Wildfox's Web Diary - News Feed

Long time no write...

(@author) — Tue, 21 May 2024 06:54:45 UTC

Well there has not been much happening. Krabi River marina is a bit falling apart but its location is wonderful. I do a six month deal with the new management. So now I am walking distance of all the shops and restaurants in Krabi. And some interesting bugs for sale by the roadside. In the meantime I manage to renew my visa for another 12 months; never a straightforward matter in Thailand.

But I take Wild Fox to Port Takola for four weeks to haul out and do the annual refit using the team who rebuilt the famous Cariad. My hotel is a 2.5 kilometer cycle ride away. The weather is unbearably hot - the boatyard quickly reached 35 centigrade. I cannot work in that heat for long. So the Thais sandpaper and varnish all day long but having put up some good shading to ease things a bit.

There are some nice beaches nearby where a fresh southerly wind springs up in the late morning giving some respite. My younger brother manages to dig up a 'photo of me when I and crew Jennifer became Northern Ireland Cadet champions more than a few years back. I haven't aged a bit!

Relaunch and back into the river marina. All secure, I put and aircon unit into the boat and all of a sudden the rainy season decides to click in early. At the time of writing there has been non stop torrential rain for 12 hours and no sign of a let up.

Moving around Krabi

(@author) — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 03:45:00 UTC

In my last post I mentioned that the Moken children on Phayam had to walk to school as the footbridge still had not been repaired after the Tsunami. Well here is a photograph to prove it. And I also spoke of the drugged speedboat driver who managed to hit a cliff and kill a five year old girl. Here is a photograph of what he hit. How drugged out do you have to be to hit this?

Krabi Boat Lagoon is a lovely marina. As the owner said to me "lots of tranquility". Too much for me though. Mind you a bunch of Harley Davidson owners find us and invade for a night. So I decide to leave the area famous for prawn farms and head back to Krabi River where the lego pontoon marina is now managed by my friend Matthew Na Nagara. Water is back on and some power. Structural issues are being addressed but I have picked what looks like the most secure berth in the place. The deserted marina buildings are demolished and a fancy new restaurant will be built.

Back on my bicycle I can whizz around town, especially the vast market for fresh food at give away prices. When I put stuff on the scales the stallholder will often add a bit to bring it up to a round weight. Totally honest towards a foreigner.

I pop over to Port Takola where the owner of Cariad is having work finished. After 125 years the owner has decided that the masts are too tall so two metres is being chopped off. Why mastmaker Mike is not in tears is beyond me. A massive project. All the rigging points are now in the wrong place, spreaders too, sails too big. But the owner is getting what he wants. I wish he would hurry up as my refit cannot start until his moves on a bit...

Ko Phayam and back to Krabi

(@author) — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 03:48:00 UTC

Life is quiet on the island. The Moken villagers are penniless but don't seem to care. I decide to be generous and give them good money to dive under my boat to clean the bottom. They are utterly useless. Fiona who lives on the island organises a quiz to raise money to bring vets in to round up and castrate feral dogs. These dogs are a bit of a menace.

Meanwhile back in Phuket the speedboat carnage continues. With nine passengers aboard at 30 knots he manages to hit a vertical rock, bigger than the boat itself. One five year old girl dies, the skipper tests positive for drugs and is on a life support machine.

I have a walk on the beach with the arches followed by a nice local lunch. Baby pigs casually wander around the tables As we say here TiT - This is Tailand! The island is full of hornbills. It looks like their beaks will make them fall over but they don't. Hard to photograph I pinch a photo from the internet.

Heading back to Krabi I only pass one other cruiser on the 160 mile passage. South East Asia cruising never recovered from Covid. When I get to Chicken Island I drop anchor about 10 miles from the marina and wait for tide to get in next morning. A tourist motor boat with a fake junk rig passes by.

And plans from here? A refit in April and maybe a trip back to the UK. Maybe...

