The 6th of July came and went, I had a lovely birthday with lot’s of wishes from friends all over the globe. A group of Australian’s that are currently in Phuket joined me for a lovely dinner at the Winch restaurant at Boat Lagoon Marina, we had a ball. Ley from “Crystal Blues” that we had met in One Degree Fifteen Marina, Singapore was in Phuket and joined us for a few hours before she flew back to Singapore that night. Errol Robins and his Skipper Brad were in town after purchasing another yacht and getting Her ready for sailing back to Fremantle and we also had our regular cruising friends Peter and Lyn off “Mandella II” and of coarse Paul and Tracy off “Cockatoo II”. It was a great night and we all enjoyed some real Australian tails of the high seas.
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| Catcha Star stripped of all her deck equipment, getting ready for a new coat of paint |
The work on Catcha Star’s interior timberwork is progressing nicely, Marley and his team from Yachts Repair Co have done a fantastic job. We have now made a decision on who will repaint the outside of our yacht. Oh and his team from Oh Services will be rubbing back the complete hull and then applying something like ten coats of Awlgrip’s best paint. This will be done on the hard stand at Royal Phuket Marina (RPM), we have booked the boat lift for 1000 on Saturday 30th July. Oh's guys have already stripped most of the equipment off the deck, with no winches, halyards or sheets we will have to steam down to RPM from here at yacht Haven Marina. We will have also have to do without any stanchions, safety lines and pulpit. The plan is for Marley to complete the interior by Saturday 23rd July, we will then have a week to make “Catcha Star” ready for the two hour run down to RPM where She will be out of the water for over two months.
We have managed to hire an aged Honda CRV for $12 a day and will move into a cheaper apartment next door to RPM, in the Boat Lagoon Marina resort. The hotel apartment we are currently staying at Yacht Haven Marina are only $22 a night, at Boat Lagoon they are just as nice and cost about $15 a night. As well as the cost saving, it will save us a thirty minute drive every day from one marina too the other.
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| The Honda CRV with the Yacht Haven Marina apartments opposite |
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The view of Yacht Haven Marina from our room,
Catcha Star is the second yacht in on the left side of the main jetty |
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| Room with a view |
While in the local general store near Yacht Haven Marina one day, we met a lovely guy called Matt. We asked Matt if he knew of anyone in the area that would teach us Thai. He responded with great enthusiasm and in very clear English that he was a teacher and would like to teach us. He offered us one hour for four nights a week, completely free of charge. Saying that he needed to polish up his English and this would help him as well as help us. It turned out that the general store was his Mum’s and dad had passed away only a few months before. Matt is 42 yrs old has a son aged 16 and a daughter aged 12.
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| Matt and his daughter Varna |
These days Matt’s work involved supervising building and construction sites, among many other things he appeared to be good at. He had never been to an English speaking country and gained his university degree from home using the internet. One evening we asked him where we could find a local Post Office. He ask why, don’t you have Email? After three weeks we all had brain strain and a far better understanding of the Thai language, we can now communicate in basic sentences with the locals and count, the locals usually laugh at the way we pronounce words, but in most cases they understand what we are trying to say. Learning to speak Thai has been a huge help when dealing with the local trades people.
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| Matt's sister, her friend who is chef at Ao Po Grand Marina restaurant and Matt's son |
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| Matt's Sister Ree and her friend One |
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Peter and Lyn
Afternoon tea is always filled with interesting nibbles and great company on "Madella II" |
Our friends Errol, Brad and David are about to set sail, heading back to Fremantle on Errol’s recently purchased Nauticat 44 “CG”. It has been great to catch up with them while they were here in Phuket.
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| Errol's Nauticat 44 "CG" ready for Her voyage to Fremantle. |
We also had a surprise visit from Mark’s old mate Shane. He and his partner Rachael were in Phuket for their first time, having a holiday. Having the little Honda CRV enabled us to take them too a few interesting places around the island, one of which was the Big Budda. Among many other interesting places we found a lovely orchid farm, a village with eople that peak perfect broken English and the place where dogs rest.
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| Oh the elephants |
While driving up the hill to see the Big Budda we stopped to have a look at the elephants. Right then we had a call from our dear friends in Perth,Vince and Denise. Fingers crossed they will also come and join us in Thailand soon.
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| They began building the "Big Budda" in 2007 |
Following a good dose of Bud-ism, we headed back down the hill for lunch near Ao Chalong.
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| Ao Chalong from the top of the hill. |
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| Ao Chalong, where we first anchored on arriving in Phuket |
I guess if you come to Phuket you haven't seen it all until you see Patong at night, so we took Shane and Rachael for a look at life on the wild side of Phuket.
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| Patong at night - Where the beautiful girls are probably guy's and the guy's,,,,,,,,,,, well who knows? |
