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Thankfully Elaine was feeling much better yesterday, so, while Roy went for his morning walk, Elaine started a task she’s been procrastinating; reading our Red Sea Pilot for our alternative route. With Paw Paw still rockin’ and rollin’, though, in the horrible swell that we’ve had running through Chalong Bay for days now, reading was not the best activity, so a nap was preferred, followed by a phone call from her sister in Ireland.

While Elaine napped Roy had another look at our dinghy engine to try and determine why it had started to splutter on starting; this after it was serviced, had new spark plugs fitted and a new fuel-line, deciding to replace part of the fuel-line hose to begin with. Unfortunately that didn’t change the outcome, so an inspection of the spark plugs today revealed that our brand new plugs had started to rust! Unbelievable! However, after changing them out again, we’re now convinced it’s the entire new fuel-line which Roy had installed. Guess we have another purchase to make!

This morning our New Year’s Eve started with an early morning walk along Panwa Bali and Ao Yon beaches. We were, however, surprised to see the number of tourists walking around without a mask, illegal in Thailand, and making for a far less enjoyable outing, given that we now know that the Omicron variant has been spreading on Phuket Island for some time without the public being informed. In fact, earlier reports were to the contrary!

Back onboard, while Elaine continued her reading efforts, Roy baked a batch of delicious muffins, something we haven’t had in a while, given the heat and humidity and not wanting to turn the oven on.

But, as the day rolled on, our attentions turned to New Year and the associated celebrations.

Like many of our sailing adventures over the years, when we have absolutely no expectations about a place or an event or an outing, we are always pleasantly surprised and New Year in Thailand was no exception. Wanting a low-key celebration to avoid the crowds, we’d decided on sundowners and an early dinner at At the Beach restaurant, this time opting for a Thai feast, which had to include two of Elaine’s favourite dishes; Gai Pad Med Mamuang Himapan (Stir-fried Chicken and Cashew Nuts), as well as Khao Niaow Ma Muang (Mango Sticky Rice Dessert), accompanied by a spectacular setting; sitting on the beach, looking out over the bay at sunset. Before returning to Paw Paw, we also bumped into Jim and Richard, off Charon, who had dinghied ashore for their celebrations and enjoyed a nice chat to them.

Then the most unusual New Year’s Eve unfolded. Fireworks were set off every hour or so and at different intervals in various parts of the bay, making for a very festive night leading up to midnight. Then, on the stroke of midnight, a spectacular display erupted all around the bay. With land on almost all sides of us, we were basically in the middle of a circular display, not knowing where to look to enjoy the show, while Auld Land Syne played in the background. It certainly put a smile on our faces and cheered us up immensely, bringing in 2022 on a much brighter note than we had expected. A video call to Justine and Paul swiftly followed; our annual tradition of speaking to each other at midnight on New Year’s Eve no matter where in the world we are. That meant setting the alarm to call again tomorrow morning for their New Year’s in England.

While we’d hoped 2021 was going to be a far better year than 2020 with this dreadful pandemic, it most certainly wasn’t and, in fact, we feel it was worse in many ways; vaccinated up to our eyeballs and still not safe! As a result, just as with our New Year’s Eve celebrations, we have absolutely no expectations for 2022, except that, by hook or by crook, we will kiss and hug our loved ones again; three years has been far too long! Our grandsons are double their age since we last saw them and our granddaughter has become a young lady! We do, however, wish everyone health, happiness, peace and joy for the year ahead and “may the best of your past, be the worst of your future!”. “To staying positive and testing negative!”. Happy New Year from Thailand!

Monday was another strenuous day of chores; this time giving Paw Paw’s interior an extensive cleaning, but not before Elaine prepared a cooked breakfast of freshly made crumpets, accompanied by bacon and honey. We also eventually remembered to pull our Christmas crackers over breakfast and, of course, had a laugh at the jokes:

“Why couldn’t the turkey eat any Christmas dinner?”

“What do Snowmen like to do at the weekend?”

