Cruising Phang Nga Bay with Dave and Ben

Visiting the site of of The Big Buddha above Ao Chalong

View looking west from The Big Buddha

The Big Buddha!

Ben feeding the baby elephant - the elephant trecking tour didn't look too comfortble!

An afternoon on the well populated Kata Beach

Captain Ben at the helm

Didn't take Ben long to master the paddleboard

Monkeys looking for handouts at the exit of a cave leading to a hong

Spectacular island formations

Maggie at anchor - James Bond Island is on the right

Limestone erosion

Great swimming at Ko Hong

Dave getting the hang of the paddleboard

Cruising Phang Nga Bay with Dave and Ben

Mar 14 to 19, 2016

Ben was also keeping a diary of this trip so we could check notes on the highlights. For our limited time we had to choose between going up the west or east coast. The west coast has all the famous, large beaches, surfing and some snorkeling. The east coast offers offshore islands with caves, hongs, and beautiful anchorages. On the Monday we took a cab to the closest beach for a few hours, along with hundreds of tourists, and decided to go the east coast route, which we all enjoyed. That same day we went up the highest point above the harbour to see the "Big Buddha". He is so large that you can follow him into the harbour from miles out. The location offers great views over the island. We stopped to see some elephants kept for trekking on the way back to town. A trip to the grocery store for provisions for the week was the last errand.

All week we travelld in the mornings and anchored at a different island for the rest of the day. At Rang Yei, we had the beach and harbour to ourselves for a few hours before tourist boats started to drop people off. We got the paddleboard inflated and relaxed with that, swimming, hiking and reading. There was even a bar, lawn chairs and showers!  It was nice to be in a small place where you didn't have to leave someone guarding your possessions.

Wed we entered the Phang Nga marine park area of 40 islands. First stop was at Phanak, known for its caves and hongs. A hong is like a small lake inside an island reached through a cave. At the entrance we had a family of monkeys visiting. After getting partway through paddling in the dinghy, we lost all the light and had to return for flashlights. It was worth having a spotlight to see the rock formations on the walls and ceiling. We could also see colonies of bats sleeping on the walls. It was good that we had towed the paddleboard behind us because the entrance to the hong was too small for the dinghy. One at a time we lay down on the paddleboard and ducked under the rock to enter a fairly large area of water open to the sky. Some hongs can only be entered at certain stages of the tide- or you wait inside for up to 6 hours to get out.

Despite knowing that it would be crowded with tourists, we wanted to see "James Bond Island" on Thurs. It was there that some of the 40 year old movie, "The Man with the Golden Gun" was filmed. We watched the movie ahead of time on the boat. In the movie they are portraying the location as part of China-to fit the plot. The movie also had scenes from Bangkok that were fun to see-cars racing in the streets and boats racing through the canals. We found a beautiful, quiet anchorage not far away to enjoy during the day. After the tour boats left for the evening, we visited the setting for the movie by dinghy. Well worth the visit!

Fri we motored to Ko Hong to visit another hong. It was an easier one to access and had way too many tourists in inflatable kayaks to even fit into the hong. Out in the anchorage Rob rigged up the boom over the side so that Ben could swing out into the water from a rope. He also climbed to the end of the raised boom to jump in. We each had some paddleboard practise. Ben certainly had the best balance. It must help to have your center of gravity lower.

 Later in the afternoon we sailed back to the north end of Phuket. This was the first sail of the week. We have had to motor most of the time in the light winds. It is nice to not have storms but without the wind it has been very hot on the boat. Sat we motored up the channel separating Phuket from the mainland to anchor near Yacht Haven Marina. At the beginning of the channel we were dodging many long tail boats from which the fishermen were catching jellyfish. We certainly saw a lot of jellyfish in the water all week, each about a foot across. It is a short cab ride from here to the airport, and we will be near supplies to get some boat chores done during the upcoming week. Dave and Ben left here about 4pm. It sure was a fun week for us and I'm sure a memorable one for them.

This morning we had 2 emails about the BPO trip. No Regrets received a reply from Chagos saying they will not be given permission to stop there on the trip across the Indian Ocean. We are assuming we will get the same response. And Tahawas has decided not to continue traveling in the rally. They are going to stay in this area for a few years longer. Lots to think about today!