New Years

The first day of 2012 was very unremarkable in that it rained/drizzled all day. It was a good day to sort out my charts, do passage planning, prepare for the adventures in the New Year and update the blog.

The following day I headed slowly north under motor and sails – there not being much wind. I passed Ko Pethra and saw fish farms or yacht traps for the unwary sailor. I arrived at the southern end of Ko Kradan and picked up a mooring buoy, another quaint little island.

Ko Kraden with Ko Mouk in the background

 Paradise islands – have a gander at the following blog for beach holiday destinations:

http://tezzasthaiinfo.blogspot.com/ This was given to me by Luca and family from Tasmania staying on Ko Kraden.

After spending two very pleasant nights at Ko Kraden I headed for Ko Mouk an hours sail away when the winds picked up and the boat started to roll around again. There is not much shelter at Ko Kraden from the North easterly monsoon winds.

Ko Mouk beach

 At Ko Mouk I met up with Ron, Juliet and family on Que Pasa.

Sadiqi and Que Pasa at Ko Mouk

Rubber Tree Ko Mouk

I decided on a night sail to Phuket – there being more wind at night, generally, in the north easterly monsoon. I hauled anchor with the new anchor windlass at 20.00, hoisted the the sails and headed north west to Phuket – some 60 miles away. Out of the wind shadow of Ko Mouk the winds soon picked up to 15 knots from the north east – right on the beam - just how Sadiqi likes it. The wind varied between 10 and 20 knots all night. In between avoiding the Thai fishing trawlers and brightly lit squid boats at anchor I managed to snatch a bit of sleep. Back to the setting the alarm for 20 or 30 minutes depending in the number of fishing boats around. The moon was just over half with the vast canopy of stars on a crystal clear night. There was just the noise of the wind, the water rushing and burbling against the hull. An hour or so before sunrise the moon set making the stars even brighter against the black back drop. I Dropped anchor at Ban Nit in Ao Chalong bay at 07.30. Average boat speed over 11.5 hours for a distance of 60 miles – over 5 knots. It was a very good sail.