It took Elaine the entire day to complete the cleaning, while Roy ensured all our routes, tracks and waypoints were refined. It’s only on a yacht, though, that your cleaning chores are interrupted by the delightful sight of fish darting around in the water right outside the porthole of your head (aka bathroom)!

Our day ended in the best possible way; a wonderful photograph of Keenan and the family in the cockpit of the A320 he was about to fly from Phoenix to Detroit and the family were along for the ride. It was his last flight as a First Officer, since he starts his Captain training on New Year’s Eve; what a great way to bring in 2022! We are so very proud of him and his beautiful family! Congratulations sweetheart!

Yesterday Roy was up early to dinghy ashore for his walk, while Elaine took a well deserved break from everything, staying in bed for most of the morning.

After lunch, we decided to undertake another reconnaissance mission across Chalong Bay in search of the Phuket Yacht Club and to enquire as to whether or not we could use their dinghy dock, primarily as the best option we could find to complete our provisioning and get everything back to Paw Paw with the least amount of hassle. Thankfully they were very accommodating.

Then, while Roy cooked dinner, Elaine cleaned the helmstation, the only task she had planned for the day and, with that, completed all the detailed cleaning tasks before our departure. Fortunately Mother Nature ensured the decks were cleaned without any intervention required from ourselves!

Today, our day started with a nice long walk along the beach before breakfast and before Roy started a number of his regular maintenance activities, including cleaning the air-conditioning filters and closing the throughhulls, as well as checking the saildrive oil, engine oil, filters, etc, on both engines and running them as well as the generator to ensure everything was in working order.

However, after a rolly night at anchor, her early rise and her exercise walk, Elaine needed a morning nap before she could somewhat function for the day. Clearly all the activities of the past week had caught up with her. Regardless, she still managed to complete some of our departure documentation.

This evening, while Elaine remained onboard to weather her “off day”, Roy dinghied ashore for a frosty and to catch up with a few cruising friends.

Answers to the jokes: “Because he was stuffed!”

“Chill out!”

Santa’s little helper was awake bright and early, excited to distribute the Christmas gifts. Fortunately Elaine woke up early too, so our usual Christmas morning ensued; open gifts, empty Christmas stockings, enjoy a few treats and then have breakfast. The latter, however, was a light breakfast in order to save our appetites for our Christmas dinner, our Christmas treat at The Green Man, a traditional English Tudor Coaching House, set in extensive grounds under huge Banyan trees. It was the perfect setting for our 4-course Christmas feast.

However, before we could enjoy our treat, we had to dinghy across Chalong Bay and walk up the hill towards the Big Buddha in sweltering heat. It didn’t help matters that the Google Maps directions indicated a 1Km walk, which was more like a 2Km walk. Regardless, the meal and the festive cheer was well worth the effort:

Santa’s Amuse-Bouche: Beetroot Carpaccio Capes

Seasonal Starter: Home-Made Yuletide Gravadlax with Rye Bread and Cream Cheese

The Main Event: Roast Turkey and Roast Smoked Ham, with all the trimmings; Pigs in Blankets, Stuffing, Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, Carrots and Brussels Sprouts with Almonds and Grated Parmesan Cheese, accompanied by Cranberry Sauce, a Turkey Gravy and a delectable bottle of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.

Yuletide Dessert Plate: A Christmas Pudding Elf, a Gingerbread Man and a Christmas Tree Chocolate Slice, accompanied by Tea or Coffee.

We’d just finished our meal when Santa arrived, swiftly followed by a surprise video call from Justine and Paul, who were just starting their Christmas Day in England. A surprise phone call from Roy’s brother in South Africa was also enjoyed between courses.

We certainly needed the return walk to work off some of our indulgence, but on return to Panwa Bali, instead of returning to Paw Paw, we dinghied ashore to greet cruising friends who had gathered at At the Beach for their Christmas festivities.

