Author: Kathryn & Rick World Travelers

It poured rain for about 45 minutes last night.  Rick was up in the middle of the night closing hatches.  We bailed the dinghy and hung stuff out to dry.  I finished my book (Origin by DanBrown, I highly recommend it).  We left the anchorage around 9.  We were headed to a small fishing village, on the south east side of Koh Kut, called Ao Yai.  It was a rough sail because we had 15 knot winds in our face.  We ended up stopping in Ao Salat, which is on northern side of the island and the anchorage with the big Buddha, for a break and to have lunch. After lunch we pulled the anchor and continued our hard sail to Ao Yai. 

After anchoring and relaxing for a bit we dinghed to the village.  It was similar to Ao Salat, maybe a little smaller. We had to climb this ladder from the dinghy to the dock.

We walked along absorbing the culture.  Very basic but everyone seemed well feed.  We stopped at a little bar and had a beer.  We checked out a restaurant but were unsure about whether it was ok for us to eat there so we will just ate on the boat.  Here are some pictures.

 

We were up early since we went to bed so early.  It was a beautiful sunrise.

We left Koh Mak and headed back to the base.  We have been out for a week and it was time to go back to get water, diesel, and groceries.  The motor sail trip back was uneventful.  We arrived at the base and our charter company staff boarded the boat and guided us into the dock.  We briefly met with the charter director.  We asked him about the fishing that we see every night.  We see the fishing boats go out and they have bright lights which we assumed were for processing the fish.  Wrong!  He says the waters in the gulf have been overfished so there is a lot of squid in these waters.  The fisherman have significantly reduced the population of the fish that prey on the squid so the squid population has exploded.  They use the lights to attract the squid to the surface and then catch the squid in nets.  The middlemen go to the fishing boats while they are out to collect the squid and send it to Trat or Bangkok for retail sales. It’s sad that these waters are overfished and we wonder if the government is doing anything about it.  Probably not.

We got into an open air taxi, a pickup truck with covered seats in the back, to go to town where we purchased some additional provisions.  We went to Big C grocery store which is very similar to Big Y grocery about a mile away from us in E. Brookfield. 

We returned to the base and the boat was all set, so off we went back to Koh Mak.  We were back on the anchor by 2:00.  We relaxed for the afternoon, yes I’m still engrossed by my book.  Rick went for a swim and did a little laundry.  After a shower, we went into Cococape pier to have a drink while watching the sunset.  There we met some other people who are chartering from the same company.  We shared a few saIling stories. 

After the sunset we dinghed in to the Koh Mak Resort and had a light dinner. 

 ❤️❤️❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️❤️❤️

We woke up to storm clouds and decided we needed to move out of our rolly bay quickly.  There was dew on the deck of the boat.  We were trying to pull the anchor quickly so I went to the anchor locker without putting my shoes on.  The anchor was up and I was reaching to adjust it when my foot slipped and I fell into the anchor locker.  Ouch!  I’m going to have a big bruise on my bum.

We were on our way and decided to go to back to Bang Bao, a very sheltered bay.  We anchored and stayed there for a few hours while we waited for the text from the base with the weather.  We decided to come back to Koh Mak because tomorrow we are going back to the base to get water and fuel.  We were going to try to go to the German bakery on the end of Koh Mak but the swell was too much so we just bagged it and headed to the north shore of Koh Mak.  We got anchored and took a nap!  

Then we went into the resort for a drink and use their internet.  We came back to the boat and relaxed.  I’m reading Dan Brown’s Origin and I can’t put I down! 

There is another catamaran in the bay and it had flowers on the front.  I don’t think I’ve mentioned that the Thai people tend put flowers on all of their vehicles.  These flowers are offerings to Mae Yanang the goddess of journeys and are the Thai equivalent of carrying a St Christopher medallion.

Later we returned to the island and had a great dinner at Seavana.  It was an early night because we hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before.

We were up early.  The birds sit on our spreaders at night and pooped all over the deck so after breakfast we swabbed the boat clean of bird poop 💩.  Then we got ready to leave. We decided to try Captain Hooks again.  It was a short motor back up to Captain Hook’s Resort.  Once anchored, Rick decided it was time to do some laundry.  Here’s a picture of Rick’s new venture, creatively called Rick’s Laundry Service.  

One of the sights at Captain Hook’s is a river that you can go up in the dingy.  At night it is supposed to be full of fireflies but they recommend going up during the day before trying it at night.  So we took the dinghy along the shore and sandbar and then up the river.  The river had a couple of restaurants and a small resort. 

Then we decided to continue along the shoreline to the next resort, a little further south on Koh Kut. 

We tied up the dingy and climbed the ladder onto the dock.  We walked along and saw a coffee shop.  Rick needed more ground coffee so we went in to see if we could buy some.  The woman in the shop didn’t speak any English so it was difficult.  Rick was trying to mime what he wanted and that didn’t work.  Then the lady was trying to use google translate. That wasn’t working either.  Then an English speaking woman arrived.  She was able to translate and we ultimately got our coffee.  We all had a good laugh about the process. 

