How Time Flies

Christmas, New Year and now it is March.  What happened in between?

Holiday Time

Nai Harn Bay in Phuket is one of our favourite anchorages - many cruisers gather here to celebrate Christmas.  We partied at the beach-side cafe at Ao Sane Beach on Christmas Eve and sat down to a long and sumptuous lunch on the aft deck of MV Mandella 11 on Christmas day.  With us were the crews from SV Sandy, Catchastar and Sea Bunny and we enjoyed a fine traditional Christmas.  With strong trade winds and sunny skies we really felt like we were "cruising" again.

SV Sea Bunny and Crystal Blues motored away from the building trade winds to the quiet anchorage of Panwa Bali to see in the New Year.  Phuket really knows how to light up the sky on New Years Eve and we were blessed with a 240 degree panorama of fireworks.  We love watching the beautiful Thai lanterns that grace the sky and float on the wind over the colourful flashes and booms of the beach side fireworks.

Work Time

Neil at work

Neil's break was all too short as his clients, projects and the AV design team in India continued to work between Christmas and New Year.  Each day Neil would set up office in the cockpit, using Thailand's cheap, reliable internet access and tethering his laptop and iPad to the iPhone hotspot.  Conference calls, emails, budgets and design work carried on as usual, just in a very different setting.

Our Tohatsu outboard also chose this time to play up.  The engine was revving out and only put-putting around slowly.  Once we hoisted the engine up on our high tech work bench the problem was discovered.  The bush in the propeller was sheared and a replacement propeller was found in our spare parts stores and fitted.  No more put-putting, we were back to zooming!

Turtle Time

Photo from Phuket Gazette

In early December a sick turtle was seen at Yacht Haven Marina.  Concerned cruisers called the Phuket Marine Biological Centre and an ambulance arrived to catch and deliver the ill Green Sea Turtle to the Centre, see the full story here.

A few weeks later it was announced over the local radio that the turtle had made a full recovery.  It's illness resulted from digesting a plastic bag, mistaking it for a jelly fish.  Jelly fish are abundant in these warm tropical waters and are a major food source for  the turtles.


Really, only here in Thailand would they send a regular human ambulance, to rescue a stranded turtle !  Its great being back here.