Saskatchewan Visitors

January was a busy month for us on the visitor front. Canadian winters can be hellish, so it was our pleasure to provide a destination to four snowbirds: Rob and Erinn from January 2-9, and Marleen (Darrel’s sister) and Larry from January 9-29.

We had a blast with our visitors. Our lives have been pretty routine, so it was nice to have some diversion, even though we still kept fairly close to our routine of relaxing, shopping, eating, swimming, sunning, doing boat chores, and relaxing (repeat intentional).

Here are excerpts from the blog entries, which tell the stories of the visits [with a few added explanations from Loretta].

From Rob and Erinn

January 2-9, 2013

Things we learned on our Excellent CanKata Adventure:

1. CanKata rocks! (But nothing that a little Gravol can’t fix)
2. It’s OK to shower in public [on the back of CanKata. L.]
3. CanKata takes team work.
4. How to (sun)dress aboard CanKata.
5. Deep fried maggots look yummy [at the market. L.]
6. Two screws are better than one [referring to props! L.]
7. Navigating is easier on autopilot.
8. The dice are rigged [Team CanKata won at Farkle. L.]
9. How to make delicious powdered milk yogurt in a jar.
10. The difference between a genoa and a jib, and between a rope and a line.
11. Perhaps the dice aren’t rigged after all (Erinn finally wins a game of Farkle).
12. Squid don’t ink for pennies [We dropped a few from the boat into a school of squid … no reaction. L.]
13. Extreme cure for jellyfish sting [Pee. We saw it on Survivor. Honest. L.]
14. Beauty of a sunset cruise.
15. Jellyfish stings hurt – but not enough for the extreme remedy.
16. Coconut Café [Nai Harn, Phuket] has great ice cream but remember, lemon = lime.
17. There is no graceful way to enter a dingy. [Erinn: “I lost my dignity to the dinghy”.]
18. How fortunate we are to have had this wonderful CanKata experience. Kop koon kaa/ Kop koon krap. From Erinn and Rob, Saskatoon, Canada.

Rob at the helm.

Erinn enjoying a ride on the bow seat.

Erinn at the helm.

Our friend Mel with Rob, Erinn, Loretta & Darrel at Kamala.

A yummy thai dish at a Kamala beach restaurant.

Rob and Erinn at Kamala.

Erinn once again on the bow seat.

Rob on the other bow seat.

Rob enjoying a Thai sunset from CanKata.

Erinn capturing the sunset.

 

Rob and Erinn relaxing after a busy day at sea.

From Marleen and Larry

 

Jan. 9-29, 2013

We enjoyed our week stay at the Dewa, a great holiday spot let alone a wonderful retirement place. We were introduced to plane spotting and squid. We enjoyed beach walks, a relaxing massage, shopping, and many great Thai meals. We learned new games – Box Cribbage and red-green Farkle. We found the Thai people very friendly and were entertained by the Aphrodite show. We had day trips by car through Phuket with lots to see including the Big Buddha where we were blessed, and, yes, we feel very blessed to be here.

 

Larry, Marleen, Loretta & Darrel at the Dewa

 

Larry, Loretta & Darrel on a walk through the Dewa grounds.

Marleen & Larry walking along Nai Yang creek.

Nai Yang Beach with early-morning shade..

Marleen and Larry overlooking Kata Bay.

Larry, Darrel & Marleen overlooking Nai Harn Bay.

Marleen and Larry at the Big Buddha.

At the Big Buddha site overlooking Chalong Bay

On January 16, I (Marleen) had a great birthday (61^st) at the helm of CanKata. We anchored at Nai Harn Beach for two nights. I now know port from starboard, and jib from genoa. We enjoyed a lunch on shore where Larry lost his dignity to the dinghy. That darn CanKitty.

Marleen at the helm.

Larry at the helm.

We cruised to Kata Beach where we enjoyed a great Thai lunch and continued on to Freedom Bay – our favorite – very picturesque, where we spent a quiet night with many squid boats on the horizon providing a night light. We were introduced to the bowline knot and viewed a school of squid at the anchor chain (very clean water, nice swim).

Marleen at her favorite spot.

Larry in the dinghy (with his dignity).

At Freedom Bay.

Squid around CanKata's anchor chain in Freedom Bay waters.

We were then off to Nai Yang, full sail, what a great experience with myself at the bow and Larry at the helm keeping the boat on course and the sails filled, maintaining an average speed of 7 knots with a maximum speed of 10.3 knots (about 10 MPH) … speeder! … and not getting seasick.

While in Nai Yang, we had a 3-hour brunch at the Indigo Pearl. The presentation was impressive and the food delicious. The next day Larry and I went on a [bus /longtail/kayak] tour of Phang Nga Bay.

Larry checking out brunch options.

Still checking.

And still checking.

The Phang Nga Bay tour included an elephant ride.