The Moken village

(@author) — Sat, 30 Dec 2023 06:10:23 UTC

I arrive at the crossing point for the Moken Village. The bridges are gone and the raft looks decidedly dodgy but the ferry captain assures me that if I sit on the port bow I will balance out the missing float, starboard aft. I don't have much choice if I want to get there.

The Mokens are sea gypsies originating from many different Asian countries and hence are stateless. They are loved by the local Thais but officialdom is now trying to document them. They have nothing and don't seem to care. The houses in the village are very basic - a mattress on the floor if you are lucky. I take very few pictures as it is deemed to be impolite.

Westerners living on Phayam have now raised money to build a new bamboo bridge. At least then the children will be able to go to school again...

A few Christmas snaps

(@author) — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 06:15:00 UTC

With few boats there are just nine of us for Christmas lunch. Tiny little fishing boats bring in the goodies. We bring our own wine to the resort and are not charged any corkage. An American with his Chinese family amazes us with his bi-lingual 26 month old daughter...

Getting to Ko Phayam

(@author) — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 01:42:00 UTC

I head out of Krabi Boat Lagoon into the middle of the jellyfish catching season. A man in the bow of a longtail has a net on a long pole and directs the skipper towards a jellyfish. The skipper changes course without looking so life is exciting for me. But this is big business for Krabi. I am so busy dodging I forget to take photographs.

I leave Chicken Island behind and anchor for the night. Next day there is strong wind and big confused seas giving a very uncomfortable passage to the south end of Phuket then calm water up to the airport anchorage.. Day three sees no wind and I anchor in the naval base of Thap Lamu. Day four, again no wind, and into the area we call the estuary and anchor for the night beside my friend Kerry from Maloolaba. Next day I make it to Ko Phayam and only three boats there. Numbers in the Indian Ocean have not recovered from Covid!

Next day I have to take a speedboat to Ranong on the mainland to sort out a passport issue then back to rent a motor scooter (no cars on Phayam) and to stock up on shopping. As usual we use the Sun Resort as our base. Nam, the manager for more than five years, still speaks almost no English. She organises laundry and some jerry cans of diesel which has to go through a special Baja filter as it is dirty - such is island life.

I potter around the island. Some boats come and some go. Those who go are harassed by Port Control for money and ordered back. They don't come back! It is a long story but our clearance agent reports them to the anti corruption commission and they back off. Such is island life.

Next day I hope to try to get into the Moken village on a nearby island...

Off to Ko Phyam for Christmas

(@author) — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 01:49:00 UTC

Well having landed back in Thailand I clear in, a proposed crew member malfunctions and I head to the peace of Krabi Boat Lagoon. Here I plan my new year refit without having a plan as to who is going to help me do it.

In any event I am heading off to Ko Phyam on the border with Myanmar for Christmas. About 160 nautical miles with the probability of very little wind. Been there before a couple of times. A lovely island with no cars. So I will have to brush up on my motor cycling skills. In the meantime here are some of the jobs to be tackled in the new year - a warning to all of you who are thinking of getting a wooden boat...

Satun

(@author) — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 06:37:05 UTC

I jump on the ferry, five minutes walk from the marina to complete my obligatory visa run. Less than 90 minutes takes me to Satun in Thailand. Against all the odds the hotel staff are waiting for me at the terminal with my car.

Next day I head off to PSS shipyard to see Des and Ked Kearns who are just about to finish the rebuild of Cariad. The owner was there a couple of days before my arrival coming from his base in Singapore. Flights were complicated so he just chartered a private jet. As you do. The work is nothing short of phenominal with 50 people now fully engaged. The boat is technically a bonded warehouse and to break the bond will have to come to my marina in Langkawi. Anyway the crew will need me to show them how to tie up.

It really is rainy season and there is not much going on in Satun so I drive about exploring. First a huge cave where it is too dark to take many effective 'photos, home to one of the worlds largest stalagmites at 17 metres tall and 6 in diameter. Next a national park where I call a rhino a hippo and it has nice walks but as soon as I get into the forest it starts to pour down. Proper torrential tropical rain. And then a waterfall. All the signs are in Thai, nobody speaks English and they are a bit surprised to see me. But then this is off the beaten track Thailand.

