September 2003 From Thailand back down to Singapore

Photo Slide Show

From Koh Tao a short run of twenty miles south west brings us to Ang Thong Marine National Park. This uninhabited chain of islands has many islands clustered together with high sheer limestone cliffs which overhang the shoreline where the waves have eroded the shore line.

Ang Thong Marine National Park.

We sailed along, and following our Sail Thailand cruising guide, found an anchorage off a small beach at Koh Wua Ta Lab. The one shame about the area is the water is not very clear. The bottom is fine grey silty mud so the holding was good but the snorkelling fairly poor. In the afternoon an inflatable with four national park officers called on us and pointed out that we had to go to the ranger station on the next island to pay a park fee. But tomorrow will be ok. Nice and relaxed guys.

Moving around to the ranger station at Koh Ang Thong we found quite a busy scene. The beach was packed with people and over forty kayaks were plying the waters. Each day six or seven large speedboats with ten or so people aboard come over from Koh Samui for the day. Going ashore we paid our park fees (A$24) and had a wander around the very pretty picnic grounds set up for the day trippers. After the crowds had gone we climbed up to have a look at the limestone caves in the cliffs overlooking the beach. This was worth the effort and the view from the caves is very impressive.

The guidebook mentioned a walk to the top of the island for a stunning view, warning to wear good shoes and carry water. With this advice heeded we set out. The sign at the foot of the track stated the walk was 500 metres, which was technically correct. Our chart showed elevation we climbed to was 430 metres. So 70 metres across and 430 metres up. Sounds about right! It was very steep. A rope was ran along the path and this was needed to haul ourselves up. The girls coped amazingly well on this steep and difficult climb.

Most of it was at least in the canopy of the forest and along the way we spotted some dusty spectacled langurs (monkeys with with white rings around their eyes)

 But the view was absolutely stunning and worth the effort.

Moving on from Koh Ang Thong we returned to our original anchorage for the day to visit a lake that is in the centre of Koh Wua Ta Lab. This unique lake was formed by the roof of a massive cave falling in. The water flows in and out with the tide via an underground link. There is a  short climb up some stairs and through the narrow pass to reveal the lake, which was a really fun - and easy compared to the day before.

Koh Samui

Time to move on to Koh Samui. This was perfectly (not) timed with a squall that bucketed rain, killed visibility and blew far too much wind for our liking. Still only fifteen miles and we were back at the best anchorage at Koh Samui. The anchor chain bow roller had splilt in half and the first treasure hunt here was to procure a new one. Chasing up a part, getting something, fixed or made is always a challenge, but in a foreign country things can some time seem impossible. Armed with a photograph of the boat and the bow of the boat I hired a motor bike and steady made my way around the island stopping at any place that may have something that could be used. Eventually I found a small workshop that had both a lathe and a piece of nylon and after mutually drawing the design of the new roller, hands were shaken on a price. The next day I returned to find the new roller made up exactly as the drawing defined. The guys in the workshop were thrilled when I introduced the family and explained how we had all sailed from Australia.

One of the really enjoyable moments is when we talk to someone and watch their face light up with amazement when, through the language barrier, they realise we are on moderately little boat sailing the world.

In Thai tourist areas motorcycles are very cheap to rent, and for $12 we rented a two new bikes . We spent the day cruising (very carefully!) around Koh Samui. Checking out a few of the tourist highlights, we all  had a fun day out. The monkey show was very weak but the other things in the photos above were good to see.  Hold your mouse steady over the photo for the caption - same with all the photos in this website.

The last official task in Thailand (apart from visiting customs and immigration) was celebrating Anna's 9th birthday. She decided on a pirate theme so a treasure map cake was made, children dressed up and a treasure hunt was planned. The day went well and the girls loved darting about the boat to find clues and rewards.



Pengkalan Kubor & Kota Baru

Full of sweets and birthday cake we were  ready to head south. We sailed straight from Koh Samui to the Malaysian border town of Pengkalan Kubor . Two days and sailing half the way got us there. Except for the occasionally 'blow your socks off' squall which comes with a vengeance and disappears just as fast, we had a very smooth trip. Back in Pengkalan Kubor we knew the drill for going ashore and finding fuel. So very quickly we had the tank full of fuel and the customs and immigration dealt with.  Our main excursion here was a trip down to Kota Baru for the down on the bus. We went to the cultural centre to see a display of top-spinning. With the girls having going through the 'Beyblade' craze they were keen to see grown-up men with big tops going for it.

The tops are about 20cm and must be full of lead as they are very heavy. Each group bind a rope tightly around the base of the top and with the effort of a discus thrower, they fling it to laid on a clay mound. The spinning top is then delicately lifted and transferred to the teams rack of tops. The are then 'maintained with oil and trim adjustments made as necessary. The tops spin for up to 2 1/2 hours.  The girls bought a small wooden top each and were shown the technique. The men were keen to show us all how to spin the top and even the older ones sitting back with a cigarette would clap or smile when they got a top spinning well.

     

At the same show we saw some teenage boys going through a ritual fight sequence that was like a ceremonial judo dance. The boys were very good and took their performance very serious. While all this was going a big group of men pounded away on beautifully painted drums.

   From the cultural centre we made our way down to the central market which is one of the biggest markets we've encountered. Always great to wander round the markets for a while.

 After fixing a faulty masthead light we made our way to Perhentian Island, only 30 miles away. We loved these islands on our way up and resolved to go for a scuba dive. We anchored off Long Beach - most popular with backpackers, and hunted round for a dive operator to go with. The prime site is a rock pinnacle a few miles away and known romantically as the 'temple of the sea'. We ended up going separately and I (Colin) went on a sunrise dive, leaving and dropping in the water before sunrise and watching the transition from dark to day while I was down. The visibility was very impressive with our torches lighting up 24 metres down from the surface. Courtney and Liz went for a dive on the same site the next day  but not as deep as Courtney is restricted to around 12 metres.  I hired a second tank of air and cleaned the bottom of the boat, making the job much easier and much more thorough

After stopping for water in a stream on the south side of Perhentian, we motored all day to get to Kapas Island . After a nice overnight rest in the good anchorage there we did a long overnight run to Tioman. We had another severe thunderstorm but generally had a good run, motoring for half the way and nearly always getting good motor-sail performance.

We came into Tekek Bay and found all the boats we'd met there three months ago. Katrine (Don & Jean), Kaiviti (Mike) and Valor (Don) were all ashore having a drink together when we found them. It was great to meet up with them all again. After a few days we moved on to SIbu Island. En-route our invertor died. It was alway tripping out on overheating and although a 300watt unit, it could not cope with the almost constant load of the computer power supply of 60w. I should have mounted an additional cooling fan.  So back to paper charts. What a pain. Computerised charting is so much easier and more accurate as the computer plots your position every minute. Still this is why we carry paper charts. From Sibu we had another overnight stop  at Jason's Bay with Katrine along the way to Singapore. We caught up a  Spanish Mackerel along the way so Sashimi and BBQ fish was for dinner with Don & Jean. A great way to end our four month cruise of the east cost of Malaysia/Thailand!

Winds and currents were very kind to us, and we covered the seventy miles to the eastern side of the causeway separating Johor Baru and Singapore  in 10 hours.  Anchored around us were eight other yachts. We were back on the main road! Most of these boats had just sailed across from Indonesia and were heading up the west coast . Over the next few days a few social get-togethers were held on first  'Bongo-Bob's' and then on Katrine. It was great talking to all these different people and trading stories.