Ko Tarutao - Life's a Beach

Ko Tarutao

 Ko Tarutao is still my favourite Thai island so far. It’s big, there are not many people and there are no commercial hotels, shops etc. The beach at Ao Talo Malaka is about a kilometre long and at low tide twice that when you can walk past the rocks. The facilities are run by the Thai National Parks and consist of chalets, dormitories and camp ground.

Life's a Beach

One day I ventured ashore to do my laundry in the camp ground facilities. Not being far from the shore I did not use the outboard motor. I had noticed the shore break. A lesson in familiarity and contempt. On returning to the dingy having showered and with a bucket of clean laundry I watch one set come through, thinking that was it and pushed the dingy out. I started rowing when one wave slapped the dingy and dumped salt water into the bucket of laundry. The next, larger wave, tipped the dingy up. The dingy went east, I went west and the laundry and bucket went south! To add injury to insult the anchor tied to the dingy gave my ankle a good tap as it was dragged to the shore by the dingy. Fortunately, I did not have a camera or mobile phone on me at the time.  I recovered most of the salty laundry and trudged back to the showers passing some Thais clearing the beach, who were very amused. The second attempt at getting back to the boat was far dryer and more successful.

Sunset over the Butangs from Ko Tarutao

 The Tarutao anchorage is not the most sheltered and the swell curves around the north of the island making the anchorage very rolly and sometime unpleasant. On New Years eve just such an event started to happen again. I decided to head to the more sheltered waters of Ko Bulan nearer the mainland. It was indeed very sheltered with only one other yacht there and the Thai squid fisherman. I retired early and was awoken at midnight thinking I was under attack only to realise the Thais were setting off fireworks to see the new year in.

Christmas at Ko Adang

 Sadiqi arrived at Ko Adang (part of the Butang group of islands) on Christmas Eve and dropped anchor near “Katrine”. Don and Jean (ex South Africans) own Sailor Foods on Langkawi – providing great pies, sausage rolls, meat, bread etc to the sailing folk. Also on board was their son, Greg, his wife, Ann and grandson, Rayson. They insisted I had dinner with them of the Spanish Mackerel that Rayson had caught on the way over from Langkawi.

Christmas morning I watched as Rayson tried to paddle against the strong tidal current and barely succeeding. Being a bright lad he paddled toward the shore to get out of the current then back to “Katrine”. Having petrol for the outboard is handy – oops. I had put my outboard on the dingy and was ready to rescue if needed. There was a fairly sombre mood on “Katrine” when I arrived. After wishing everyone a merry Christmas Don announced to me, between expletives, that one of the toilets was blocked. No wonder the sombre mood. This rather unpleasant job was soon accomplished and all was well and festive onboard “Katrine”, even more so after a hearty breakfast of bacon steaks, egg and coffee.

We gathered on the beach claiming a good spot under the trees to have Christmas lunch. The noisy longtails started to arrive soon afterwards with their snorkelling/scub diving tourists.

 

Xmas at Ko Adang

 We had an exceptional lunch of steak, sausages, prawns, vegetable salads and fruit salads. In the evening we sat around the beach bonfire enjoying the peace and serenity. A great day.

Greg, Ann, Jean and Rayson

Beach Bonfire

“Katrine” left early the following morning for Phuket. I decided to head for a more sheltered anchorage as the wind had increased and was going against the current making it very unpleasant on the boat. Heading west I soon noticed “Katrine” had turned around and was heading in the same direction as I was. The conditions were quite rough outside the shelter of the islands as I was soon to find out. The further west I went the more the conditions, wind and swell, deteriorated. I think I must have gotten soft not having been sailing for so long. I had to anchor or pick up a mooring somewhere to get the outboard motor off the back of the dingy, preferably in fairly quiet waters. This was eventually done in a not so sheltered anchorage on the north west of Ko Rawi. I decided to head around Ko Rawi and back to Ko Lipe. It was a great beat to windward  in 20 to 25 knots. The new windlass got baptised repeatedly, as on occasion the bow was submerged followed by green water washing down the decks.

The other problem I had noticed when hauling the anchor with the new windlass is that a section of the chain had worn almost halfway through. This does not make for a very good nights sleep while on achor. In the shelter of Adang I drifted and cut the worn length of chain off and reattached the Fisherman/Admiralty anchor. I headed for Sunset beach, Ko Lipe and dropped anchor.