Back in Langkawi and my passport is nearly full; tricky to renew from here. The marina has about 20 boats doing sunset cruises but some of them insist on getting themselves festooned with balloons. When these escape and deflate they are mistaken for food by the wildlife. They block the intestine and the creature dies a slow and horrible death. The marina is home to (apart from fish) monitor lizards, otters and overhead are white breasted sea eagles. I gather together a pressure group and the marina management are now calling a meeting with the charter operators and bringing in the Department of the Marine to read the riot act.

Maybe I was born to be a revolutionary...

Visa run to Satun

(@author) — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 07:03:57 UTC

My friend Gavin in the local walking group owns Sailor's Gourmet foods and one key product is his lamb and rosemary sausages. A breakfast favourite! Things are much quieter in the marina. Long distance cruising still has not recovered from Covid and there are 32 empty berths on my pontoon alone. And another space comes free as a derelict catamaran is towed away. It has come close to sinking several times. But to make up for it my friend Mick arrives on a 100 foot schooner which has just had an 18 month refit. Glad I did not pay for that.

I pop over to Rebak Marina where master mechanic Robbie will supervise a 1,000 hour service on my engine. His very able assistant, Andrew, comes from Holywood in Northern Ireland, just eight miles from where I grew up. There is some nasty bug growth on my Racor filter, a symptom of bio diesel so we empty all of the fuel out and I stuff Andrew into the tank to thoroughly clean it. Well, you didn't expect me to clean it, did you?

At this point the screen on the battery monitor starts to black out. Fix one thing and another breaks. That's boats for you. And my 90 day visa is about to expire so I am off on a visa run to Thailand and an opportunity to catch up on the multi million dollar refit of Cariad, the 110 foot ketch built in 1896. I was there last October and the work since then has been nothing short of staggering. It is now just five weeks away from launch.

Fingers crossed...

Quick run to Penang

(@author) — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 06:32:23 UTC

I head off to Penang for my annual medical check up. All seems OK and I have booked into a nice boutique hotel which is walking distance from most places. The boat is left behind as the marina is uncomfortable at this time of year. And also more expensive to put in the marina than my boutique hotel!

I take the funicular railway to the top of the hill and have a nice walk around the jungle paths albeit the visibility is not good. And so I miss out on the lovely views of Georgetown.

A walk around the famous street art is a bit disappointing. It was all neglected during Covid and the replacement stuff just has not happened. Perhaps soon, I hope.

A street food walking tour includes a nice Chinese temple complete with a goddess to protect seafarers like me.

Back in Langkawi yet another boat on the beach caused no doubt by a combination of neglect and bad mooring. To get into Langkawi now you have to have wreck removal and pollution clean up insurance. Not surprising...

Off to Langkawi

(@author) — Fri, 26 May 2023 05:58:23 UTC

Long time no write because there has not been much to write about. After the fire at Krabi River I moved to Krabi Boat Lagoon, very secure and sheltered but miles from anywhere. The marina is being dredged but somehow they do not get it quite right with some parts very deep and others too shallow.

The rainy season has kicked in and so I am off again to Langkawi. Wetter but everything within walking and cycling distance. And a few more people about. The weather forecast for the passage is inconsistent. But at this time of year you just have to get out there and go. Planned departure is Tuesday 30^th.

Planned…

Too good to last

(@author) — Wed, 22 Feb 2023 07:25:00 UTC

Just a quick update for now.

Well, it was too good to last. A free (if dilapidated) marina berth walking distance from town. The bad wiring finally set the lego pontoons alight; luckily extinguished just before the new 75 seat speed boat got caught. So I am quickly out of the place before anything else goes wrong and through the mangroves to Krabi Boat Lagoon Marina. Where everything works but it is 25 kilometers from town.

I take on a Mexican crew. No matter how much talking and messaging you never know until they are aboard. I keep her for all of 48 hours, 47 too many!

