On Monday we had all sorts of weather, starting with the early morning squalls which woke us. Over breakfast the sun came out, though, and stayed out, until we’d dinghied ashore for a mid-morning coffee and a pancake stack for Roy; he loves these, as well as undertake a dinghy excursion. We decided the latter was far easier than moving the yacht, given the precarious nature and unpredictability of the weather at the moment. However, we’d barely returned to Paw Paw when the next rain showers arrived, settling in as a soft drizzle for the rest of the afternoon. By the evening, the squalls had returned, interspersed with heavier rainfall, but settled again by bedtime, thankfully. We had all of this delightful weather when the forecast had indicated days of cloudless, sunny skies. Having been in Thailand now for nearly four months, we are definitely of the opinion that the weather forecasting for this part of the world is a bit of a joke!

Nonetheless, we are picking our moments to get off the yacht as best we can and, on Monday, we had a lovely dinghy excursion around the bay, south of the Ao Po Grand marina. We were surprised to find a few local restaurants and an ice-cream shop along the coast, but it was sad to see yet another lovely resort closed, all the normally busy tour boats floating idly, people living on the beaches under makeshift structures and empty touring songthaews sitting on the Ao Po pier, hopeful that someone might need their services.

Afterwards, Elaine continued her efforts of reviewing the latest yacht insurance contracts she had received and Roy jumped in the water to clean Paw Paw’s starboard hull, saildrive and propeller. Learning that Phuket Island had a further 81 daily COVID-19 cases was not the news we wanted to end our day on.

Yesterday we woke to rain again, but this time it continued all day, at times bucketing down, but allowed us to refill our water containers for our next laundry day, whenever that may be; there’s nothing but a soggy mess onboard at the moment!

Apparently it had also rained on and off all night, but Elaine slept through it all; she didn’t hear a thing until she surfaced at around 0900, something that is unheard of these days. She obviously needed her beauty sleep!

By the afternoon she was tired of reviewing yacht insurance contracts and shipping quotations, so she decided a “girlie” movie was the best way to enjoy the rest of her day. Roy managed to get some more of the rubber trim cleaned before the deluge, then spent the rest of his day completing the next enhancements to the Anchor Plus application, ready for review.

The miserable weather eventually cleared by early evening and we enjoyed a surprise video call from Agnes and Bas, off TiSento. It was lovely to catch up and see them back on TiSento after she was shipped safely from Australia to Mallorca.

Today we woke to a beautiful sunny day, allowing Elaine to do her exercises on the foredeck. Unfortunately by the time we’d eaten breakfast the rain had set in again. That meant another “girlie” movie for Elaine and Roy continuing with his coding and testing efforts. We also had a number of yachts return to the anchorage after they’d attempted to enjoy a change of scenery further south, but to no avail. With winds of 20-25 Kts out of the southwest and a huge southerly swell, they all gave up on the notion of pastures new!

There was, however, an unexpected opportunity that presented itself earlier today, which we hope made a small difference in a local family’s life.

For weeks now we’ve seen the same “longtail” drifting past Paw Paw at a distance with a family onboard, all with fishing rods. They spend the entire day on the water come rain or shine, but today we spotted them to Paw Paw’s starboard side, in the pouring rain, soaked to the bone with nothing but a small umbrella, which wasn’t rendering any protection from the elements at all.

On seeing this, it was as if both our minds synchronised at that exact moment, as we both thought about the extra sets of foul weather gear we have onboard, which came with Paw Paw when we purchased her and which we have never used in 10 years.

While Elaine ran below deck to get them, Roy tried to get the fishermen’s attention. Giving up on that idea, we launched the dinghy and Roy took the sets to them. From a distance Elaine could see them donning the bright yellow gear immediately, while Roy received words of gratitude in a language he couldn’t understand, but their faces and gestures said it all.

We trust that this tiny act of kindness brought a ray of sunshine to their lives on yet another miserable, wet, rainy day in Phang Nga Bay, warming their bodies as well as their hearts.