Our route along the channels and passed the “Hole in the Wall” was very picturesque, easing us into the reality of leaving Malaysia and heading to pastures new. After a year of enduring various levels of lockdown and then all the rushing around, uncertainty and upset, it all felt a little surreal. It was just over a year ago that we had our visas for Thailand and we were en route via a quick pitstop in Rebak Island Resort and Marina to drop off Justine and Paul, after they’d spent a few weeks aboard, when all the international borders started to close due to the pandemic and we were marooned on a private tropical island with a few cruising friends, monkeys and monitor lizards for company.
Yesterday, however, with the wind on the nose as forecast, we motored the short 20NM to our first island in Thailand, Koh Tarutoa. By 1500, we’d dropped the hook in a beautiful calm bay after working our way through a myriad of fishing nets and pods, but having dolphins pop over to greet us was simply perfect!
Soaring sea-eagles and the distant putt-putts of the fishing boat engines, as we sat out on our “dog beds” on the trampoline, topped off a fabulous day at sea. We could not remember when last we’d sat up front on our “dog beds”, given the fact that we had to haul them out from the port forepeak cabin.
Today, with the one-hour time difference, the sun was up bright and early and so were we. After breakfast, we weighed anchor around 0700 and prepared ourselves for another day of motoring. With the ominous looking squalls on the horizon, we decided not to motor sail, although this was a possibility for an hour or so as we rounded the northern end of Koh Tarutao. For the rest of the morning we dodged a few squalls and remained surrounded by scattered showers, but reaching our chosen anchorage for the night, Koh Phetra, not only had us in awe of the spectacular limestone cliffs, but we received our first Thai experience.
On our approach we noticed numerous fishing boats anchored off the island, but as we closed in at around 1300, they all weighed anchor and started driving around in rather erratic patterns. It was completely inexplicably until we were amongst them; besides being really friendly and waving to us, we realised they were actually scooping out giant pink jellyfish, as these were flung through the air into the fishing boats. There must have been some or other special environmental condition or a certain time of the day this could occur because the foray didn’t last long and, before we knew it, we were alone in a lovely anchorage, in front of a small white sandy beach, below towering cliffs, similar to all the surrounding seascapes we’d seen on our sail, of scattered, tiny islands and islets of sheer cliff faces, topped with lush green vegetation. It was like nothing we’d ever seen before. Beautiful!
However, we also discovered that Koh Phetra is an important bird’s nest collection point. At first Elaine had misunderstood the information she’d read, but then realised it’s a place that provides the essential ingredient for the “nectar of the gods”, once exclusively consumed in China by monarchs looking for eternal life; Bird’s Nest Soup, considered a dish of royalty that has a reputation that far exceeds its subtle flavour and is, today, one of the most expensive dishes served anywhere in the world.
Research revealed, though, that bird’s nest collectors have been climbing cliff faces and caves for hundreds of years. Barefoot and with a flashlight on their heads, they tie themselves to a rope, then move up and down the rock face to harvest the nests. We think this is a delicacy we’ll definitely just skip, though!
