Okay, i'm legally in the country, just had to run away to get all my immigration papers completed and leave pleading notices for someone to take me on as crew.
now, where was i . . .
okay, after the regatta I scored a ride on Scallywag, a Sydney 32" helping James and Elaine deliver her up here. With time to spare we came up rather leisurely, with brand new snorkling gear I purchased and a full bar.
We left at sunrise on monday morning, headed out with the engine on to charge the batteries and dropped anchor around the corner at Pantai Cenang. Despite agreements with the local malay guys the night before, over a stunning sunset and a few beers to many, to come and give us a lift, we had to swim to shore, which was a great way to build up an appetite for rotis and homemade yoghurt and local coffee for breakfast.
Mid afternoon James introduced Elaine to the classic aussie Tim Tam Slam but added a
slight twist to the whole affair; instead of something mundane like coffee being used he showed her how to bite off the ends of the tim tam and then pulled out the botle of baileys. completely excessive and very moreish ;-)
We met the two other boats we were sailing in convoy with, at Koh Rok Nok after ignoring all warnings not to go in at night as we had no choice due to our long breakfast. We managed to hit a huge chunk of coral and mess up the keel on a three month old boat. Oops. Then the anchor wouldn't hold and after three tries we went off in search of moorings. The next morning we attached all three boats and had them lined up behind us as they came over to the mother ship in search of coffee.
The snorling was fantastic. An island untouched except for cruising yachts and the occassional fisherman, the coral was in excellent condition and we oohed and ahhed through our masks at
the abundance of fish life. Yum.
The second night we headed up to Maya Bay, Phi Phi Le where that nasty Leonardo di Caprio film was made. The inside of the island has strange shrubs growing that don't look like they really belong. It's easy to see where they cleared and sad to see how they haven't fixed it up as promised. The bay is about 270 degrees around though and amazingly beautiful with limestone cliffs rising imposingly out of green water. The place comes into its own when all the tour boats leave, of which there are hundreds bringing in people to snorkel and weave around the
dead coral and profusion of spikey black sea urchins.
as sunset decended though they all left and there was just Scallywag, Luuk Loma and Panic left. Everyone came over to Scally wag and we cooked up a massive feast, gazed at the stars and contemplated what the rich people were doing; working hard to pay for the boats we were sailing!!
Throwing the washing up water overboard in the morning a zillion fish came over to help polish off dinner so the other guys grabbed masks again before we headed off to Phuket to pull the Scallywag out of the water and fix the damage to the beautiful racing keel we had caused. 24 hours later we back out cruising, making the most of our last 24 hours before the serious business of racing began again. We headed down to Racha Yai where the water drops from irridescent turquoise to cobalt and I saw a crayfish and some chunky big jellyfish whilst snorkling, plus a couple of amazing cartoon fish: pink with white lipstick and eyeshadow!
Hope you're all well and happy and having some of the fun I'm having. I think if I don't find a berth I'm going diving. Ahhh lifes tough, for the four hundredth time!