After breakfast yesterday and being fully provisioned again, we weighed anchor and set sail to explore the southeastern islands of Phuket Province. However, as we progressed further south, the build up of clouds, southerly swell and rain in the distance, didn’t match the forecast weather at all. Taking yet another look at the forecast revealed the disparity; it had been updated from the morning forecast. With that, we did a 180 degree turn and enjoyed a nice sail back to where we started. This little jaunt to nowhere, however, allowed us to run the watermaker, as well as to get a few household chores completed. This was a great distraction from all the disturbing news coming out of South Africa, all of which was extremely scary and distressing for our family and friends caught up in it and very upsetting for all of us at a distance looking on; neighbourhoods were being patrolled by residents armed with all sorts of makeshift weapons and blocking entrances to their residential areas with their cars, food shortages were prevalent and exit strategies were being discussed. While no physical harm had befallen any of our family or friends, they were, nonetheless, not safe. As a family we were all at a loss on what to do or indeed what could be done, especially in the middle of a pandemic. Fortunately the army was deployed in certain areas and, as of this writing, the situation has calmed down. That, of course, doesn’t mean a catastrophe has been averted. The economic impact and the cost to rebuild will be astronomical, at a time when unemployment in the country was already exceeding 30%, never mind the devastation of so many businesses being completely destroyed, including the food supply chain.

Back on Paw Paw, however, we had our own challenges to deal with, including the fact that, while we had eventually received our appointments to get our Sars-CoV-2 vaccinations, it was for a vaccine, Sinovax, which neither of us can actually have due to Roy’s age and Elaine’s medical conditions, not to mention it’s low efficacy against the Delta variant. Efforts to get this changed have proven fruitless, but this was the least of our problems, though!

Today, with rain overnight and thunderstorms visible in the distance to the south, we were pleased we’d decided to return. However, although it was an overcast, gloomy day, fair weather was forecast, so we decided on a slight change of scenery and motored over to an anchorage just off the Koh Naka Resort and Spa on Koh Nahka Yai, but not before Elaine got our latest video uploaded, “Tantalising Thailand - The Southern Islands of Phuket Province”, containing drone footage for the first time. Enjoy!The additional bonus of moving was that this resort was not only yacht-friendly, but a phone call revealed we were permitted to frequent the establishment and use all their amenities as part of the “Phuket Sandbox” initiative, including the pool and spa, for a daily visitor’s fee.

Delighted we anchored off, then noticed the number of tourists at the resort; meltdown time for Elaine. It hit her like a ton of bricks; not only does she remain vulnerable during the winter months, but now, with COVID-19, many of the pleasures we’ve enjoyed in our sailing life are just too dangerous, especially since we are both still unvaccinated; socialising with unknown entities, visiting beautiful resorts, enjoying tourists attractions, eating out in restaurants, meeting friends at a bar, all of which had her in a fit of tears and questioning what on earth we were doing floating out here. Anchored off this beautiful 5-Star resort which we were unable to enjoy, was the reality check!

Be that as it may, things were about to get a whole lot worse before the day was over! It was the loud crunching noise that signalled the magnitude of the situation.

In a slow motion video over a few minutes: with darkness descending and storm clouds building on the horizon, a fishing boat arrives and starts to drag an anchor across our bow, this way and that, which we note as concerning, eventually hooking a thick rope and retrieves a huge fishing pot before departing, at the same time a power boat arrives, anchors with his bow facing ours, which we note as rather odd, someone disappears ashore in the dinghy for a few minutes, returns and weighs anchor just as the lashing rain and howling wind arrives, seconds later we are grounded on the reef! The full length of Paw Paw’s port hull is stuck; no amount of engine power and kedging with the anchor budges her.

A quick perusal of the tide indicated we were approaching the bottom of the low; there was nothing more to do, except check for leaks, implement our strategy to hopefully get us off the reef on the rising tide and wait.

Like two drowned rats we set a stern anchor off to starboard to prevent us from floating further onto the reef. Fortunately the bow anchor had reset out to our forward starboard side which, when wound in tighter, acted as a kedge anchor for the bow.

With Paw Paw’s starboard side still floating in the deeper water, she slowly started to level from her tilt and by 2230, we were off the reef and back in the safety of the anchorage off Ao Po Grand marina, stressed to the hilt and grateful we hadn’t sprung a leak. Of course, assessing the damage, is yet to be done.

On a post-mortem, though, we both wanted to kick ourselves for not taking the advice of a well seasoned sailor, Capt’n Fatty, which essentially boils down to the fact that, when clowns arrive around you in an anchorage, weigh anchor and move!