
one item we had put off replacing, since we were not doing any night passages, was
an emergency strobe light that automatically goes off when submersed in water.
So that was replaced.
Our Ditch Kit was emptied when we arrived in S. E. Asia (well at least
the consumables e.g. Snickers, Kit Kats, water and hard candies so these items
have been replaced.
Navigation Equipment:
Our Radar had been acting up since our mast was taken down a couple of
years ago and we knew it was a damaged connector problem. We have now replaced
the connector and it works as good as new again.
The screen on our chart plotter had deteriorated to the point we could
not view the screen from the helm station so we replaced it with a new one. (Thanks
Marleen and Larry for bringing it with you.)
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| Our new Garmin at the back of the "nav station". Radar on left, SSB on right. Newest Toshiba laptop performing well. |
Our Single Sideband (SSB) radio was having trouble getting connected
through our modem which is our only means to order a pizza (oh and also to get
weather reports and communicate to the outside world). So we hired the experts
and after removing all of our SSB components, they were able to detect and solve
the problem. “Test Test … I would like to order a pizza with half and half –
one half, medium with pepperoni and green peppers, and the other half, large
with ham and pineapple.”
Mechanical Equipment:
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| The bilge is a handy place for spare parts. |
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| And bilges are handy for tinned drinks too. |
General Equipment:
Since we gave up on fishing here about two years ago,
we had to purchase additional fishing lures, lines, etc.
We won’t be able to rely on our local laundry ladies
so even though our Duo Tub washing machine was still working well, we thought
we should replace it with a new one which will hopefully last for the next five
years.
Provisions:
Wow are we going to miss Thailand and the Thai meals.
Not that Loretta can’t cook a great meal. Whew, good comeback Darrel.
Does anyone know how many tubes of toothpaste, or
number of rolls of toilet paper, or cans of tuna, corn, fruit, pop, or bags of
sugar, oatmeal, pancake mix, flour, salt, or boxes of UHT milk, orange juice,
tea, toothpicks, or jars of jam, syrup, honey, mustard, olives, etc. we will
need to provision for our trip to Mauritius or to South Africa? Yikes, neither
do we. What we do know is how easy it is to spend lots of money and have a receipt
that is about 48 inches in length. Trust
me we will not starve to death. But we
will still miss our wonderful Thai meals.
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| A cockpit full of provisions. |
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| Shirt off, making headway. |
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| Plastic tubs helped with the organization. |
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| Still room in this berth for more provisions ... but not for visitors. |
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| A very long grocery list ... all in Thai. |
Health Care Items:
I gave it my best shot. I told Loretta that our
massages were an important form of preventative health care and that we should include
in our medical kit a young beautiful Thai lady. Unfortunately she did not buy
into it. Oh well only five years until my next massage. Yikes – I just got a
pain in my lower back.
We had to stock up on all our meds, (not including
alcohol) such as antibacterial creams, pills for heart attacks – or more precisely
to stop heart attacks, ear drops, antibiotics, etc.
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Well we are still floating and with one or two more
stops along the way for fuel and more food we should be self-sustaining for
many months to come.
