By 1130, we were back onboard, so, while Roy repacked the starboard aft cabin bunk (aka his workshop) and then dinghied ashore to get the last of our laundry done, Elaine sanitised all our grocery bags, sanitised the cockpit area, again, washed the helmstation and helmstation screens, then stowed all the superfluous items below deck. By then Roy had returned with the washing, so that was hung out to dry. The last tasks of the day were to freeze our passage meals, after letting them cool, wash the pots, stow the clean laundry and enjoy a chat to Elaine’s mom in Ireland. To wrap up our time in Thailand, we also enjoyed one last meal, watching the sunset, at At the Beach, before heading back to Paw Paw for a shower, a nice cup of tea and bed, both in desperate need of an early night.
Today we were awake early again, but this time, after a good night’s sleep. However, before we got started on our remaining To Dos, we enjoyed a video call to Brooke and the grandsons, who were very excited that: “Dad is arriving home in 1/2 an hour”, given that they hadn’t seen him since New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately the grandsons, although they didn’t show symptoms after contracting COVID-19, they were all definitely a bit out of sorts, understandably so. They’d been through a lot, with every adult in the household ill and isolating, leaving them in the care of big sister, Capri, who did a marvellous job under difficult circumstances. Fortunately, Brooke was fully recovered and the grandsons were all returning to school after the weekend, so life was starting to resemble some normalcy again.
Afterwards, Roy started the watermaker, prepared the mainsail, stowed all the winch covers and the saloon sunscreens, opened the sunscreens on the helmstation, dinghied ashore to dispose of our garbage and purchase petrol for the dinghy, as well as removed our flashing light, which had prevented fishing boats from ramming into us at night. Although our anchor light was always on, this light was a necessity in these waters.
Elaine, on the other hand, worked her way through the remaining items on our Pre-Sail Checklist, which included ensuring our Grab Bag had everything needed, all the jacklines were secure and the transom lifelines were rigged, as well as forwarded all our completed documentation to our agent in the Maldives.
After nearly three years in SE Asia, two years longer than originally planned due to the pandemic, in and out of lockdowns, loneliness and constant visa issues, our time had eventually arrived to set sail and continue west, leaving behind the precarious medical care for Elaine, specifically in Thailand, which involved an extremely expensive medical treatment plan that, not only didn’t work, made matters a hundred times worse, although she had received wonderful care in both Singapore and Malaysia, expenses we never anticipated, again specifically in Thailand, due to shoddy workmanship which resulted in two haulouts within six months, difficulty in provisioning, particularly in Thailand, not only in terms of getting purchases back to the yacht, but always needing to hire a car and drive on terrible roads, with terrible drivers due to the lack of decent public transportation or having to deal with taxis trying to charge London prices, all exacerbated by the dangers of trying to walk anywhere, due to the lack of decent pavements or cars and motorbikes constantly parked on the pavements, which forced us to walk on the roads, compared to the excellent and inexpensive Grab services in Malaysia and the fabulous public transportation system in Singapore.
However, what we take with us are the wonderful experiences of vastly different cultures and customs, of the kind, helpful, friendly and humble people, the fabulous tourist attractions and adventures we have enjoyed and our tastebuds still tantalised by the delicious food! We’re glad we ventured to this part of the world and leave with very fond memories indeed!
Our last tasks of the day was a phone call to Elaine’s sister in Ireland, sending notes to family and friends informing them of our departure and making up the saloon bed, where we spend a large amount of our time lounging around while on passage.
We were ready at last! Nervous, but excited!