Minor cosmetic work continues on the boat – just too much varnish to maintain. I feel like a holiday and want to go to Chaing Mai in northern Thailand. The safe PH2.5 air index is a maximum of 50. Chaing Mai is 183 as a result of crop and forest burning in Cambodia and Laos.

So I will have to think again…

From Phyam back to Krabi

(@author) — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 06:12:00 UTC

Well I rebuilt my self steering (an activity not to be repeated at anchor) and the time came to leave Ko Phyam. Although the wind is offshore there is still a nasty onshore swell from the Indian ocean. Comfortable anchoring places are few and far between and I have to do one 13 hour day. With so much fishing activity night sailing is not an option.

I get back to Krabi River and anchor. The people who had the lease on the dilapidated marina have gone and not been replaced by the town council who own the marina. I move in as everything is free for the time being. My first berth is too short, the next starts to break up, and the third one seems OK. It even has electricity. For a while. After a couple of days the earth disappears and I am getting electric shocks when touching stainless steel bits! Off it goes and quickly.

It is a long story but I have to go to Immigration. It is a zoo. I am thoroughly fed up with the visa processes. More later.

It is Chinese new year so there are loads of decorations and firecrackers. The Chinese take the lunar new year very, very seriously.

This place is nice with everything I need within walking distance. And nice walks. The tourist numbers are up so the locals are making a living again, a brand new 75 seater speedboat arrives in the marina with 60,000 Euros worth of engines clapped on the stern. The council have also been spending money taking away the steps from the coastal path and putting in lovely ramps and disabled parking places. And my boy Garth has been spending money with his new toy. A Lotus racing car!

So my future plan is the same as always. No plan…

Ko Phyam

(@author) — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 03:11:00 UTC

My application for a long term visa is halted as Immigration decided to stop issuing long term visas for the rest of the year having discovered a huge number of fake visas for Chinese people in Bangkok. Fingers crossed for next year.

Work finished and I decide to head off to Ko Phyam, last visited three years ago. So much for the rainy season being over. Part of the 140 mile passage is horrible but I am the first of my group to arrive and the manager of the Sun Resort, which is out base, recognizes me. Nice girl.

I reacquire my motor cycle skills, necessary as there are no cars allowed on the island and I explore sights old and new. The beach of arches and the Moken Bridge are just two. The Moken Bridge leads to Morgan Village inhabited by Sea Gypsies. Unique to Thailand they are technically stateless but held in great respect. Cross their path at your peril.

It is nice to be at anchor again after being in marinas for over a year. And a good deal cheaper! I arrange a big lunch for Christmas Day and we are presented with prawns, crabs, calamari and barracuda galore and much much more. But it costs nearly 20 pounds each including beer!

I’ll stick it out here for a while…

Singapore 2

(@author) — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 08:09:00 UTC

Krabi immigration have different rules to Phuket 30 miles across the bay. It would take 12 pages to explain it all but suffice to say they will only give me a 30 day visa which cannot be extended. So I have to deposit a bond of about 400 quid, fly out and fly back. Trip number two to Singapore. 1,000 quid all in but at last I manage to buy super tough tyres for my Brompton bicycle. With the right stamp in my passport I can now apply for a 15 month visa. A snip at another 1,000 quid. Singapore has just been voted the most expensive city in the world. I can personally vouch for that. All donations gratefully received.

Hauled out in Krabi

(@author) — Tue, 08 Nov 2022 08:17:00 UTC

Well I can’t stay here for ever and so I head back to Thailand, going to Krabi as the haul out is much cheaper than Phuket. I don’t really need to haul out yet but it is a convenient time to do it. They are dredging the marina but hit a snag as the overground exhaust pipe wont take the pressure.

In the meantime my little Thai contractor is driving me nuts. Her own work is excellent but communication is difficult as she refuses to learn English (all of her customers speak English), she does not explain jobs properly to her staff and she does not supervise them. I sack one, keep one but she is under my direction, not the contractor’s. And still she ends up in the wrong place doing the wrong job.

