Given the weather, Elaine decided to watch a “girlie” movie in her cabin, following which she spent the afternoon updating her notes required for a future website article; she has definitely got rather behind on these, specifically the Australian ones, but will catch up eventually, no doubt.
Roy spent his time working on the enhancement to the Anchor Plus application, as well as continuing his research into a possible lithium battery solution for us, given that our current batteries will reach end of life before we set sail across the Indian Ocean, and the possibility of newer technology at a reasonable price is proving to be rather appealing. The challenge is ensuring everything will integrate with our existing equipment onboard.
The disappointing news for the day, though, came via an email from the US Embassy in Thailand informing us, and turning down a direct appeal in the process, that they would not be making arrangements to vaccinate US citizens in Thailand, although France’s embassy started vaccinating its citizens today and, of the 1 million vaccines donated by China, 400,000 are earmarked for its nationals.
This announcement came after four U.S. citizens’ groups wrote to the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, asking for Thailand to be made a pilot project for vaccinating US citizens abroad. What’s more infuriating for us is that we are bound to continue to submit US tax returns and pay our taxes every year, although we’re not in the US, and our tax dollars are being used to pay for the 7 million vaccines the US is donating to Thailand, never mind all the other countries that will be receiving donations too.
The embassy message indicated that the State Department could not provide vaccines to the millions of US citizens living abroad, but did say that it “would advocate for equitable access locally”, which, at this point, translates to: After all the locals and foreign work permit holders have been vaccinated first, leaving retirees and tourists high and dry, since the Thai government has yet to confirm that it will indeed vaccinate non-work permit holders, although we would not be expecting a free handout and would be prepared to pay for our vaccinations!
Their other bright solutions was to suggest that we travel back to the US to get vaccinated. So, let’s get this straight; two individuals, one over 60 years old, one immunocompromised, both in the high risk category, must get on a plane, to spend 14-16 hours in the company of other individuals with a high probability of already being COVID-19 infected, to get a vaccine, to prevent severe infection. It seems the US Embassy, just like the Irish and UK Embassies during the Malaysia fiasco, is as useful as a chocolate teapot!
It’s fair to say the weather was definitely a reflection of our mood after that email!
We were, however, on weather watch again, with more bad weather forecast for the coming week, but deciding on the best anchorage to hunker down in became the issue. Unfamiliar with many of the anchorages we, at least, knew where we didn’t want to be, so we decided to just stay put. It’s a little frustrating, though, that the actual weather thus far has not been reflected in any of the forecasts we’ve perused, making a decision difficult on whether or not to continue our explorations.
Regardless, yesterday Elaine had an “off day” or until 1400 anyway, so exploring was the last thing she wanted to be doing. So, while she slept the morning away, Roy dinghied ashore to enjoy a nice long walk, then baked Elaine a lovely multi-grain loaf of gluten-free bread. Fortunately, when Elaine surfaced to the smell of the freshly baked bread, she was feeling much better, to the extent she even tackled the latest medical insurance claims; a task she detests. Fortunately she was interrupted by a lovely surprise video call from Justine, who was just getting started on her work day. It was the perfect interlude to an otherwise uneventful day. A beautiful halo around the waxing gibbous last night, however, was a suitable consolation for the absence of a starry night and the Southern Cross.
During our explorations over these past few weeks there has often been talk of the “Phuket Sandbox” initiative and the requirement to get 70% of the islanders vaccinated in preparation for the opening of the island to both foreign and domestic tourists, as a means to restore livelihoods. This has left us feeling a little vulnerable as we haven’t been vaccinated yet, although we eventually managed to get ourselves registered. It came as somewhat of a surprise then when we learnt that many of the residents of the islands scattered around the Phang Nga Bay are not vaccinated yet either, making us wonder how these islands, which are certainly the far more interesting tourist attractions of the area, are going to fit into the initiative to revive their economies too.
That led Elaine to do a bit more research into why there appears to be such a reliance on tourism and an emphasis on bolstering the tourism sector on Phuket Island particularly. However, noting at the same time, there appears to be no diversification initiatives that would create alternative employment in the area, as a backup to the Sandbox initiative, in the event of its failure, especially since we also learnt during our travels that, when the borders closed last year, many of the vendors on Phuket Island just closed up shop and left the island to return to their home towns, cities and villages, leaving “ghost towns” behind and, more importantly, have not returned to participate in the reopening.
Reviewing the economic data of Thailand shed a little more light on the approach, but not much, especially if one considers the impact on economies all over the world due to the pandemic, never mind the constraints foreigners will have in leaving or indeed returning to their own countries after a holiday abroad.