Today, although Boxing Day, it was a desperately needed laundry day on Paw Paw, requiring help from Roy on the heavier items, like the bedding and towels. In between his help, he cleaned the transom deck area, before Elaine dinghied him ashore for his walk, giving her the time to tidy up in preparation for our cleaning efforts. Elaine was delighted, though, to see a baby Sting Ray leap out of the water in front of the dinghy on her return to Paw Paw.

Also, being the 26th December, it was the 17th Anniversary of the 2004 catastrophic tsunami, the most devastating natural disaster in history.

Phuket remembered the tsunami victims with a “Soul of the Sea” memorial service, where hundreds gathered on Patong Beach this evening to remember the lives lost in the disaster. Following the speeches, attendees were invited to place candles in the sand to remember those lost to the waves. The day began with the traditional merit making of giving alms to the monks, followed by various activities, including a Tsunami Remembrance Exhibition, a street music show, a lights show, an orchestral performance and the candle lighting ceremony.

Similar events were held in Phang Nga Province, which bore the brunt of the disaster; 4163 people confirmed dead, of which 2213 were foreigners, mostly tourists and an additional 2113 people confirmed missing. In Phuket Province, 259 people were confirmed dead, while 700 remain listed as missing. Thailand as a whole, recorded an official count of 5078 people dead, 8457 injured and 3716 missing, presumed dead.

On a lighter note, this afternoon, we enjoyed a “drive-by” visit from Craig, off Il Sogno, to relay season’s greetings, before they set off with a number of the other “Dock A Rebak Refugees” up the west coast, something we had decided not to do again. Instead, our Christmas celebrations ended perfectly with our Family Zoom Get-Together. Of course, we wouldn’t be in Thailand if it didn’t rain, or rather, bucketed down as a thunderstorm passed over us just as our Zoom Get-Together was wrapping up. We were, however, grateful for the torrential rain that cleaned the decks and saved us the hassle.

Although Elaine has been dealing with yet another infection as a residual consequence of the awful medication she was on, Dr Roy has been wonderful in providing the necessary wound care and things are eventually moving in the right direction, thankfully, after a week of extreme discomfort. At one point we thought we’d need yet another trip to the hospital, but that has been avoided and we can now look forward to our Christmas, albeit a much quieter one compared to past years.

Since we’d already booked a car, thinking a hospital trip was necessary, we decided instead to run a few more errands, particularly to pay Grace Pharmacy so that they could process the very large order for Elaine’s medications and to collect what they already had in stock, as well as to exchange our large propane tank, completing yet another passage To Do.

A stop at Dean and Deluca at Boat Lagoon marina for a coffee and then the chandlery to purchase a few more spare filters for the engines and watermaker before popping into Villa Market for a few groceries, wrapped up the morning. However, given that we’d hired the car in Panwa Bali this time, as apposed to Chalong, we took the opportunity to also enjoy the stunning scenery from the Kao Chad View Point, clearly showing the beautiful long, white, sandy beach we frequently walk along, as well as all the yachts, including Paw Paw, anchored off. However, we would swap this view in a heartbeat for the view Brooke enjoyed at home in Arizona, while Keenan was away at work flying passengers to their loved ones for Christmas.

We were also delighted to receive the news that our yacht insurance had been approved by the underwriters and that our medical insurance provider had decided to review our latest medical claims and have agreed to pay out, both a huge relief. Things are eventually coming together!

Back onboard, once our purchases were sanitised, Roy dinghied ashore to collect a takeaway dinner from At the Beach, bumping into Richard and Yim, off Charon, while there, who had recently returned from Krabi Province, while Elaine settled down for an afternoon matinee to get her into the Christmas Spirit.

After a delicious dinner and not wanting to face Paw Paw in disarray today, we mustered up the energy and inclination to get all our purchases stowed before wrapping up the day with another movie.

