Ao Po Grand Marina - Phuket Island, Thailand

We have been able to get a berth at Ao Po Marina on Phuket Island.
When we were in Phuket previously they had yet to build sea walls to
protect the marina, thus it was not a great place to be in the winter
season with winds from north or east. However, the walls are there
and they had a berth available, so here we are. The marina has a nice
setting in Phang Nga Bay about half way up Phuket Island's east coast.
The water is deep and there are no tidal limitations for entry. A big
improvement over Boat Lagoon Marina where the draft is always a touchy
issue and 80% of the time too shallow to enter.

We hope that we will be able to organize repairs to our steering
system relatively soon, but boats are boats and one never knows what
to expect. There is a Parker hydraulic supplies store in Phuket, so
it is mainly a matter of having the right stock available and the
manpower to get it installed. Mainly we need 15 meters of half inch
5000 psi wire re-enforced hydraulic hose and a bunch of high quality
fittings to connect things. We'll take out all the old copper pipes.
Copper tubing is still recommended by the marine industry, but it is
too fragile for our comfort.

New Year's dinner on SV Villa G

Fresh prawns from this morning's catch and homemade potatoes salad. YUM! 😋

NEW YEARS OF 2016

Happy New YEAR'S from Phang Nga Bay Thailand!  Blue skies and brisk NE wind and about 87 F. Maybe a few showers next week, but it is the dry season and should be mild until middle of February.

Susan just bought a kilo of fresh prawns from a local fisherman (husband and wife). These will be great with homemade potatoes salad.

We lost the use of our hydraulic steering and autopilot on the trip up from Langkawi, so we will hang out unto business reopen and organize repairs in Phuket.  There are worse place to be held up for a week. :)

Sailing from Malaysia to Thailand

Leisurely trip over to Koh Adang Thailand today. Beautiful weather, blue skies mild dry air, light winds.

We plan to have Christmas dinner on Boxing day with Tina and She can of SV Aurelia.

We shall take a week or so and with our way yo to Phuket.

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Langkawi Malaysia after 3 nights of motor-sailing

We're anchored in the Fjord in the south part of the islands around Langkawi yesterday before noon. The passage was 90% relaxing and 10% tense due to either traffics or hard winds. The Malacca Straits are just not fun.

The yacht in the photo is SV Aurelia belonging to our friends Tina and Stevan from Australia.

Departed Singapore

Departed SIN at 7:13am local time. The marina was very rolly; however the city is fun. Heading to Langkawi to meet SV Aurelia for Christmas.

Hari Raya in Bali

We are in Lovina for another week and it is holiday season here.  This past week was a Balinese Hindu holiday and the workers from our construction project were off with their families.  Ibu Ketut who operates Sari House where we stay was also visiting the temples and her family.

Ibu Ketut of Sari House in Lovina Bali

Since there were holidays mid-week, it meant that Roland, the contractor for our house, was a bit more relaxed than usual.  There were no staff working at his home nor kindergarten for the kids, so he and his wife stayed home.  However, there was work to do.  Susan and Roland spent a couple of hours going over the plans Susan had worked out for the gardens at Villa Cengkeh.  We also had some excellent coffee and pastries while enjoying the Christmas tree.

Susan with Roland Leijten, Tropis Living Bali

Roland and family