Langkawi to Thailand

After being in Langkawi for several days stocking up on duty free booze and ciggies...not to mention the ever depleting food supply we decided to head up to Thailand, one of our most favourite places in the world. We checked out of Kuah and as we rounded the corner to carry on to thailand (the first island being only 15 miles away!) we saw our friends Blue Sky and Good Hope in front of us. They were heading to Telaga Harbour, Langkawi. The skys were darkening and the winds picking up so we decided to follow them and wait out the squall. Good thing we did - the wind got stronger and stronger, one boat reported 45knots out there, and it was fair screaming in the anchorage too. So the skipper made a decision that we would stay in Telaga for a day or so and check out what was happening.

The next morning we woke to much calmer weather, ok...lets see what the morning brings... two boats left, one returned ... too rough. So we stayed yet another night! The next morning brought calm seas and a much better outlook, so we picked up the anchor and off we went for a whole 15 miles. Well, as usual the winds picked up ... 25knts on the nose of course, the seas got choppy and it was generally a pretty revolting trip ... but hey...it was only 15 miles away. We anchored at the south western end of Turatao, dodging what appeared to be a million fishing boats all around this little bay. I counted them late that afternoon - 55 fishing boats. I am amazed there are any fish left! They were all towing nets, and when dark fell, they turned into squid boats so it looked like the city of lights all around us!

The next day we decided to head for Koh Rok Nok - two beautiful islands about half way to thailand. This leg was a 45miler so up early (well about 8am) and off we went. First thing to negotiate was horizon to horizon of fishing flags. To date we had gone around every net we came across. We draw 2.1metres so do not want to get caught up in a net. This time, we just couldnt see any end to these miles and miles of flags, and we couldnt work out what belong to which, we were in 50 metres of water so decided "to hell with it" they must be deep and with breaths held, sunburn only just moving, we actually went over one..whew, then we went over the next and the next and the next, from then on - well, we just went over them all! In that depth they had to be weighted down, also with the numbers of fishing boats out there, I dont think the nets would survive very long if they were surface nets. We anchored at Koh Rok Nok dead on sunset, it was beautiful, the sun setting through a gap in the rocks over edge of the sea...and guess what else STILL NO GREEN FLASH!!!!!!!!!

The ranger came around asking for 400baht (per person!!)to anchor there. We were in a channel, using our anchor (not one of their moorings) and only there from dusk to daylight. Sure, we can pay you your 1600 bhat (approx 60NZD) says Brendan but we only have ringgit. What is ringgit they ask? Malaysian money...never mind they say, you leave first thing in morning and all ok!! Needless to say we left at daylight!

We decided to do another 45miler this time to Koh Raya noi, it sounded and looked beautiful - once the daytrippers left of course. We had the usual trip, no wind at all then when it did come in it was directly on the nose! (Just a little aside - We were heading North West up to Phuket, Thailand. Thailand has two monsoon seasons - the north EAST monsoon and the SOUTH west monsoon, for some reason for our entire time in Thailand, no matter which direction we went, the winds (when we had wind) were on the nose. So as we were heading north west the wind came from the north west! Our next boat is going to be called "murphy's law"!!) We pulled into Koh Raya Noi, and waded our way through a squillion weird looking jellyfish, as we mosied around trying to find a good place to anchor I said to Brendan - there is no way we can swim here at the moment, let alone the problem of sucking these little blighters into the intake, so we turned around and decided to carry on to Kata Beach, Phuket, where our good friends Sandpiper were waiting for us and we made it before sunset...a mammoth 65miler for good old Sunburn, and in time to have a sundowner for my birthday!