Expecting a somewhat lazy morning today, we enjoyed a cooked breakfast before dinghying ashore for our rendezvous; the delivery of our jerry cans. Fortunately we decided to wait near the entrance to My Beach Resort, as arranged, earlier than planned, because we’d barely sat down, when the delivery truck arrived. A good cardio workout followed as a number of trips were required back and forth to the dinghy as the jerry cans were hauled back down the steep incline to the beach. Elaine, however, still took the time to admire the wild flowers along the way.

With a fully loaded dinghy and delighted we eventually had the jerry cans we needed for our departure, we gingerly made our way back over the fringing reef to drop everything off on Paw Paw, following which Roy returned to shore to update his Apple development environment and undertake some regression testing on the Anchor and Anchor Plus applications to ensure everything was still functioning as expected after the latest Apple software update. Elaine, on the other hand, decided that being deck fluff was the perfect way to spend the rest of her day. After all, t’was the night before Christmas!

A scrumptious barbecue onboard, a chat to Elaine’s folks in Ireland and catching up with family and friends on social media sealed our day!

After a good night’s sleep on the hard, it had, however, started to rain overnight; fortunately a light, drizzle, but nonetheless, dashing our hopes of getting another coat of antifouling on the waterline and on the hard wearing areas of Paw Paw’s bottom.

Fortunately, though, by the time the boatyard workers arrived, it had cleared and a cool breeze helped dry the surfaces, aided by some elbow grease. By 1100 everything was completed, the yacht ahead of us had been splashed and our trailer was moving Paw Paw’s towards the slip; no bees, no mishaps, just gently settled in the water, as the line handlers held Paw Paw in position and the trailer was removed from below us. Although exhausted, we were delighted to have actually got this major undertaking completed, given how busy the boatyard was, never mind the fact that we’d set a new record for a haulout, amazing everyone in the boatyard, including Derrek, the Marina Manager. Add to that the sight of two “farangs” slaving away, certainly created a large degree of astonishment amongst the locals and tourists alike.

A few other happenings caught people’s attention; Elaine having her own chair to sit on while she worked on the saildrives, to the extent that, before we were splashed, one of the boatyard workers asked Roy if they could have the chair; delighted at the reply.

The next item which created a fair degree of fascination was our paint mixer which attaches to a drill and does an excellent job of mixing the antifouling; an item we definitely weren’t prepared to part with. However, we wouldn’t be surprised if a replica is fashioned within the week!

Of course, the “empty” paint cans, including about a quarter of the last can, had some thinners added, everything consolidated and repurposed for a fishing boat, again bringing much delight when Roy indicated that they could have the leftover paint, given that enquiries had been made earlier as to whether or not we’d purchased the paint in Thailand and at what cost.

Also, a while back we mentioned the “gardener” of Ao Po Grand marina, who is very spoken and, in fact, could well be a botanist or a horticulturist. Well, he paid us a visit as well to say hello, but specifically to give us a good luck charm for our onward journey from Thailand. This was completely unexpected and quite touching actually! Such thoughtfulness and kindness! He’d remembered we would be setting sail in a few weeks.

By 1500 we were re-anchored in Panwa Bali, both needing our beds; it had been a very long 36 hours! Our thanks, however, go to Derrek, who squeezed us into the busy schedule, keeping us on the trailer overnight to get the work completed.

Today was an easier day. Under sunny skies, Elaine had one more document to amend and sign for our yacht insurance, before we both got stuck into sanitising and stowing everything we’d used during the haulout; hosepipes, hosepipe fittings, extension leads, torches, spotlights, scrappers, spare paint brushes, masks and gloves, protective glasses, etc.

By the time Paw Paw was somewhat organised again, although in desperate need of a good cleaning inside and out, with dead bees, leaves, dust and light blue footprints everywhere, the latter thanks to Captain Roy, it was time for our celebratory lunch ashore at My Beach Resort. It was also the first time in two years that Elaine had a pizza and it was well worth the wait!

A long walk on the beach, followed by an afternoon nap, a light dinner and a movie completed the day.

