Entering Thailand

27^th April 2011

We checked out of Rebak Island Resort Marina on 22^nd April and sailed up to Talaga on a high tide. In Talaga we anchored near our friends Paul and Tracy on “Cockatoo II”, the next few days were spent getting the two yachts and everything ready for the sail up to Phuket, Thailand. “Cockatoo II” were also taking on their two friends David and Vicki they had met in Adelaide, that were keen to sail up to Thailand with them on “Cockatoo II”. 

Leaving Datai Bay, Langkawi

Our first leg was only a two hour passage, taking us over the border and into a bay We are now anchored in Ao Chalong, Phuket, Thailand N 07 49.415 E098 21.340

Hin Daeng

The passage up from Langkawi took us eight days, we only did short hops and enjoyed some lovely quiet anchorages. Our first anchorage was at Hin Daeng N06 39.9 E099 41.3, we then had one night at Ko Bulon Le N06 49.8 E099 32.7. Our next stop was at Ko Talibong N07 12.24 E099 23.5, all of these anchorages were in 6M to 8M of water.

We were not alone

Ko Bulon

Have Men,,,,,,,,,,, Can move boat

Next we made for Ko Ngai where we found a lovely long white beach and a number of basic resorts that provided good food at a very realistic price. We anchored at Ko Ngai for two nights and our position was N07 24.686 E099 12.772. 

A spare motor, transmission, shaft and prop for a Longtail Boat.

Many of these are Turbo charged 4cyl engines out of late model cars

Those deck chairs look okay

We then made for Phi Phi Le all the moorings were taken so we dropped 65M of chain in 25M of water. Phi Phi Le is well photographed, small but well known island just SW of Phi Phi Don N07 43.907 E098 46.907 where we anchored for three nights. 

Phi Phi Le

Lot's of tourists looking at a locals cave house

 Although very pretty, we found Phi Phi to be very busy with tourists and speed boats taking tourists diving and site seeing, this made our anchorage quite uncomfortable. We had a chat wih the guy’s on “Cockatoo II” and decided to move on to Phuket as soon as the weather allowed, however the approaching Sumatra storm did not look like it would provide the weather we were looking for. An hour after Mark had called his Mum for Mother’s Day, the weather improved and we were off. We started with two reefs in the mainsail, but before long had everything we could find up. We averaged 6kts and showed a maximum of 8.2kts, it was the best sail we had experienced for a long time and put us in the Ao Chalong anchorage in time for afternoon tea. 

The procedure to check in with Immigration, Customs and the Harbour Master was by far the easiest yet. All three are in the same building, were very helpful and there was no charge.

  

On Tuesday we shared a Tuk Tuk (baby Taxi) with Paul and Tracy on “Cockatoo II”, for the afternoon. The driver took us into Phuket City, a large shopping centre and the total cost for the six hours was 600 Bart (AUD$20). We then had a beautiful Thai evening meal, quite a few German beers and apple crumble for desert and that cost the four of us 1400 Bart (AUD$45). Brunch usually costs the four of us about 750 Bart (AUD$24) and to get our laundry done is about 35 Bart (AUD$1) per Kg. I think we will enjoy Thailand! During the next few days we will be looking for a local stainless steel fabricator, Shipwright and a chandlery.

A flying visit back to Perth

 1^st March 2011

It was time to fly home from Langkawi

Leaving Rebak Island Resort Marina, Langkawi on the free
water taxi and heading for Langkawi airport 

Four weeks after we arrived in Langkawi we were on a plane, heading home to Western Australia for a month. Catcha Star was all tucked away in pen A22 at the 5 star marina resort Rebak Island Marina. We felt the cost was cheap insurance considering most of what we possessed was on our yacht.  

Cathy gets a free blow-dry on the water taxi

Kuala Lumpur was different to what Mark had expected, there is still a lot of older buildings and he had expected a far more modern city like the new parts of Singapore. Saying that, some of the new buildings in K.L. are of quite spectacular architecture. One of our favorite places was the Twin towers.

Petronas Twin Towers K.L
If you’re travelling to Kuala Lumpur, be sure to add a visit to the Kuala Lumpur Petronas Twin Towers to your itinerary. The Twin Towers—as they’re known locally—are one of the tallest buildings in the world. A unique aspect of the Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers is that its design is influenced by the geometric principles unique to Islamic architecture, we are sure that the young at heart will like us enjoy a visit to the Science Discovery Centre on the third floor. Also, the Hop On – Hop Off Double Decker bus is a great way to see the city. 

Go Girl - Go!

                         A complete circuit of K.L. with time at a few key attractions will take up a full day.

We had a fun two nights in K.L. shopped till we dropped and then took the Star transfer coach to the International Airport, for our flight to Perth. Mark’s Son Chris kindly picked us up and took us to Garry’s work where our car was waiting for us. Garry’s Dad had spent a lot of time detailing the whole car for us, it looked and smelt like new. We then drove up to Cathy’s Dad’s in Woroloo, after an hour Chris and Mark excused themselves and left Cathy to catch up with all the family stuff.

The first two weeks were spent in Perth, catching up with doctors, accountants, doing some business and most importantly sailing with our lovely friends Vince and Denise. We set sail from Fremantle Sailing Club on “Anki II” and headed for Rockingham. It was Labour Day long weekend and although we had not told many of our club mates, we were quietly hoping to see a few of them on the water that weekend. 