Although Thailand’s economy is a heavily export-dependent one, accounting for more than two-thirds of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and exporting over USD$105 billion worth of goods and services annually, including cars, computers, electrical appliances, rice, textiles and footwear, fishery products, rubber and jewellery, it appears the tourism industry was one of Thailand's main economic sectors, accounting for 6-7% of its GDP. Revenues reached USD$71 billion in 2016 and projections in 2019 indicated that the tourism sector would account for 30% of GDP by 2030. That, of course, was before the pandemic. So, why not diversify now instead, in those areas that have been devastated by the lack of tourism. Well, it may well come down to education.
Apparently, while education in Thailand has seen its greatest progress since 2001, teaching relies heavily on “rote learning”, a “memorisation technique based on repetition, with the idea that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more one repeats it”, rather than on a student-centred methodology. Additionally, “the establishment of reliable and coherent curricula for its primary and secondary schools is subject to such rapid changes that schools and their teachers are not always sure what they are supposed to be teaching and authors and publishers of textbooks are unable to write and print new editions quickly enough to keep up with the volatility”, compounded by the fact that schooling is only compulsory up to the age of 14. Additionally, “issues concerning university entrance has been in constant upheaval for a number of years”; not the ideal circumstance to support the competencies of critical and independent thinking, required to contribute towards ideas for diversification and indeed initiatives that would require a higher skillset!
In essence, it appears tourism was easy income with huge financial returns for Thailand, as with many countries, but, halfway through 2021 and no sign of this pandemic being under control in most parts of the world, it appears it’ll be a while before the tourism dollars coming rolling back in again anywhere, any time, soon!
Today, we stayed onboard expecting the worst of the forecast weather to arrive, but after a rain shower around mid-morning, the skies cleared. By lunchtime, with the continuation of the sunny skies we decided to venture ashore and enjoyed another tasty lunch, followed by a long walk on the beach, stopping for an ice-cream on our way back to the dinghy. What we hadn’t accounted for, though, was the spring low tide, which left the dinghy in the mud at the dinghy dock. After an hour, the tide had risen sufficiently for Roy to traipse over the rocks to get the dinghy back in the water and paddle to the dock to allow Elaine to scoot in. At any other time, waiting another hour until the dinghy was completely floating wouldn’t have been a problem, but today, as luck would have it, Elaine urgently needed the loo and definitely didn’t want to use a public toilet. Just typical!
Anyway, once we were back onboard and the urgent matter taken care off, we enjoyed a refreshing swim off the back of Paw Paw and settled down for our evening, fortunately with all the late afternoon weather passing to the south of us. We’re not altogether sure how all the forecasts could be so far off, but we definitely weren’t complaining; we’d enjoyed a sunny day and avoided the horrible thunderstorms.
In this instance, there were all sorts of charming discoveries as we meandered along the single street running through the village. These included an intriguing “petrol station”, quirky signposts dotted around, a very elementary, but perfectly functional barber shop and a batik arts and crafts centre, where we watched a few works in progress and where Elaine purchased a beautiful sarong. We also learnt that this was a major tourist attraction for viewing the Oriental Hornbill and its other feathery friends.
A freshly made lunch was enjoyed at the “Jetty Restaurant”, the only open restaurant we could find in the village, as all the others had closed down. Regardless, we were delighted that we managed to put a bright smile on the owner’s face when we included a modest tip for the delicious meal she had prepared for us.
Since we couldn’t get back to the dinghy, given that the “supply ship”, a “longtail” with the largest engine we’ve ever seen mounted on a small boat, had arrived and was offloading, so we decided to visit the only open “café” to enjoy an ice-cream. While there we got chatting to the owner, who spoke English very well, only to discover she’d worked at one of the hotels on Phuket Island, but returned home after loosing her job when the hotel closed down. This reality of closed down establishments and the loss of livelihoods has been a very sad pattern we’ve seen almost everywhere we’ve been and now, understandably, there’s a fair degree of apprehension associated with the “Phuket Sandbox” initiative for the businesses that have managed to scrape through, as to whether or not it will indeed bring back the desperately needed tourists. Guess time will tell!
Once back on Paw Paw, we enjoyed a swim off the stern, before finding a cool spot in the cockpit. It was also lovely to hear the sound of children’s laughter in the distance having great fun jumping off the village pier as the sun disappeared behind the mountains surrounding our anchorage; a sound we haven’t heard in a such long time!
After our meander through the unusual little homes, and some not so little, we returned to Daeng Paradise Food for a late morning refreshment and a freshly baked delight, Thai-style; a banana roti for Roy, accompanied by a soda and a pineapple roti for Elaine, accompanied by a fresh coconut water. We’d heard all about this Thai dessert and we’d had something similar at the Hardstand Café when we first arrived in the Boat Lagoon marina, but the ones we ordered today were the real deal and simply mouthwatering. It is quite possible we are both going to roll out of Thailand!
