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Firefly - First Days in Thailand



Firefly entered Thai waters 5 days ago and anchored at Ko Lipe, the southern most Thai Island on the west coast.

Unlike all of the west coast of Malaysia, although its only 25 miles away, Ko Lipe has crystal clear waters. No sooner we were anchored, we were over the side, cooling down and snorkeling for the first time since we were in Indonesia. Looking at the boat in Reebak Marina before we left it had appeared as though we had a fair bit of growth on the hull. Once in the water it was clearly the worst it has been for some time and after a brief period looking at fish and coral we were snorkeling equipment under the boat, each with a sponge.

As we were settling down a breeze appeared from the north east, the direction of the current monsoon, and we presumed correctly that it was set for the night. What we had not reckoned with was the swell coming round the headland and entering the Ko Lipe anchorage. Our first night out cruising in 2016 was therefore a rolly affair although it was cooler for the breeze and free from Reebak Marina's plague of mosquitos. The following morning Paul had a successful 'recky' ashore coming back with cash and a data SIM card meaning that we were once again connected to the rest of the world.

We were just about to up anchor when a familiar boat, Evergreen, a double ender from the USA came into view and anchored nearby. We had last seen Jon and Heather when they helped us get our bags onto the coach as we headed home to England. In the meantime they had done a whirlwind tour of the west coast of Thailand and with a dramatic change of plans were shipping their boat to the Med in a few weeks time. Jon went on the explain that they did not really enjoy Thailand as it is so busy with tourists and that as you get closer to Phuket, timing is really important! Over lunch in Firefly's cockpit we listened to all of their reports with great interest but did not really believe there could really be 'that' many tourist boats!

After leaving Evergreen we headed out to the eastern most point of the Butang Islands and found a lovely calm spot where we finished scrubbing Firefly's hull. Up early the next day we clocked about 40 miles reaching Koh Rok Nok and took one of the many moorings between there and Koh Rok Nai. The north east breeze had been up to 15 knots on the beam on departure and we therefore managed to sail the first 20 miles before it faded to nothing. Several other yachts and a few fast tourist boats shared the many delightful bays of Nok and Nai and the snorkeling was excellent.

Stopping the enxt day at Ko Ha Yai we swam under what is called the floating island and on the reef by the main island we spotted a couple of small black tip sharks amongst the relatively plentiful sea life. Resuming sailing, this time with the gennaker we sailed most of the way onto Koh Phi Phi Le a total distance of about 35 miles for the day. Koh Phi Phi Le was the island used for filming the movie 'The Beach' and as it is both stunning and quite close to Phuket it was completely overrun. As we approached the fastest boats were the numerous power launches, about 40 feet long with several very large out board engines and carrying about 20 to 30 passengers. Traveling between the island 'hotspots' these were moving at over 30 knots and in order to get into Koh Samah we had to stop and let a line of 5 of them go by.

There were many longer displacement pleasure craft carrying larger numbers of passengers but the most numerous type was the traditional 'Longtail' and these were literally everywhere. The Longtail is an interesting combination of the traditional wooden fishing boat, but also capable of planing speeds of about 15 to 20 knots. On the tall bow of the varnished wooden craft they tie a good luck charm that looks like a winter scarf and in the middle there is seating for about six with an awning. At the back of the boat, the tail is the combination of rudder and engine. The petrol engine appears to come straight out of a scrapped car and sits up on the tail next to the driver. The propeller shaft is welded to the flywheel and waving around there are numerous fuel and cooling pipes that would normally be housed under the car bonnet. Incredibly noisy as there are no silencers but sounding surprisingly similar to a 'Ford Focus' they are literally everywhere.

So Jon and Heather had not over exaggerated after all! Attached to a mooring in Koh Samah, Firefly was bucking around in the confused wash so much so that cups of tea needed to be held in place and the rudder tied off to stop it slamming. The plan had been to dinghy around to Hong Pileh but that was abandoned until early the next morning before all the boats would arrive again. Instead we went 'mad' and motored around to Maya Bay, the actual setting for Leonardo Di Caprio's camp on the beach and picked up another free mooring with a few other yachts - tucked away from most of the chaos that 200 or so pleasure boats and thousands of tourists can bring. As it approached dark they started leaving and they had all departed by the time we sat in the cockpit for dinner, enjoying the peace.

Up early this morning, Saturday 16th January we took the dinghy to Hong Pileh and just managed to get in as the tide was low. We had the long fjord like bay to ourselves apart from one local fishing boat - timing really is everything! Probably most spectacular from the air this bay has sheer limestone sides and we swam in the deep blue lagoon at its far end. As we left the bay the Longtails were arriving at the entrance, anchoring and waiting for the tide. Going back to Firefly we plotted a course away from Koh Phi Phi Le to its near neighbour Don where we would spend the day before heading into Phuket to complete our formalities with Thai Customs and Immigration.

Paul and Susie

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