In the store there was a brochure for a souvenir shop so we asked for directions and decided to walk there. It was about a 15 minute walk in the hot sun.  Unfortunately there wasn’t any thing that we wanted to buy there so we walked back.  We were going to try to eat lunch at the resort but couldn’t find the dining room so we came back to the boat for lunch.  We had our usual cold cuts for lunch.

After lunch we digested for a little while and then went snorkeling at a little reef about 500 ft away.  We had seen dive and snorkel boats tied up there previously.  They must feed the fish because they swarmed us as soon as we got in.  We saw zebra fish, parrot fish, and others we don’t know the names of.  Rick saw a giant abalone.  It was fun to be in the water.  After about an hour we came back to the boat and took showers.  

That evening we went to Captain Hook’s Resort for dinner.  We didn’t go up the river to see the fireflies because it was low tide. 

When we got back to the boat it was really rolling.  The wind had the boat pointing perpendicular to the swell, so the boat was rocking back and forth.  There was nothing we could do about it.  Our contract says we can’t move the boat after dark so we had to live with it.  It was a long night with limited sleep.  The other boat anchored in the same bay left because it was so bad.  At one point we heard a slamming noise and thought we had hit another boat or a reef.  Fortunately it was just a cabinet door in the head.  The whole boat was creaking.  Rick vowed that we weren’t going to put ourselves through a night like that ever again.

We slept until sunrise and were awaken by a recording of chanting monks from the monastery on the hill.  The fishing boats were not back yet.  They came back around 7 so they were out for about 14 hours.  We haven’t figured out the whole fishing process.  The fishing boats we saw yesterday were very small and basic, certainly no refrigeration, so we are not sure if a middle man meets the boats off shore or what.  The village seems too small and remote for them to bring the fish back to town for distribution.  We waited for the morning weather report and based on it decided to go to Ao Check Ki or Captain Hook’s Bay on Koh Kut.  We motor sailed there, pulled in and got anchored.  Here are pictures of the bay.

Rick went for a swim and then we dinghed into the resort for lunch.  We had a nice lunch at Captain Hook’s Resort. 

After lunch we were going to explore the resort when Rick noticed our boat was rocking a lot as a result of the swells.  We decided it would be too rocky to sleep so we needed to move.  We motored a little way down the coast back to Bang Bao which is a very protected harbor and not vulnerable to the swells.  

We anchored near another boat from the same charter company.  The charter was captained by the charter company’s director who had helped us through our motor issue.  We dinghed over to say hi and he invited us onboard.  His guests were the owners of a catamaran charter company in the Seychelles.  The boat was a 2019 45ft Bavaria, a beautiful boat.  He and Rick swapped sailing stories.  He grew up near the Whitsunday Islands in northeastern Australia.  He told us about watching humpback whales giving birth there in September. Sign us up!  His guests woke up and told us a little about the Seychelles-another place to add to the sailing list.

Then we went ashore for a drink and to watch the sunset.  We sat in low chairs in the sand, had a drink and some appetizers and watched the sun go down.  It was gorgeous!  

Then we came back to the boat and relaxed until bed.

Another rough day in the Thai islands

We were up early, 5:30.  At around 8, we dinghed back to the resort thinking we might get some breakfast but they just had a big buffet and I wasn’t into that.  So we came back to the boat and I had a bowl of cereal.  We waited to get the weather report from Phil before figuring out where we wanted to spend the night.  We decided to head towards the northeastern side of Koh Kut to a bay called Ao Salat. The seas were a little rocky which always puts me to sleep.  So Rick had a nice sail and I had a nice nap.  We sailed up the side of the island and turned right along the top of the island.  We pulled into Ao Salat and were the only sailboat there.  There were a lot of fishing boats, an interesting little village along the dock and a golden Buddha on the hill.  

After anchoring we went ashore.  Our cruising guide said just tie up along the pier near a ladder.  There were so many fishing boats we had trouble finding an open spot.  Here’s where we ended up. 

We walked along the pier and looked around.  The OAT portion of our trip showed us the life of a Thai farmer.  This was a lesson on the life of a Thai fisherman.  The houses were very basic and opened right up onto the pier.  There was a second row of houses behind the first.   No such thing as locking your dock, they didn’t even have a door.  Most people had very little furniture.  Everyone seemed to have a TV. 

We walked up to the Buddha and climbed the bell tower for some amazing views. 

There were monks at the monastery and a young boy, Doa, who introduced himself to us, but that was about all he could do in English. 

We also met a nice German couple who was staying in Bang Bao.  They gave us a map and told us about some other things to do on Koh Kut.  We looked at some restaurants but decided it would be better to eat on the boat.  As we were returning to our boat around 5:00 many of the fishing boats were going out. 

They all seem to have banks of bright lights which we though they used while they were processing the fish.   Later we learned that the lights were used to attract the squid they were out for.

That evening Rick made red curry with pork and we ate on the boat. Here’s a picture of the Buddha at night.

The water was very calm and we had a nice breeze so we slept great.  