However, as delighted as we are at getting this haulout completed in record time, it is fair to say, that Thailand has been an extremely expensive stay for us; the most expensive of any country. The cost of our quarantine of $4500USD, having a botched haulout in May that cost us $6000USD, the cost of this second haulout, required within a 7-month period, at $3000USD, 4 months of a tablet that, not only nearly killed Elaine off, but cost us $6400USD for which our health insurance is not paying and which excludes all the other medical expenses incurred because of all the infections this awful medication caused and the cost of $2000USD for the two visa renewals we required under the STV (Special Tourist Visa) programme in order to remain in Thailand, never mind the very expensive and unexpected spare parts we’ve needed due to the high import duty and sales tax and now the upfront costs of $4500USD required for Elaine’s supply of medications, ~$5000USD required as an earlier payment for our yacht insurance to coincide with a January departure and a 9-month earlier than expected medical insurance payment of $4500USD to extend our coverage for a year due to the pandemic, we’re lucky we aren’t getting a lump of coal each for Christmas!

Although the armageddon scenario of a cyclonic storm developing in the Andaman Sea from the typhoon in the South China Sea before heading straight for Phuket Island, didn’t materialise, two depressions developed, nonetheless; one in the Malacca Straits in the vicinity of Pangkor, Malaysia and the second towards the northwestern tip of Sumatra, Indonesia. Add the residual ramifications of the typhoon and…

Fortunately Saturday was a much better day for Elaine, who was feeling herself again after all the side effects of her booster shot, so another nice long walk was enjoyed on the beach before stopping in at the Santiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa for a coffee and chocolate cake. The latter, however, was not as good as what we’ve had at My Beach Resort and it didn’t help that the minute we sat down, hundreds of day trippers arrived at the resort, forcing us both to dive for our masks, eat up, pay and leave as quickly as possible!

We did, however, have a good chuckle after the duty manager had stopped by to welcome us and indicated that, if we were not happy with anything, to let him know. It wasn’t until he’d moved away from our table, that Roy indicated he was about to say: “Well, yes, actually, I’m not happy with my room; I keep rolling out of my bed!”, but decided it would be in poor taste and cause mass confusion.

Back onboard, Elaine dealt with the finishing touches to the yacht insurance, which hopefully will finalise that piece of the jigsaw, while Roy cleaned the shower fittings of the forward starboard head and the aft port head, as well as replaced the shower pump in the forward port head that had become lazy.

Then in between tidying up the cockpit area, Elaine enjoyed surprise calls from Justine in England and her folks in Ireland, followed by dinner and a few storms which moved north and south of us.

With the best seats in the house, our day ended watching a Fire Dance performance on the beach.

Yesterday, after another check of the weather forecast, it appeared everything was still on track for our haulout and, since we were both awake early, we decided an early morning walk on the beach was the perfect way to start our day, then enjoyed breakfast in the cockpit under sunny skies.

The rest of our day was spent preparing for the haulout. While Roy checked all the electrical tools needed and repacked the aft starboard bunk to return the space to a guest cabin as apposed to a workshop, Elaine performed a similar task with the forward starboard cabin, following which she updated the emergency contact information for the satellite phone with a few more details obtained, updated some medical notes and rescheduled her appointment at the hospital until after New Year.

By then it was time for our pre-arranged SSB/HF radio check with Talulah Ruby III (Andy and Paul) and Golden Spirit (Caroline and Michael), who are in Pangkor, Malaysia. Fortunately everything appeared to be working, albeit difficult to hear clearly on some frequencies, given the marina environment in Pangkor and the fact that we were protected by a mountain.

Today, however, was a feat against all odds.

Never mind the fact that Roy was really ill with an upset stomach just before bedtime and we both had a terrible night’s sleep when we woke to howling winds and Paw Paw bouncing around all over the show in the early hours of the morning, our sail over to Ao Po Grand marina was extremely uncomfortable with wind and waves on the beam and both of us getting more and more disillusioned about the possibility of a haulout.