James Bond Island, Phang Nga Bay.

 

Two days later, with Larry at the helm, we then motor-sailed to Kamala Beach and took the dinghy to Surin Beach for lunch. We learned a new term: gunkholing.

Walking around in Surin Beach.

The dock at Surin Beach.

A Thai dish.

At Surin Beach.

A Thai dish.

Darrel, Marleen, Larry and Loretta at the Dewa pool party.

Our last night together.

 

After a quiet night in Bang Tao we returned to Nai Yang to take in a pool party at the Dewa, massages and last-minute shopping. What a wonderful holiday this has been. My thoughts are: we have been blessed by a monk, tanned by the sun, relaxed by the “gentle” motion of the ocean, and treated like royalty. My “high” was sitting at the bow as Larry was at the helm in full sail. My “low” was Darrel directing me to a washroom [squatter] without warning or toilet paper! We enjoyed being 1^st mates and have seen first-hand what a great life Darrel and Loretta are leading, which makes it easier not to miss them being so far away.

Good luck, Loretta & Darrel, and enjoy your next adventure,

Marleen & Larry
P.S. See you in a few months.
 

Other Visitors

We also had a few Thai friends visit CanKata for an hour to two. We couldn’t resist posting some photos of these beautiful people.

Nam from the Recreation Dept., Dewa.

Ron from the Recreation Dept., Dewa.

Wun and Noo from Relax Massage.

It and Ma from the laundry service.

 

No Chagos for us – for now

I think we’ll have to wait until 2018 or later to visit a place that has been on the top of our list since we started planning our sailing adventure: the Chagos archipelago.

I saw the warning posted by a Facebook friend: “Piracy Still a Clear and Present Danger in Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean” http://www.noonsite.com/General/Piracy/piracy-still-a-clear-and-present-danger-in-gulf-of-aden-and-indian-ocean

We followed up with our friend, and he gave us a couple more web sites to check out. They are listed below.

We were given lots to think about by an email this same friend sent us. Here are some excerpts:

“I would rely on military sources in my planning of my route when sailing from Thailand to South Africa. After all the Indian Ocean is considered a war zone and the military cannot be expected to provide any assistance to pleasure vessels whatsoever.  The military mission is to protect commercial shipping period.  Insurance companies assess risk for their insurance of commercial vessels and have shaded the entire Indian Ocean as a listed area as you know. …
 
My known information on insurance assessment is that when Quest was pirated they were insured and were within the acceptable route limits of their insurance company (a Lloyds company affiliated with the Blue Water Rally). Once Quest was returned to the United States by the military the insurance company absolved themselves completely of any claims made against Quest because they claim that the vessel was pirated and therefore not insured immediately before, during or after the pirate attack.  There was and will be no payment for the damage to Quest or the murder of the crew onboard by the insurance company.
 
… [If] you transit a known pirate area (i.e. Maldives and Chagos) your insurance will not be valid if you are attacked by pirates.
 
… [If] I … wanted to safely get across the Indian Ocean I would take the World Arc route across the Indian Ocean
(http://www.worldcruising.com/WORLDARC2014/itinerary.aspx).  I would bypass the Maldives … and bypass Chagos (a known pirate area today) and head to Mauritius, Reunion and onto Richards Bay during the upcoming sailing season.  I would take the advice of UKMTO, EU NAVFOR, US Naval Forces, Spanish Navy and French Navy and get out of the Indian Ocean area as quickly, as directly and as safely as possible. …

While the number of attacks in the Indian Ocean has decreased significantly
this past crossing season the reasons are fairly clear:  1) There are more
naval vessels using deadly force against the pirates, 2) Most merchant
vessels now employ armed guards onboard and these x-military people shoot to kill, 3) The 2011 sailing season saw historically high levels of piracy so
even cutting those attack numbers in half results in higher than average
pirate attacks even this past 2012 season.

[Two] good websites for the latest pirate activity are:
http://www.shipping.nato.int/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map "

[END OF EXCERPTS FROM EMAIL]

So after giving it more thought and weighing the risks, we have decided to alter our route. At this point in time, our plan is to head down the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, touch down at the island of Cocos Keeling, then cross over to Mauritius (with maybe a stop at Rodriguez). We have to get cracking on our plan and try to find others going this same way.

We were sooooo looking forward to a month in the Chagos – away from civilization, in the midst of nature about as untouched as it can get, and in fishing grounds that would keep us well fed for at least a month. But like I said – maybe we’ll go in 2018 or 2019 … we haven’t scratched it off our list yet.

Need a Maldives courtesy flag?

When we were still on our Thailand-Maldives-Chagos-Mauritius plan, we stopped at the flag store and bought a few courtesy flags. They were all out of the Chagos, but we bought, among a few others, the flag for the Maldives.

