Farewell to Thailand, and Blue Wind and Tahawas

Last lunch -Yacht Haven Marina

Yacht Haven Marina with hull of grounded yacht - constant reminder of how shallow the water is here.

Farewell to Thailand, and Blue Wind  and Tahawas

March 26, 2016

The last week in Thailand was getting back to the boat jobs that we had put aside. We stayed a few days in the anchorage by Yacht haven and did laundry and cleaning. One day we rented a car for a day and drove to the main city of  Phuket Town. The "old town" is noted for its' Sino-Portuguese architecture. Driving in the heavy traffic, on the left side with lots of construction and motor bikes was nerve racking, even for the passenger. We were still glad that we saw it. In particular, we wanted the car to stop at a marina along the way that has many marine shops. We found a number of the things on our boating "wish list". One was a better fan like the ones we had on Watermusic to cope with the heat at night. Being imported it was expensive. When opening it on the boat we saw that it was made in Wiarton, Ontario! As well as chandleries, there was a grocery store. Catering to foreigners at the marina, we found some of our favourite treats from home. There was also a salon where we got much needed haircuts.

Wed. we sailed back to the south bay of Ao Chalong as that is where we needed to check out from. Tahawas and No Regrets were also anchored there so got together that night on Maggie. That was the beginning of making timing and routing plans with No Regrets. Their crew, Chris, decided that day that he didn't want to sail the Indian Ocean after all. He was finding the boat too hot and claustrophobic. Or he had other reasons that he didn't share. That leaves them short of time to find someone. There is a website for crew finding that they have some leads from.

Daphne and Ruy were on Blue Wind in the marina we had visited earlier. They took a taxi down Thurs evening and we all had a "farewell" dinner at a local yacht club. Fri we got the check out procedure done for a Sat departure. We found a dental clinic for a teeth cleaning which our dentist couldn't find the time to do for us in Jan. We saved money doing it here. Rob was one of 5 patients in a year whose teeth didn't need cleaning, so she polished them up for free. We had hoped to do some major cosmetic work on the boat in Thailand as labour is cheap and skilled. But the time had run out for that.

There had been almost no wind our whole time in Thailand, so it made the heat seem even worse. It was mid to high 30's, (up to 107F on the boat thermometer). The wind was starting Sat for a few days from the northeast so a good chance to sail the 2 days to Indonesia.