What we weren’t expecting, though, was the owner offering us a ride back to the dinghy on / in his “saleng”; the Thai word to describe a “three-wheeled, foot- or motor-powered vehicle”, which in this case was a motorbike with a “side car” of sorts. These often have a roof and enough space to accommodate 2-4 passengers. They are very popular amongst families in the Thai countryside, allowing an entire family to enjoy an outing together, as well as to transport just about any goods that one can fit into the “side car”. We’ve seen these modified motorbikes everywhere, but riding in one today was a great deal of fun!
By the time we returned to Paw Paw, there was enough water under the keel for us to weigh anchor and set sail for the east coast of Koh Yao Noi.
There is definitely one thing we can say about this part of Thailand; Phang Nga Bay is not short on natural beauty and has the most spectacular seascapes. As we meandered northwards along the coast there were numerous little nooks and crannies, fronted with white sandy beaches and most hiding beautiful resorts, including the Six Sense Yao Noi, where we’d hoped to enjoy a meal and indulge ourselves at their Spa. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the resort was closed to everyone other than their registered guests.
Regardless, we found a lovely anchorage, where we enjoyed a swim off Paw Paw’s stern and where Elaine put all the hot water to good use by doing the laundry. A barbecue, a movie and some late night stargazing wrapped up a rather adventurous day!
By 1100 we were able to weigh anchor, then gingerly meandered down the channel, since not one version of our Navionics charts were remotely accurate with the depths we were encountering. It was the amazing colours of the water that grabbed our attention, though, ranging from jade to turquoise to a deep blue, but the depths stayed consistent. Along the way we also passed a few floating fishing villages, or so we thought, but later realised they were associated with the fishing villages ashore, used to store all the fishing gear, unlike Indonesia where the fishermen lived afloat.
By 1230 we’d made our way through to the eastern side of the waterway, where we discovered a beautiful white sandy beach marking the entrance and scattered with coconut palms. It didn’t take long for us to don our swimwear and head over to enjoy a swim and this stunning beach which we had all to ourselves. The only other sign of life were the various creatures we disturbed, obviously taking up residency when the tourists disappeared. We did, however, have one mishap with a few of the dwellers that were clearly not happy with our invasion; large red ants that attacked Roy when he went to tie up the dinghy to a nearby tree. A quick dash into the sea sorted out that problem, but seems to have fried his Apple watch, which was supposed to be waterproof. Guess we’ll be taking another trip to an Apple store soon!
After our frolic in the very warm Andaman Sea, we returned to Paw Paw, rinsed off, got dressed and headed to the little village on Koh Yao Yai in search of Daeng Paradise Food, reported to have the best Thai food in Thailand and we can definitely vouch for that. It was absolutely scrumptious, but what made the outing extra special was the joy on the owners face when he saw Roy approaching his restaurant and then having to dash out to buy a pineapple for our pineapple fried rice, one of the dishes we ordered, as well as to get change when Roy handed him a TBH500 note. He, of course, was over the moon too, with the hefty tip that Roy left for his troubles and fabulous service.
Elaine, on the other hand, decided to wait in the dinghy, primarily because we weren’t sure whether or not the restaurant was still in existence, given so many deserted establishments we’ve seen on various islands thus far. While she waited in the cool breeze and under the shade of her umbrella, she watched the beautifully adorned “longtails” ferrying people and goods back and forth and answered the curious questions of a few brave enough to speak to her. What she wasn’t expecting was Roy returning on the back of a motorbike; the owner of the restaurant had offered him a ride back to Elaine and the dinghy, tied towards the end of the very long pier.
Clearly we were the first tourists this village has seen in a very long time and were delighted to interact with us.
Back onboard we enjoyed our takeaway meal before settling down in the cockpit to while away what little was left of our day.
By then it was time for Roy to meet Derek, the Grand Ao Po marina manager and a fellow South African, who had offered to take Roy back to the engineering shop to collect our new contraption.
When Roy returned we were both relieved and delighted that an exact replica had been made and it fitted perfectly, all for the price of $60USD, together with a huge dollop of kindness and helpfulness from Derek, something we are truly appreciative of.
Afterwards we dinghied back to the marina to enjoy a delicious lunch at the Port of Call restaurant, but forgot to take photographs of our main courses as usual, before returning to Paw Paw to complete the installation, clean up the mess and re-stow everything. Sweating profusely in the heat and humidity, we eventually got Paw Paw put back together again just in time for sundowners and for Roy to enjoy a chat to Craig, off Il Sogno. After a light dinner and cooling off on the foredeck under the starry night sky, with the Southern Cross clearly visible again, we retired to Elaine’s cabin to watch a movie.
