Day 15 A sailing we shall go

Day 14 A sailing we shall go
After breakfast we had our safety briefing, basically just a review of the most important topics since as I’ve said we’ve all been on board before. We hauled the anchor and raised the sails, then started upwind in the steady breeze and blazing sun as we made our way around Phang Nga Bay.



The sheer face typical of the rock outcroppings

If you’ve ever seen the James Bond movie, Man With the golden Gun, this is where some of it was filmed. The area is known for limestone rock formations jutting straight out of the water, most well over a hundred feet high. There are many areas to shallow for Skyelarks’ 7 foot draft, so close attention to the charts is imperative; Em is a skilled navigator and she keeps us out of trouble.
We passed through an area where there were many local fishermen laying nets, the nets are marked with small floats so it wasn’t hard to avoid them as we weaved our way past. Soon we arrived at our first stop amongst a group of the rock formations, day tripper boats were anchored nearby and the tourist were being guided through the openings in inflatable canoes by local guides. We had a nice lunch on board the split into two groups to explore by dingy.



The stalactite formations give an other worldly appearance to the rocks

This region is known for Ko Hongs, which mean island rooms; the centers of some of the rock formations are hollow right down to the sea, the best I can describe it is imagine a narrow, steep crater with water at the bottom. As we circled one of the rocks we could see stalactite type formations hanging from the sides where the sea had eroded the base of the rock. We came around the back side and spotted a small short cave, we had to watch our heads as we entered in the dingy. Once we passed through we were in a small chamber, about 100 feet across and open at the top; trees had taken root on the steep sides and it was really quite an amazing scene. There was another cave at the far end and this one lead to a KO Hong that was probably 300 feet wide, some of the tourist canoes were paddling about in there and we took a tour around the perimeter. Dan spotted another cave so we decided to check it out, it lead to a narrow tunnel about 100 feet long, the end was too narrow for the dingy so we took turns watching the dingy while the others swam through the opening which lead to two more Ko Hongs. The water in these chambers was no more than 4 feet deep so we could walk and swim our way through; be aware there are many submerged, sharp rocks that you can’t see because of the turbidity of the water, slow and easy is the way to go.



Inside the first Ko Hong



Making our way out the second cave

After an hour or so we went back to Skyelark and the next group set off to be amazed.
As we were trying to decide on what to have for dinner, a longtail boat came aside and had offered prawns for sale, these were very large maybe 12 to the pound; we tried to negotiate a discount, but he wouldn’t budge from his asking price of 500 Baht ($16) a kilo, so we bought two kilos and set them aside to be marinated and grilled.
Once the others were back it was gin and tonics all around as the sun began to set on the horizon. The bottom here is a combination of mud/silt and sand, luckily it provides good holding as the last two days the sea breeze moved in around dusk and blows like the dickens until the wee hours of the morning; some of the gusts are 20 -25 knots and we keep a close eye on our anchor alarm. This is one place you do not want to drag anchor since you are basically surrounded by the mountainous rocks on every side, they do help to keep the chop down so the boat is comfortable even in the strongest gusts.



Skyelark anchored for the night

The strong wind made our planned BBQ impossible, blowing out the flame on the propane grill three times in 5 minutes. Dan ended up sautéing them in a pan, being careful not to overcook them; served with rice and snap peas, the prawns were nice and juicy and oh so good, nothing like fresh seafood.
The nights entertainment was the showing of the previously mentioned James Bond film; I had just watched it before leaving home so I opted to go out on deck and gave at the many stars above. Jupiter was rising in the east and we could see the constellations, Orion, Taurus, and Cancer. A few others showed up on the stargazer app, but were behind the rocks. We are starting to settle in to life onboard and once again the fresh breeze made the cabin fans unnecessary.

What amazing scenery! So glad you are taking us along!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thanks for posting about this trip.

I soooooo much want sail around Phuket, and will savor every post here.

So glad I found your travels again! I want to be you when I grow up. Thailand looks AMAZING