By the time we reach Ao Po at around 0900 we had resigned ourselves to the fact that there would be no haulout today! A phone call to Derrek, the Marina Manager, however, indicated that it was calm and protected behind the breakwater.

Not completely convinced, we bounced around in the deeper water while Roy put out the fendors and docklines, before gingerly making our way to the fuel dock to tie up and await our timeslot. It was indeed a miracle; complete calm!

By 1045 we were on the trailer, a new way for us to haul, but not before a sworm of bees attacked the dockhands onshore and ourselves onboard along with the two dockhands onboard. It was poor Roy who got stung, however, as Elaine and the two dockhands ran for cover behind the mosquito nets covering the saloon door! We truly could not make this up if we tried!

With this delay and the time-consuming process of getting onto the hard, our concern now was whether or not we could get everything completed in the 24 hours we had before being splashed again, not to mention Roy complaining of a very painful leg, following the removal of a very large sting.

So, while the light jetwash was completed we took the opportunity to load up on caffeine at the Port of Call restaurant, then it was all hands on deck until 1900 tonight with help from two boatyard workers. However, before they arrived after lunch, Elaine scrubbed, rinsed and dried the rear areas of both hulls around the saildrives and rudders and then completed the outer port hull, while Roy sanded the saildrives and propellers, all of which were in a very sorrowful state, to the extent that all the saildrives needed was a light hand sanding to remove what was put on in June! It was definitely a good job we had decided to haulout again.

Once help arrived, they took over from Elaine to finish off the scrubbing, rinsing and drying of the hulls, while she got to work on applying the primer and copious layers of antifouling on the saildrives, taking a short break to mask the hulls ready for painting, as well as to purchase our takeaway dinner. In the interim, Roy applied the PropOne to the propellers. Fortunately by then, one coat of antifouling had been applied to both hulls, but, although it was getting dark, everyone pressed on under spotlights and torches to complete the second coat.

By 1900, everyone completely exhausted, we’d finished! Our takeaway dinner, a shower and watching the rest of our favourite Christmas movie, The Holiday, sealed off an extraordinary day!

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At the moment it feels like we’re starting our circumnavigation all over again with the amount of balls we have in the air, in trying to get everything ready for our upcoming passage, after a two year hiatus. By Tuesday we’d definitely started to feel like we were chasing our tails and acknowledging that, if all of this doesn’t come together soon, we won’t be going anywhere.

It started with our haulout being up in the air due to a severe tropical depression forecast to pass straight over Phuket Island on the exact day Paw Paw is scheduled to be lifted out of the water again. Then, a simple task, like ordering jerry cans, turned into an almighty cluster when Lazada decided to block Roy’s payment for no apparent reason, resulting in him having to dinghy all the way across Chalong Bay to try and pay at an ATM, another option they offer, but, of course, all the instructions at the ATM were in Thai and nobody could speak English at the bank to help him. By a stroke of luck he stumbled upon a store selling jerry cans, but, although they didn’t have the sizes we need, the owner was able to order them for us, thankfully. That was followed by a FedEx mixup in delivering two of our parcels containing the additional cruising pilot and flags we need, resulting in Roy having to drive to the FedEx distribution centre on Wednesday to collect the parcels before they were erroneously put out for delivery again. On top of that, our yacht insurance is still not finalised, after spending most of Tuesday completing the necessary paperwork, never mind the fact that Elaine’s medication supplies, getting the rest of our provisions purchased, sanitised and stowed, as well as reinstating and testing our satellite service, were all still in the works too.

By Tuesday evening we were grateful for the impromptu “Dock A Rebak Refugee’s” reunion on Panwa Beach to spend some time with cruising friends over sundowners and to take a break from the mayhem.