This morning, Roy once again combined his exercise walk with a trip to the closest shop for bread and eggs; there’s always something we forget, following which we returned to the Port of Call restaurant for a morning coffee, bid farewell to Derek, dropped off our garbage and weighed anchor; our destination, Koh Phanak and what beautiful scenery awaited us. The Ao Phang Nga National Park is really quite spectacular and we were delighted to eventually visit it.
Unfortunately, en route, Roy noticed that our helmstation roof had shifted slightly and was leaning towards the stern; the downside of a haulout! So, while he readjusted and tightened everything down, after using the boom to lift the roof and reposition it, Elaine enjoyed a swim off the back of Paw Paw; something she’d been dying to do for a number of days now. However, she’d no sooner dried herself off and was in the middle of helping Roy fasten some nuts and bolts, when we received a visit from the extremely polite park rangers, apologising profusely, but informing us that the National Park was still closed and we were not permitted to stay. They were kind enough, though, to allow us the time to finish our repairs and pointed out an alternative anchorage a short distance away which we could use instead. With that, we ended up in Chong Koh Yao, somewhere we had planned on visiting anyway, but it was a real shame that the park was still closed because we were so looking forward to exploring the “hongs” there; something to look forward to in the not too distant future, hopefully!
In an attempt to orientate ourselves in all the commotion, while Elaine disabled the wind alarm and undertook a scan of the anchorage to be sure we were still positioned as expected relative to the other yachts, Roy checked both engine compartments, only to find them dry. Earlier in the evening he’d also checked the port bilge when he emptied the water container of the port air-conditioner. That left the starboard bilge, but discovering a considerable volume of saltwater sloshing around was not what we expected or indeed what any cruiser wants.
Hauling out all our stowed provisions, checking the depth sensor and the other throughhulls didn’t reveal any clues as to where the water was coming from and, once everything was mopped up, it remained dry. Baffled, but somewhat relieved, we returned to our beds.
An inspection this morning revealed that the bilge was still dry, but we decided, nonetheless, that another change to our itinerary was required, to allow us to troubleshoot the issue in a more protected anchorage and without the worry of unpredicted thunderstorms and numerous unoccupied yachts swinging in all directions.
With that, we set off and by 1100 we were anchored once more in the calm anchorage of Koh Nahka Yai; this anchorage was becoming similar to that of Hope Town in the Bahamas for us; a refuge! Unfortunately, though, another inspection of the starboard bilge en route revealed more saltwater and the possibility of the starboard air-conditioner throughhull being the culprit. However, after more mopping up, by the time we were anchored, the throughhull area and the bilge had remained dry.
Completely baffled Roy eventually spotted a small trickle running down the side of the hull from a point above the waterline. That indicated that the only explanation had to be related to the generator somehow, given that we’d run it briefly this morning before weighing anchor. It didn’t take long to confirm we were on the right track, when we also discovered water everywhere under the saloon bunks.
So, after unpacking everything, a large corroded hole was found in the stainless steel piping contraption which connects the raw water intake to the generator through the bulkhead.
It was at this point, we both happened to look out of the saloon windows for the first time in nearly an hour, only to see white caps and a rather large swell rolling into our “calm” anchorage. We were so engrossed in finding the source of this leak, we hadn’t noticed the wind shift and change in weather conditions which were definitely not forecast; we now had winds out of the south, instead of the southwest.
So, weigh anchor again and head to the anchorage off Grand Ao Po marina in the hope of getting a little more protection and to find somewhere to get a new stainless steel contraption made or, at least, get the existing one repaired.
By this point it was 1400, Elaine was exhausted and in desperate need of a nap, so Roy set off in the dinghy in search of help. To his surprise and delight he found the marina manager, Derek, who, not only offered us the use of the dinghy dock, the restaurant and the office staff to arrange a hired car for us, as needed, but he drove Roy to a nearby engineering shop, where it was agreed a new fitting could be made, ready for collection at 1000 tomorrow, following which Derek finalised arrangements with Roy to collect it.
Elaine was in such a deep sleep, she didn’t hear Roy return, but surfaced briefly to hear the good news before returning to her slumber, following which Roy went for a walk on the beach.
Dinner in the cockpit, then cooling off on the foredeck in the night breeze, with the crescent moon setting in the west and seeing the Southern Cross again for the first time in a very long time, hanging low in the night sky, was a peaceful end to an otherwise stressful and hectic day, although we were both extremely grateful that we’d found the problem and had a solution.