If you read about me going to prison it is because I have killed them all…

Maha Tower

(@author) — Mon, 31 Oct 2022 07:27:00 UTC

There is lots of politics in Malaysia. They were building this tower as a tribute to a politician and he then went out of favour. The project was put on hold and eventually restarted. From foundations in 2014 the tower opened in September. Nice views of Langkawi and a nice way to spend an hour or two. But Malaysians seem to be unimpressed. On the day I went I counted eight visitors to 15 staff…

Cariad

(@author) — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 07:24:00 UTC

Cariad is a teak strip plank boat of over 100 feetfirst built in 1896. My friend DesKearns rebuilt her 14 years ago. A longstory but two owners in a row went under and Cariad lay in a Singapore marina uncaredfor for 13 years. Enter a newbillionaire owner and restoration number two is planned. Des moves his team to Satun in southernThailand and many of the old original team are dug out of the woodwork. She is towed (engine completely seized up)out of Singapore and the mizzen mast falls down, full of termites. Satun has silted up so Des has fishing boatsplying up and down at low water to gouge a channel. At the famous PSS yard he has to reduce theweight of the boat by 12 tons for it to be light enough for the winch to haulit out. And then the work starts. When Iwent to visit the workforce had edged up to 44. Because teak will not bend even when steamed the new planks have to becarved four ways to fit – the curve at the back end of the plank is slightlydifferent to the curve at the front end etc. There are very few people left in the world who know how to do this.

Des says “It is wonderful to have a project with nobudget”. Good for you Des.

Leaving Thailand

(@author) — Thu, 12 May 2022 07:22:00 UTC

So I arrange to move back to Langkawi and suddenly the Thais change their minds and say I can have another 60 days but by then the weather will be bad and the passage south could be miserable. So I make all the bookings including buying the compulsory Covid insurance and the next day the need for insurance is scrapped. Of course I cannot get my money back. But no longer do I need either a pre departure test nor an on arrival test so that is something saved.

Before leaving four of us head out on friend Clive’s Broom 50, a lovely luxury motor boat. At 9 knots he is burning 11 litres of diesel per hour per engine. At 25 knots this edges up to 65 litres per engine! A nice trip and great company.

The passage down to Langkawi is uneventful but some nasty rainsqualls gave winds of over 30 knots. And the rain is mega heavy offering almost zero visibility. The South West monsoon is starting early which isn’t fair as the last one ended late. I am nervous arriving as the app which you have to download to enter Malaysia is tricky. For example I have to put in the serial numbers of my jabs; the AZ jab numbers have 17 digits and the numbers are tiny. Anyway my agent checked everything and when we went the jetty to complete formalities all was done and dusted in 15 minutes.

Bicycle out, go exploring and not much has changed here. I get a 90 day visa, no extensions here. At the end of 90 days the weather will definitely be horrible and I really do not want to go back to Thailand. So I will do a seven day visa run to Cambodia or Laos or Vietnam or Singapore or Philippines. Decisions, decisions…

Blog revitalised

(@author) — Mon, 09 May 2022 14:00:00 UTC

Well, there has not been a lot going on but I arrived back in Langkawi in early May and got tied up and ready for the rainy season. And rain it did. A daily project is to keep mold at bay but a difficult task on the cordage going up the masts.

Many westerners have left Langkawi and some have even left their boats there so all in all things were quite quiet. After 90 days I had to do a visa run and so I organised a fun nine days of tours in Singapore including a meeting with a potential new financial adviser. I checked into the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club, had a swim in their lovely pool, had a few beers with a friend of a friend who had a boat there. Went to bed and woke up testing positive for Covid.

All tours and meetings off. I am stuck in my room for seven days with no room service before 1100. After seven days I am deemed to be non-infectious and I check out and go straight to the airport and back to Langkawi. Arriving, I go to Coco and Steve’s restaurant for roast chicken and all the trimmings. A lovely evening after being in prison for a week. Two days later the restaurant burns down. Not my fault. Honest.