DAY 22 - Saturday 27 February - Kata Beach - Patong Beach
07°53.678N 98°17.344E
Left at 9am and motored to Patong Beach to do a shop to go to the Similan Islands arriving at 11am. Patong Beach is a long beach, once again covered with lounge chairs and beach umbrellas. There are jet skis roaring around the boat. It is very busy with tourists everywhere. Headed to shore to go shopping when a jet ski headed directly at us and turned sideways about 5ft from our side so we had a wall of water go over us - we were soaked and the dinghy full of water and the guy was laughing. The jet ski operators came out and got him to shore and got him out of there so by the time we got in so Peter could "have a discussion with him" he was gone (which was maybe just as well). We honestly felt as though we had been assaulted and were a bit traumatised. It was a dumb tourist not the Thai people but left a really sour taste in our mouths. We went to the wet market and got heaps of great fruit and vegies but couldn't face the supermarket and didn't need much anyway so went back to the boat. About 5 minutes later the parasail boat came out to us to return my handbag which I had left sitting on one of the dinghies on the beach. I hadn't even missed it and it had my glasses and quite a bit of money in it. This was such a feelgood moment and restored our faith in humanity!! We gave them a small reward but when we went to shore a bit later we gave them a decent reward and they were most concerned that I was alright and the boss of the team gave me a cuddle!! (They all work in teams). We had a couple of drinks in a lovely bar and a small gay mardi gras parade went past. We met Single Malt and Cilantro for dinner and then wandered up and down - the street is closed off at night - looking at the nightlife and all the girls and lady boys. The three men had a ball and stuck their heads into a few of the clubs - couldn't keep the smiles off their faces!!! It was a really fun night and we didn't get back til around midnight.
Miles: 7 Total: 5,660
DAY 23 - Monday 28 February -Patong Beach to Ao Bang Thao
08°01.667N 98°17.094E
We went to shore at 8am as we had organised for our friends on the beach to deliver us some drinking water. True to their word there they were though they could only get their hands on 8 big bottles instead of 12 and the price went up a bit but we appreciated it. We upanchored at 10am and arrived at Ao Bang Thao at around 12.30. We headed for the middle of the bay then made our way to the north of the bay which seemed much quieter and more sheltered. There is a little creek which goes up to a lake. We went in for a swim and the tide was going out so we floated down the creek with the tide. Then we all met on the beach for sundowners and walked to the little restaurants but it seemed that they only open for lunches so it was back to the boat to cook.
Miles: 10 Total: 5,670
DAY 24 - Tuesday 1 March - Ao Bang Thao
It was such a lovely spot we decided to stay another day. I had an easy morning reading - I had fallen into a bit of a hole and Peter finally starting cleaning the stainless. About 11am James and Sandra picked us all up in their dinghy and we went up the creek exploring. We saw lots of concrete poles all over the place which were different heights and close together so it didn't look as though it had been or was going to be a building. We couldn't work it out. Found the lake and went back out the creek and over to the beach and went to the restaurant for lunch which was lovely. When it came time to head back to the boats there were some quite big waves rolling in - mostly in sets of three. So we timed it and all dived in the dinghy and I can see a wave coming and yelling hurry up and the motors roaring and Brian's saying it wont go!! Peter was out the back of the boat holding it. We got hit by about three waves and were all soaked and the boat was filled with water before Brian realised he was in neutral!!! Put it in forward and off we went - bailing. It was hilarious. Called by and said hullo to Single Malt on the way back.
DAY 25 - Tuesday 2 March - Ao Bang Thao - Ban Thap Lamu
08°34.097N 98°13.054E
Upanchored at 7am and motor sailed on calm seas arriving at 4.10pm. It was quite windy when we rounded the point to head up the river and we had wind against tide which made it very rough. We passed the Navy base and anchored on the opposite side of the town. All you can see of the town is fishing boats - heaps and heaps of them all rafted up together.
DAY 26- Wednesday 3 March - Ban Thap Lamu
Today would have been Judy and Phil's wedding anniversary. Thinking of you Judy.
Brian and Margaret picked us all up in their dinghy and we headed into the town across the river. There was a strong current running. We walked around the town (our first mainland town) and found a couple of hardware type stores and Peter bought some oil. We found guitar strings in another shop which seemed to have heaps of different things - very interesting. The town is quite smelly and dirty with lots of rubbish but when you see into people's houses they are really clean. We had a lovely lunch at the Navy cafe. Had sundowners on Cilantro to plan for tomorrow.
DAY 27 - Thursday 4 March - Ban Thap Lamu - Koh Miang (island No. 4), Similan Islands
08°34.097N 98°13.054E
Left at 7am with the river looking like glass. The brand new raymarine auto pilot snapped off at the end - it wasn't even rough weather. So once again Peter had to get the old one out to get a part to fix it. Quite a boring day. Quite a few tourist boats passed us along the way. We managed to sail for part of the way but in the afternoon the wind died and we motored in. Kristie 1 and we picked up a red mooring and Cilantro hopped on to one of the bigger ones. Single Malt has been here for a couple of days. The sand is really white and fine and the colour of the water is amazing - so clear, aqua blue and darker blue in the depths. One of our number was heard to comment that the water is so clear you can't wee in it cause you would see it! When Kristie 1 came in to grab their buoy Margaret missed it and they had to reverse back to get it. It was only later that we found out that Brian had given Margaret a broom to pick it up with instead of a boathook!!!! We went for a walk to the other side of the island where hundreds of tents have been set up. We had a beer there but we forgot the aerogard and there were heaps of flies so we came back to the boats. A big catamaran came and anchored quite a long way from us (you are not allowed to anchor here) and put out heaps and heaps of chain which worried us a little bit.
DAY 28 - Friday 5 March - Koh Miang, Similan Islands (paradise)
We were awoken at 4.30am by the buoy banging on the side of the boat. Peter went up to check and came back saying that cat is only two feet away from the side of our boat. It drifted away about 5 feet and we tried shouting to them and shining the torch on them but to no avail. They drifted out the back of us then around the front - we couldn't alert them so went back to bed thinking they would drift back where they came from. We didn't think they were dragging anchor, we just felt they had way too much chain out, but we may have been wrong. Anyway at 5.30 (still dark) there was a clunk so we shot up and the front of the cat had hit us in the side so we banged on their boat and yelled till a naked man came up and didn't say or do anything - just stood there looking down at us. Then a man with trousers on came up and said sorry and started pulling chain up and reversing back. They went round the back of us and our dinghy was almost under their boat then they moved off and went back where they came from. Cilantro managed to get a red buoy closer to shore. We dived off the back of the boat at 10am and snorkelled for an hour and a half. We didn't think the coral was up to much but the fish were so big and so colourful. Saw a great big powder blue fish - so pretty. We have a fish that visits at the back of the boat and we can feed it by hand - Jack would have loved that! Had a quiet afternoon then we all went to Single Malt and Doug fired up his barbeque. We all took a salad and meat and we had quite a feast. It was a really good night.
Well we seem to have found ourselves in a pretty nice spot so will be spending a few days here. The Similans are 30 odd miles off the coast of Thailand. We will stay here for a while as we have a buoy. There are 9 islands in the group and I think only number 8 has other overnight buoys. We will look around before we leave but meanwhile we seem to be in a little bit of paradise. Thank you to all of you who have emailed us. We really appreciate it and I get really home sick sometimes so its nice to know we are not alone out here. Hugs and kisses to Jessie and Rosie. Take care of yourselves.
Love and Cheers
Fair winds and calm seas
Dell and Peter
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