The following day I went ashore and visited Mr Man in the refurbished Boom Boom bar and met up with friends. I can only hope that, somehow, Ko Lipe will manage to retain it’s quaint, laidback mystique.

Boom Boom Bar, Ko Lipe

Depart Telaga, Langkawi on Saturday December 24 for The Butangs

Good bye Telaga, Langkawi - for now

Hiking the mountain

Walking up the mountain Guning Mat CinCang with Rayson, Graham and Sue "Chandrika". This was one hell of a long steep hike. It made the hike up the Cable Car 2,000 feet seem, almost, like a walk in the park.

Guning Mat CinCang Summit

Provisioning the boat - food

The following boat provisioning list is a work in progress. This is a rough guide for feeding one person for one week, one month and three months. The next trick, of course, is trying to fit all the food on a 30 foot boat, then find it again when the need arises.

Sadiqi one person
Item                Amount Per Week x 4 Weeks  x  8 Weeks  
Pasta (several types)      250 g       1 kg       2 kgs
Rice brown/white           500 g       2 kgs      4 kgs
Rice and Egg Noodles       100 g     400 g        1 kg
Noodles 2 minute           200 g     800 g        2 kg
Powdered Potatoe instant   100 g     400 g        1 kg
Milk  Powder               100 g     400 g        1 kg
Milk UHT                   500 ml      2 lts      4 lts
Wheat Flour                500 g       2 kg       4 kgs
Corn Flour                  -          -          1 kg
Baking Yeast                -         50 g        100 g
Baking Soda (Bicarb)        -          -          1 small box
Baking Powder               -          -          1 Tin
Soya Mince (TVP)           100 g     400 g        1 kg
Mung Beans sprouts         250 g       1 kg       2 kgs
Red Beans                  250 g       1 kg       2 kgs
Nuts                       250 g       1 kg       2 kgs
Raisins/Saltanas           250 g       1 kg       2 kgs
Cocoa Powder                -          -        500 g
Coffee                      -        500 g        1 kg
Tea                         -        100 g      200 g
Sugar Brown                100 g     400 g        1 kg
Sugar White                250 g       1 kg       2 kgs
Tinned Pork                 -          2 Tin      4 Tins
Tinned Tuna                1 Tin       4 Tins     8 Tins
Tinned Corn                0.5 Tin     2 Tin      4 Tins
Tinned Peas                0.5 Tin     2 Tin      4 Tins
Tinned Fruit                -          -          4 Tins
Tinned Baked Beans          -          -          6 Tins
Tinned Mushrooms            -          -          2 Tins
Wheat Crackers             250 g       1 kg       2 kgs
Jams/Marmalade              -          -          2 jars
Vegemite                    -          -        400 g
Olive Oil                   -          -          2 lts
Cooking Oil                 -          -          2 lts
Sauce Soy                   -          -          1 lt
Tomato paste               1 Tin       4 Tins     8 Tins
Sauce Tomatoe               -          -          1 lt
Mustard                     -          -          1 jar
Curry powder                -          -        250 g
Curry paste (Thai)         2 pkt       8 pkts    16 pkts
Coconut milk powder        2 pkt       8 pkts    16 pkts
Chutney/Pickle              -          -          2 jars
Popcorn                     -          -          1 kg
Dried Mushrooms             -          -        500 g
Parmesan Cheese             -          -        250 g
Tofu in UHT boxes           -          -          4 boxes
Cereal weetbix Bran         -          -          2 boxes
Oats (quick)               100 g     400 g        1 kg

Butter                      -          -          4 tins
Cheese                     100 g     400 g        1 kg
Eggs                       3          12          -
Cabbage                     -          1          -
Permelo                    1           4
Onions                     4          16
Potatoes                   2           8
Pumkin                     -           1
Ginger fresh               -           2
Garlic                     -           6

This list has been gleaned from books, info on the internet and my personal experience and preferences so far. While near marinas or ports it is quite often cheaper to eat the local food, in South East Asia anyway, than it is to buy, cart, cook, eat and cleanup. When in places like Cocos Keeling Island and the islands off Sumatra it pays to have extra provisions.

Preparations for the sailing adventures in 2012.

Installing a new anchor windlass. Lofrans Royal manual.

Windlass

 Maintenance jobs - fixing boat in exotic places.

Installing wheels on the dingy to protect it when dragging it ashore.

Getting fuel, water, and provisions etc etc . . . . . .