On Wednesday we were up with the alarm to collect the hired car and make our way to the hospital for Elaine’s Moderna booster shot, arranged by the doctor here in Thailand. Although it was another fiasco, which took more time to work through four different queues to complete administrative tasks before getting the shot, while the nurses sat idle for ages between patients, Elaine eventually emerged two hours later after being only eighteenth in line, but grateful to the doctor, nonetheless, and thankful that we got there early! It was during this time that Roy went to FedEx, setting the norm for our “divide and conquer” approach for the rest of the day, in order to get through all our errands. However, during our travels around Phuket Island, there’s always so many sights we see and wished we had a camera to the ready and Wednesday was no exception, except, this time Elaine managed to get the camera out in time to capture a man swinging in a hammock in the back of a pickup truck while it was being driven! Only in Thailand!

From the hospital we made our way to Boat Lagoon marina, where Elaine completed the last of our Christmas shopping and Roy made a beeline for the chandlery. Fortunately we made it to Ao Po Grand marina just before the office closed for lunch, so we could drop off our gifts and enjoy lunch with Derrek, the marina manager, to discuss options for the haulout, given the impending weather.

At the time, a cyclonic storm was forecast to develop from the typhoon hitting areas of the South China Sea, coming over the southern provinces of Thailand and the northern states of Malaysia and reforming in the Andaman Sea before heading straight for Phuket Island. What are the chances!

Anyway, with a plan for the haulout, we then headed back down to Chalong to the Village Market, stopping at Grace Pharmacy en route. While Roy headed to the hardware store to purchase everything we need for the haulout, Elaine headed to Villa Market to purchase some provisions we needed to tide us over until the storm passed.

It’s fair to say, Elaine had completed wilted by this point with the side effects of her booster shot kicking in with vengeance. By the time we got back to Paw Paw, all she could muster was to sanitise everything before having a light dinner, a shower and heading to bed.

With the storm still forecast yesterday morning, we were up early to weigh anchor and head north, but alas, our ground tackle was snagged again; this time with a fishing net wrapped around our chain. We’ve come to the conclusion that we should just expect a fouled anchor now and be pleasantly surprised if it isn’t!

After motor-sailing north and taking the opportunity to clean the bridle again, our chosen anchorage for last night was off the west coast of Koh Yao Yai, with a beautiful long, white, sandy beach, dotted with three resorts, the Santiya Koh Yao Yai Resort & Spa, the Yao Yai Beach Resort and the Royal Koh Yao Yai Resort, all apparently cruiser-friendly. It was around noon by the time we dropped the hook and had barely sat down, though, when a fisherman arrived to sell us prawns and tiger prawns. Well, that was dinner sorted out; barbecued with a salad. Delicious! We also enjoyed a lovely walk on the beach to clear our heads, although Elaine’s fatigue associated with the booster forced her to bed for a few hours yesterday afternoon.

Another look at the weather forecasts this morning indicated that the armageddon scenario wasn’t going to materialise after all, so, instead of popping around to the channel between Koh Yao Yai and Koh Yao Noi, where we intended to hunker down, we decided to stay put and enjoy the surroundings. That involved another long walk on the beach, but this time towards the resorts for a snoop. We were delighted to find a selection of cafés, restaurants and a convenience store, so we’re not going to starve, not to mention, there’s a spa at the nicest of the three resorts!

Our morning, however, wasn’t as chilled out as we’d hoped after receiving an unexpected email from our medical insurance provider, initiating a flurry of activity, followed by an additional followup required on our yacht insurance, which then prompted Roy to re-setup our satellite service and a slew of testing started; checking messages, checking emails to ensure the website is updated with our blogs, checking that weather forecasts and routing information can be obtained and, finally, re-programming all the emergency contact numbers and emails for the satellite phone usage. In summary, we’re looking forward to being on passage at this rate; we might actually get a rest!

Our day ended unexpectedly; a video call from Keenan after a phone call had been made to Santa to ensure Christmas came early at the Cadman Jr household, given that, once again, Keenan will be working over the Christmas period. Needless to say, everyone was delighted with their gifts and William claimed: “Mom told Santa not to bring me a dirt bike (aka motorbike) because I might get that for my birthday, but I got exactly what I wanted; a red bike (aka bicycle)!”

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