On Tuesday after breakfast, while Elaine enjoyed a pleasant morning completing her efforts on our latest video, although this still needs to be uploaded to our website, Roy dinghied ashore to run a few planned errands, including paying for the dinghy repairs and visiting a chandlery for a few more lugs, as well as to get a new power cable made for our SSB/HF radio and watermaker, since the industrial strength lug on the existing cable had simply disintegrated when Roy went to move it. It was a lovely surprise, though, when he returned in our own dinghy having originally expected the switch with the “loaner” to take place later in the day at the high tide; turns out the half tide worked just as well! Unfortunately, though, Roy only noticed after the delivery truck and trailer had departed that our oars had not been returned, resulting in an unplanned walk back to the shop later in the week.
Back onboard, Roy connected the octo-isolator relays and top-balanced all the batteries again, given that we’d had to wait much longer than expected for delivery of the BMSs (Battery Management Systems).
With our week planned out to finish the lithium battery installation, a late afternoon phone call from the dermatologist sent our plans out the window, as the specialist needed to see Elaine first thing on Wednesday morning.
So, after rescheduling the booking of the hired car and rearranging our appointment with our agent, we were up early on Wednesday to head to the hospital and from there we drove to the most northern area of Phuket Island, where we met our agent at the Yacht Haven marina to collect our renewed Customs Clearance and Yacht Sanitation Certificate, the latter required for the Maldives, as well as a parcel that had been erroneously delivered to the wrong marina.
Since this was an area of Phuket Island we hadn’t explored before, we decided to return to Chalong Bay via the northwestern coastline, stopping at Sirinat National Park, where we enjoyed lunch at the Dewa Phuket Resort and Villas, before taking a stroll through the National Park and along the beautifully wild and unspoilt Mai Khao beach.
Before returning to Paw Paw in the early evening, we stopped in at the Market Village for an afternoon coffee and to pick up a few provisions, getting back onboard just before the rain set in. After sanitising everything, though, we were both too tired to be bothered with stowing anything, apart from the fresh produce.
Yesterday, having collected more rain water overnight, it was laundry day. So, while Elaine cracked on with that, Roy started the generator and the watermaker, then continued with the lithium batteries, including drilling the holes for the high amperage cables and cable-tying all the wires, ready for installation. In between all this activity, he also popped ashore to stretch his legs and collect the dinghy oars, surprising Elaine with a bunch of flowers, a pineapple and a bunch of Longan berries on his return, all purchased from a roadside stall for tuppence.
After a short afternoon nap, Elaine continued stowing our provisions and we began our daily process of turning what feels like a building site at the moment, back into some semblance of a home, following which Elaine enjoyed a phone call from her mom in Ireland.
While we’ve been busy with all our activities onboard, we’ve also watched the tenacity of a few sailors re-float the beautiful old schooner which sank in one of the storms a few weeks ago and yesterday evening their efforts paid off as the deck of the yacht eventually broke through the surface. By late last night it was completely emptied of the sea water and towed to it’s new spot in the anchorage awaiting the commencement of a total refit.
Today we moved back to Panwa Bali as planned and where the next, very unpleasant and extremely dirty job was completed; removing one of the shelves in the battery compartment. While Roy worked in the heat and the plumes of dust, Elaine retreated to the dinghy to give it a detailed cleaning, put the chaps and engine cover back on, return the anchor and put all the other bits and bobs back in their rightful place, ready for our next dinghy excursion. By then we were both in desperate need of a swim; straight off Paw Paw’s stern! Bliss!
Feeling refreshed, lunch and another nap was enjoyed before sundowners and a barbecue this evening. It was the massive thunderstorm, though, as we watched its approach from the foredeck, enjoying the power of nature as the skies lit up all around us and eventually passed over us, that literally had Elaine standing butt-naked, under the cover of darkness of course, enjoying a wonderful, icy cold, natural rain shower; a gift from the heavens indeed! At this point we can safely say we’re definitely over the heat and humidity, accompanied by the copious amounts of fluid we expunge from our bodies on a daily basis in the form of sweat. It’s been ridiculous, but the storms tonight have brought a very welcome relief, thankfully!