We were not disappointed and many of them were doing a double take when they saw us. Cathy’s birthday (BIG 50) was only a few days away, and the celebrations were not holding back, thank you so much to Vince and Denise for making the weekend so perfect. For Cathy's birthday we went to lunch at Cottesloe and we then had a wander through the art display on the beach. While in the Tea Rooms Cathy took a call from an old friend, she had worked for many years with Brendon. He had read on her Facebook that we were back in Perth, he was only a few minutes away and came for a chat. Many years ago we took Brendon out for a sail, he still had the sailing bug and was green with envy by the time we had told him about our voyage so far. 

The annual Cottesloe Beach Sculpture display always has some interesting displays 

Cathy’s Mum had flown in from England, and would be staying with us at Cathy’s sister Jill’s home. We then drove down to Denmark to see Mark’s parents and sister Ruth. While there we did some business and had a great time just catching up. Cathy’s Mum came on down a few days later and also stayed with us at Mark’s parents. 

While back in 

After seven days it was time to head back to Perth for another week, and to help celebrate Mike Jackson’s 40^th. This was another event where many of our friends were not expecting to see us. There were many surprised faces, we’re sure that a lot more of our friends are now planning to go sailing after hearing about some of our adventures. Time was slipping away, so off we went back down to Denmark for another few days of tranquillity, the pace is so much slower in the Greater South West and there is always something special about being pampered by Mum and Dad.

Denmark

Believe it or not the water was 23 degrees Celsius in Denmark

One of Albany's local fishing boats

The last few days in Perth were also very special, we stayed at Mark’s mate Punny’s home one night and caught up on all the latest motorsport news, this is an essential thing and needs to be done. It was great to catch up with you both Punny. Our last visit was with our dear friends Garry and Lisa, also yachties and for the moment retired cruiser’s. Garry and Lisa lost their yacht “Biscayne Bay” in the American Samoa’n tsunami and are now breading horses in the Perth hills. We had a wonderful night with them, catching up on all their news and having the privilege of staying on their new property, they had only just moved into………. Moving house is one thing, can you imagine moving farms?

Sadly we did not have enough time to see all of our friends and a lot of the friends we missed seeing are Cruiser's that were also back in Perth for a visit. Bjorn and Christina on "Mischief" had flown in from Malta, Gus and Gabby on "Pampero" from QLD Ralph and Lynne on "Yandanookat" were about to sail to Bali.

We had stayed at Jill’s something like twenty four nights while in Perth, and only ate there twice. Sorry we missed you guy's, but thanks for passing on all the information on Thailand and good fair winds to all our friends sailing in the Bali Rally. We are so lucky to have such great friends and family, so understanding about just how hectic our visit back home was…….Thank you, we love you all.   

More time in Langkawi

27^th March 2011

Cathy's new best friend

It was still dark when our Air Asia flight took off fro Perth, we were back in Kuala Lumpur for lunch time. We had two nights in K.L. before returning to “Catcha Star” in Langkawi.

You can buy almost anything at the local shopping centre in K.L.

Yes that is a BMW, no that is not an Alfa Romeo........ It's a local Malaysian built Proton

 “Catcha Star” was in fine shape when we returned, which gave us the next ten days to relax and reflect on everything we had seen and done while away. Mark had also secured a deal with Ben Lexcen Marine’s new owner, this was the brokerage Mark worked with for eight years until 2009. This deal meant that we now had a solid office base and dedicated people back in Australia, we could now concentrate on developing a similar base in SE Asia.

Relaxing and reflecting

Rebak Island Resort Marina

The day after we originally arrived in Langkawi from Penang was Australia Day, we were ready to celebrated on our own when we met Steve, Sue and Billy the dog on "Tropical Fever" at the Pregnant Maiden Lake. Steve and Sue are an English couple that have been living in Thailand for nearly 15 years. When they realised why we were flying all our Australian flags, they insisted we join them on "Tropical fever" to celebrate the occasion. It was while on board "Tropical Fever" that we met Albert and Beth off "Sunflower". Al and Beth are a wealth of knowledge, having set sail from the USA in the mid 70's after building their yacht "Sunflower" 

Pregnant Maidens fresh water lake

Australia Day

In The Fjords with the motor cruiser "Tropical Fever" and S.V "Sunflower"  

We had become very fond of and comfortable in Langkawi before we went back to Australia in March. The four weeks after we returned were no different, we can really appreciate why so many cruising yachties make Langkawi their home for an extended period. Almost everything is available (even Vegemite and Hot English mustard) and it is all TAX free. The scenery is quite special and in most cases the whole area is relatively clean. The locals and their Government could not be more friendly and are always very helpful.

We first met Florence and Linda on "Serefin" back in Indonesia,
It was great to catch up with them again in Langkawi.

"Serefin" in Talaga 

We are excited about going to Thailand, but know we will be back to stay in Langkawi again soon. There is just so much to see and do in Langkawi.

"Catcha Star" Anchored in Datai Bay

We met Samantha (from Canada/ working in London) at the Andaman Resorts Happy Hour.
Sam sailed back to Talaga with us and has stayed in contact since.

The Andaman Holiday Resort, Datai bay, Langkawi

Datai Bay from Datai Resort

Warung (Cafe) built on the water near Tanjung Ruh

Crocodile Cave, about half way between Tanjung Ruh and Hole in the Wall 

Hole in the Wall, an alternative place to more your yacht and a lot cheaper than the marinas

Talaga, as seen from the chair lift

The suspended walkway bridge at the top of the chairlift

We even get motorsport in Langkawi

The Langkawi Markets are always busy and good fun

Great food too

Talaga Harbour, Langkawi

Talaga Harbour

In the Oriental Village they have trained the fish to clean your feet, for a price.

Chinese New year came to Talaga Harbour and was celebrated with free Sangria at the Tapaz Bar

Most of the resorts are very welcoming and the Happy Hours are great fun