Friday, April 24, 2009

Heading back South.

Current Position at Koh Phi Phi Don Island: North 07*43'514 East 098*46'239

After a hectic few weeks of exploring Phuket island in more detail on our 'Pink' rented moped and a sail up to James Bond island in Phang Nga Bay we finally checked out of Thailand in Ao Chalong bay on Monday (also Jimmy's Birthday) and are heading back south to Langkawi in Malaysia. We've been in Thailand for over two months now and instead of spending over $100 to renew our visa for another month we decided to slowly make our way back south stopping at our favorite islands on the way and some that we missed on our trip up.

Jimmy was very unhappy with the fact that it appears the whole Thai fishing fleet is here in Ton Sai Bay sheltering from the rough seas and have taken up all the best anchor spots. We had no choice but to drop ours out the back of the bay in 70ft of water as getting close to 14 huge wooden boats rafted together, a record so far, wasn't a good option ... (an electric anchor winch becomes more appealing every day!!)

April marks the change of the seasons here and we're starting to get some squally weather and a lot more wind and swell from the West. The temperature has continued to increase which has been unbearable at times, especially when trying to sleep at night with just a tiny fan moving the warm air around - making breathing a little easier. With highs around 40*C we break out in a heavy sweat doing the simplest of things and have to lather up in sunscreen before heading ashore so as not to get completely fried. It's not all bad though and on our trip from Phuket to here we were able to sail down wind the whole way which is a first for us here in Thailand and great to save on some fuel...finally the wind seems to be in our favour!

We plan to spend a couple more days here enjoying our last really touristy anchorage with all the back packer bars and restaurants and what could be the last of the clear water that we'll see until we're back up this way in October.

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