Author: Kathryn & Rick World Travelers

We organized our stuff this morning and were mostly packed up.  We took a dinghy ride along the shore, rounding our bay into another bay and went along the shore of Koh Kham, an island across the bay from Koh Mak.  There are partially finished residences on this island.  We understand that the builder and the government had an agreement that delineated where he could build and the builder violated the agreement, so the government shut down the project.  They look like they would be beautiful homes when or if they are ever finished.  

After our bay tour we pulled the anchor and headed to Koh Wai.  A half way point between Koh Mak and the base on the southern tip of Koh Chang.  There we anchored, had lunch on the boat and Rick had a swim.  We pulled up the anchor for the last time and headed back to the base where we went through the check out process.  It included reviewing the functioning of the boat and paying for the gas we used.  

Then we got in a taxi which took us to the ferry back to the mainland. 

The driver brought us to our hotel in Trat, Rimklong Boutique Hotel.  The hotel clerk didn’t speak English but he called the owner who did.  He had a brief conversation with Rick.  Our hotel is very nice, simple, and clean.  We received a map on check in so we decided to wander a bit.  We saw lots of spirit houses which we have seen all over Thailand. Thais are very superstitious and they believe in ghosts. These houses are built for spirits, so they don’t bother the inhabitants of the land. 

We were looking for a restaurant that we felt we could eat in.  We walked along a street called food street. It had lots of individual vendors selling food but we had been told by Lin not to eat street food unless it is cooked in front of you.  Actually we didn’t want to eat street food at all because being sick on a plane would be really bad! 

We wandered around and saw a pizza place that we considered, but weren’t excited about.  Eventually we saw a somewhat western looking restaurant which had a westerner in it.  We went in to talk to him.  Turns out he is from Alaska and comes here for four months a year.  His girlfriend owns the restaurant and he said he eats there every night with no problems, so we decided to try it.  It was delicious.

We talked to him.  For the last 6 years he has come to Koh Chang to do construction work.  We asked him about all the birds in the trees and on the wires. Apparently the locals encourage the bird to nest there and collect the nests to sell to the Chinese for bird’s nest soup.  A kilo of bird’s nest goes for $1,000.  Here’s a video of the birds.

After dinner we wandered by a temple which was completely dark. Then headed back to the hotel where we met the hotel owner, a lovely man who had spent a year in the states about 30 years ago.

Our last full day on the boat.

We were up early and off the anchor by 8.  We headed to our snorkel spot in the national park.  While motoring we noticed that the boat seemed to be going slower than normal.  We arrived at our spot and anchored.  Today we had the place all to ourselves.  We loaded our snorkel stuff into the dingy and headed over to one of the islands.  We tied the dinghy to a tree and started snorkeling.  I had Rick’s snorkel and he had mine.  What a pleasure not to have to clear my snorkel every three breaths.  He had the same leaky problem with mine.  We saw lots of fish.  We don’t have an underwater camera so no pictures.  We headed back to the boat where Rick though he could fix my snorkel.  He added some zip ties and then took it out for a spin.  Still leaking. We ended up throwing it away.  While testing the snorkel he notice some roots were wrapped around the propeller which was slowing us down.  He worked for a little while to get the roots off but no luck.  We sailed most of the way back to Koh Mak because the roots were really causing a lot of vibration when the motor was on and in gear.  We arrived at Koh Mak, got anchored and Rick went to work again on the roots.  Success this time!

Then we went into the Koh Mak Resort for happy hour and just to check our flights.  Koh Mak north is very busy tonight we are one of nine boats. We came back to the boat to enjoy the sunset. 

We went into dinner a little early because we were afraid our favorite restaurant, Seavana, would be crowded from all the boats in the bay.  We had another delicious dinner. 

The moon has been very full the last three night and the tides have been extreme. We had beached our dinghy before dinner and when we came out to return to our boat we had to drag it a long way back to the water.  

We had another leisurely morning.  Rick actually shaved for the first time in two weeks.  Also Rick’s Laundry Service was once again open for business. Eventually we decided it was time to move.  Rick tried to start the motor and the battery was dead. He tried turning off everything that draws current and still no luck.  He ended up calling the charter company and they told him to switch the batteries so the house and starting battery were in parallel .  That gave us enough juice to get going. We motored to the island of Ko Wai and into the northern harbor. 

After anchoring we relaxed and let the motor run to make sure the batteries were fully charged.  While we were doing that several boats pulled in and unloaded a herd of snorkelers.  After we were comfortable that the batteries were charged and that our anchor was holding we loaded all of our snorkel gear into the dinghy and went “around the corner” to a beautiful deserted beach.  We snorkeled from the beach.  I have been having trouble with my snorkel because it seems to leak water in through the baffle so I didn’t snorkel for every long.  After Rick finished snorkeling we came back to the boat and I tried swimming around the boat with Rick’s snorkel.  Much better.  I think it’s time for a new snorkel.  

We relaxed for the rest of the afternoon watching boats filled with snorkelers come and go.  Originally we were going to go to the resort on shore for dinner but it looked uninspiring so we had dinner on the boat.  I went to bed early (8:30) because I hadn’t had a nap all day!

We had a leisurely morning.  Eventually we pulled up the anchor and motored just 5 miles to the Koh Chang marine park which is located on Koh Rang.  We anchored on the northwest side, near Ko Thian and Koh Rang. We were the only ones in this beautiful little bay for awhile but then 2 dive/snorkel boats arrived. We doned our snorkel gear and swam off the boat towards a little island with a reef.  We had a nice snorkel and saw lots of fish.  We came back to the boat and had lunch.  Meanwhile the 2 other boats left.  After lunch we relaxed a little.  Then we put our snorkel gear into the dingy and dinghed out to pinnacle rock which is supposed to have great snorkeling and a whale shark that’s often sighted there.  We tied the dinghy to a mooring ball and got into the water.  We started to swim towards the rock but the water was really choppy.  We decided it was too choppy for snorkeling and came back to the dingy.  From there we motored to another corner of the bay.  We didn’t snorkel for too long.  Back on the boat, I took a shower and then we headed back to Koh Mak north, the same place we spent last night.  

We went to dinner at Seavana, a resort on the beach.  We had another delicious dinner.  Rick had tiger prawns which were the biggest shrimp I had ever seen.  

It’s a full moon tonight.  We don’t see any fishing boats out, we assume the moon is too bright so the squid don’t respond to the boat’s bright lights.

We were up and on the seas early this morning.  We had a long sail because we were on the southeastern side of Koh Kut, the southern most island in the chain.   I was very nervous because it looked really dark and stormy in the direction we were headed, but it turned out ok because the bad weather was moving north faster than we were. It actually was quite a nice motor sail. We pulled into a bay where a 6 star resort was located (I didn’t even know there was such a thing). We anchored and took our dinghy to the dock but we were not allowed onto the resort.  We told them we wanted dinner reservations.  They told us there was a buffet tonight for a mere $140/person.  We said thanks but no thanks.  Here’s a video about the resort, https://www.cnn.com/videos/travel/2018/10/23/soneva-kiri-resort-thailand-koh-kood.cnn.

We pulled up the anchor and went south around the corner, just about a 30 minute motor, to Captain Hook’s and had a nice lunch there.  We decided we wanted to comeback to Koh Mak so that we could go to the national park the next morning for some snorkeling. The seas were calm and the wind was coming across our beam so we had a nice sail.  I even turned off the autopilot and steered. We got to Koh Mak and set our anchor.  We had a long sail today. We ate dinner on the boat and had a quiet evening.

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