This morning we decided to go shore while it was still cool.  We walked along a road that paralleled the beach.  Not much to see, another resort and a couple of nice rental properties.  Then we cut down to the beach and walked through the three resorts.  A nice little walk. 

We also dinghed overto Koh Kham and beached our dinghy.  We were going to wander around the island but they wanted 200 baht per person. It was getting hot so we headed back to the boat. 

We returned to the boat and relaxed for a while before pulling up the anchor.  The anchor came up on to the gypsy (the name of the place where the anchor rests) upside down so we fought with that for a while, but eventually got it straightened out.  

Then we were off.  Our tentative plan was to start off by exploring the southern most island in the chain, Koh Kut.  Based on the weather report that we received from Phil there were three potential harbors that would be good anchorages for that night.  We selected Ao Bang Bao, a very well protected harbor on the southwestern side of Koh Kut, about a 2 1/2 hour trip.  We motor sailed  most of the way. With just an hour left to go, the low oil pressure alarm started going off intermittently.  We tried slowing down but still the alarm was going off.  Eventually Rick looked under the motor housing and he said there was oil everywhere.  We turned off the motor, put up the sails, and called Phil.  We were nervous about trying to sail into Bang Bao because the cruising guide said that the harbor entrance as narrow.  We sailed by it and it didn’t look too bad.  Phil said it was ok to turn on the motor if needed when anchoring.  So we went for it and it worked out just fine. 

Phil had sent one of his mechanics via speedboat. About an hour after we had anchored the mechanic arrived.  The engine has two dip sticks and one of them had come lose.  He spent about an hour fixing the engine and cleaning the bilge, which was full of oil.  When he was finished we were as good as new.  We had spent the last several hours thinking that the engine was toast and coming up with scenarios about what we would do, but we were back in business.  That evening we went ashore and had a nice dinner at The Beach Nature Resort.  We came back to the boat and I had to work hard to stay up until 8:30. 

What a day!  We always say something will happen and we had our first something today. 

As usual when we’re on a sailboat we wake up pretty early.  We went into the marina for a shower and to check with Phil on a couple of open issues.  Then we were off.  We were headed to Koh Mak.  The winds were not cooperating so we motored the whole way, about 2 1/2 hours.  We anchored in a lovely little bay called North Koh Mak.  Just us, two other sailboats and one very small catamaran.  We cruised around our dinghy, checking out the beach.  There were three resorts and a deserted resort on Koh Kham, a small island just across the bay.  

That evening we just had a light dinner on the boat.  First day is always a little difficult since we don’t know the boat and we don’t know the area.  It’s good to have day one behind us!

We were up very early to get to the airport in time for our 8:30 flight.  Lin, George, and Margie came with us.  We got checked in and found the lounge where we relaxed and ate breakfast with Lin. Too soon we had to say good bye to her.  She told us that in Buddhism you can add salt by doing bad things that give you bad karma or you can  you can add water by doing good things that give you good karma.  The goal is lots of water and little or no salt.  Lin is a wonderful person with lots of water and very little salt.  I’m going to miss her.

Our flight to Trat, in southeastern Thailand, was uneventful.  Our taxi was waiting for us and took us via ferry to Koh Chang.

Once on the island the ferry took us to the supermarket.  This supermarket was recommended by our charter company because it had good variety, but it sold most everything in bulk.  I had to buy 5 lbs of sugar in order to have a lunch title sugar for my cereal.  Oh well, we will give the extra away. 

Then our driver took us to the marina where we loaded our stuff onto the boat.  Our boat is a 2008 37.5 ft Catalina named Vague a L’ame. After stowing the groceries we met with Phil, the operations manager of the charter company.  He gave us a chart briefing, telling us where we could and couldn’t go, and a little tidbit about each harbor.  Then he came and reviewed the boat with us.  

At that point we could have left but decided to spend the night at the marina. We just wanted a little time to get situated.  They moved us onto a mooring ball so we would be out of the way of boats coming in the next morning and so that we would be a little cooler.  Here’s our view of the base from the mooring and other boats waiting to be chartered. 

We went to bed early, it had been a long day.

We had a leisurely morning. I think most people slept in.  At 9 some of our group left the hotel and went into Chiangrai.  Other relaxed by the pool. 

The first stop of our tour was a statue of the founder of Chiangrai.  There were people there leaving offerings to him because it is believed that he can their grant wishes. 

Next we drove by a clock tower designed by the artist who built the White Temple.  The style was pretty similar. 

We also went to a temple that had a copy of the Emerald Buddha (the original is in Bangkok at the palace).

We returned to the hotel to pick up our luggage.  It was the final time we were going to see our driver, Mr. Dang, who had been with us the whole time.  Although OAT provides him with a tip we decided we wanted to do a little extra for him because he did a great job of taking care of us.  Here is a picture of Dan giving him the envelope. 

Mr. Dang dropped us at the Chiangrai airport where we got a flight to Bangkok.  We returned to our original Bangkok hotel.  That evening we had a farewell dinner.  Everyone said how much they had enjoyed the trip and how much we appreciated Lin, her knowledge, her humor, and her flexibility.  It really was a great trip.