When we got back to CanKata, I integrated the new flags in alphabetical order with all the others we have, and I discovered that we already had a Maldives flag. So now we have two. And we don’t need either one now that we are on the Thailand-Sumatra-Cocos Keeling-Mauritius plan.

I think I need to segregate some of our flags into a “Places we probably won’t ever sail to” flag bin.  We had once thought that we would sail through the Red Sea and Mediterranean (hard to believe it is no longer possible), and bought flags in preparation.  Once upon a time, we thought we would need flags for:

Croatia
Egypt
Eritrea
Greece
Iran
Israel
Italy
Maldives (2!)
Malta
Morocco
Oman
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Turkey
Yemen

Our bin with “flags we will need” is much smaller now. But our adventures will be just as big. And now we can add an African safari or two to our list. A pretty good trade-off, I think.

A Quick Trip to Malaysia

Thailand law requires that we take our boat out of their country every six months – or, sometimes, once a year if the boat is in a marina (which CanKata was). So our time was up in November.

We left Phuket for Langkawi, Malaysia on November 5. We stopped at Phi Phi Le, Ko Rok Nok and Tarutao on our way there. These anchorages provided some spectacular views of the skies, and we even managed to sail some of the way (not always easy on this route).

 

View from Phi Phi Le

 

High on our "favourite" list: Ko Rok Nok

View from Tarutao

The dark, early morning sky was amazing: Venus rising in the east, Pluto setting in the west, and Orion directly above us, with the brightest star Sirius close to Orion. The early night sky was pretty active: one night we counted seven satellites.

On November 8^th we arrived in Kuah, Langkawi – a safe but dirtied-water harbor – and immediately got to work buying a variety of boat parts and provisions that we can’t get in Thailand, like good powdered milk and affordable feta cheese. We met up with old friends (Tigger) and made some new ones (Emelia and Vamp) and enjoyed using the services of Surin, whose office is based right near the dinghy dock. She calls herself a “mini chandlery” and works hard to help you get what you need.

There's been lots of development near the dinghy dock in Kuah. Even Karaoke!

The chandlery didn't have much of what we needed.

The view from Kuah: a storm developing in the west at sunset.

We gave away the last of our books when in Kuah. Our shelves now have mostly reference books and cruising guides and duplicate flags of the Maldives. We both now have Kindle book readers and love them. They don’t smell musty, they don’t have little spider mites, and hundreds of books weigh next to nothing. The batteries last for days and days. Yes, we highly recommend them to our fellow sailors.

On November 20^th, with all the stuff we needed safely stowed away and all our books with new homes, we started our journey back to Thailand. “See you in 2018” was our farewell message to Tigger and Emelia. We will probably meet up with Vamp again in Thailand.

The winds suggested that we take a different route home. That’s the beauty of the trip between Phuket and Langkawi – lots of islands to pick from, lots of variety for route planning. We stopped at Tarutao North, Ko Talibong, Ko Lanta Yai (where we relaxed an extra day), and at Monkey Beach, Phi Phi Don (where we played with a wee dolphin). Between Talibong and Lanta, we hardly motored at all. And the amazing thing about both going and coming: it didn’t rain enough to be a bother, but it rained enough to clean our canvas and allow us to catch some water for our tank. It tastes so much better than our reverse-osmosis water!

 

View from Talibong, after this system rained on us.

View from Talibong after the sun set a little lower.

 

View from Ko Lanta Yai

Another view from Ko Lanta Yai, a little later. See the green?

 

Another view from Ko Lanta the next night: a stark difference.

 

Darrel and the dolphin at Phi Phi Don

 

Loretta petting the dolphin at Phi Phi Don.

 

The morning sky over Phi Phi Don

CanKata heading home to Phuket

Sailing in clean water allows me another treat: doing laundry in salt water. It always gives me a thrill to practice water conservation. My super-duper $80 washer/spinner squeezes all the salt water out, and then all I need is one rinse in fresh, another good spin, a few hours hanging in the breeze and sun, and Voila – spring-smelling laundry with just a small tub of fresh water.

One small frustration we had on our journey was our inability to use our ham radio for emails – something that will be critical for us when we leave Thailand in February. We can’t figure out if the problem is related to software, hardware, or uncooperative air waves. We are still working on a resolution and MUST get this solved before we leave.

We had a visitor on board for most of our journey: a little gecko. We hardly saw it, but often saw a little piece of black and white poo which is the calling card of the gecko. We haven’t seen any evidence for a few days now, and wonder if it went ashore at Monkey Beach.  Too bad – we didn’t have one mosquito aboard while it was here.

So good-bye gecko, good-bye books, and good-bye Malaysia. “See you in 2018”, Langkawi, or maybe earlier if we need to change our route once again. One never knows for sure.

P.S. I am seeing regular updates on Facebook about our many Aussie sailing friends who are arriving home safely from S.E. Asia. Well done, mates!