While the watermaker was left running, we then dinghied ashore to revisit one of our favourite cafés, Kantary, where we enjoyed a coffee and a baked delight, while savouring the view as well. A stroll afterwards took us to the grounds of the Phuket Aquarium, along the promenade and back to the beach before returning to Paw Paw to complete a few more items on our Action List, some of which rolled over to today. These included preparing the busbars for the lithium battery solution, programming a few Indian Ocean weather channels then testing our SSB/HF radio and securing our PLBs (Personal Locator Beacons) to our new lifejackets. It was the programming of our MMSI number into the PLBs as well as the complicated instructions to test it all, that made our heads hurt by yesterday afternoon, opting to leave that effort until today instead.
We had also planned on enjoying the paddleboards this morning, but, waking up to a swell running straight into the anchorage, we decided instead to move Paw Paw to Chalong Bay a little earlier than intended.
However, we had a few mishaps in making this move; not only did we make the classic novice mistake of leaving the dinghy painter partially hanging in the water, although the dinghy was on the davits, a first, which, of course, resulted in a tangle with the starboard propeller, but we also dragged while trying to set the anchor. Turns out we’d snagged the anchor on an old fishing net and pod. Fortunately our second attempt was successful after Roy was back in the water to untangle our propeller, all nothing compared to the problems the owner of an old wooden schooner had after his yacht sank during one of the storms we had last week.
Redoing both the dinghy painters was on the Action List anyway, but, by then, we both needed a coffee; it had become far too hectic a morning for our liking. Afterwards, reluctant to get back into the water again, not surprising, given that a crocodile was sighted in this bay a few months ago, Roy redid the dinghy painters from the transom steps and tackled the last knot from the dinghy itself.
On other news, the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office (PPHO) had reported only 144 new local COVID-19 infections and 2,552 people under medical care or supervision, both numbers significantly lower than those of a few weeks ago. Sadly, 3 new deaths were attributed to the disease, bringing the total number of deaths in Phuket Province since 3rd April of this year to 96.
The current Phuket tally, however, does not included the 155 Phuket Sandbox arrivals who have tested positive for the virus after landing on the island since the Phuket Sandbox scheme began on 1st July 2021. Certainly doesn’t fill us with any sense of confidence to fly when passengers are supposed to have tested negative before boarding; just another expensive procedure which serves no purpose!
It remains to be seen, though, how all these numbers change over the coming weeks with the easing of the provincial entry restrictions, allowing fully vaccinated domestic tourists on to the island without any screening for COVID-19. This has resulted in long tailbacks at the checkpoint as people drive on to the island, estimated to reach 10,000 cars a day, after seeing just 1,000 a day under the previous restrictions.
One can’t help but wonder what was the point of the lockdown we’ve endured since our arrival in Thailand, when an irresponsible and inconsistent decision is taken to drop the COVID-19 screening test at the checkpoint for domestic travellers, but international travellers still need to do these after arrival, all of which could render the lockdown and precautions taken to date pointless. Guess time will tell!
On a cheerier note, our rather busy day ended with a magnificent sunset to the west as the moon rose in the east, making for a fabulous evening on the foredeck.
