Read 1/3 here. 3/3 is coming soon…

8. Koh Tarutao : December 14-16, 2014 – At around 40 nautical miles, the trip from Koh Kradan down to Koh Tarutao was our longest day sailing. We started getting knocked around, part way through the journey, when the wind picked up and began to bounce us around. Eric, the old salt, held down the fort while the rest of us spent a good part of the day trying to sleep off the queaziness, despite having taken sea sickness pills. When we finally pulled in and dropped anchor at Tarutao National Park, way down in the deep south of Thailand, we were pretty relieved.

 

We stayed here a few days, anchored in the mangroves. On arrival, Eric took the skiff in to pay the National Park fees, leaving the rest of us on the boat.  The boys and I were caught off guard when we noticed large reptiles swimming around our boat. Yikes. Crocodiles? Nope, monitor lizards. Turns out we would also be seeing sting rays, wild boars, and all sorts of other creatures on this island.

 

 

9. Koh Tanga : December 17th, 2014 – This anchorage was quiet, aside from a handful of fishing boats anchored up for the night. We had an interesting exchange with one of them, which led to a fun meal. The sea never seems empty of people in Thailand. Fishing is a way of life around here. Everywhere you go, you find people fishing, either for subsistence or commercially. When the sun goes down and the fishing boats fire up, the sea looks like a carnival of green and purple lights. We ended up dragging anchor in Koh Tanga, and had to fire up the engine in the middle of the night to reset it.  When we pulled it up the next day, we found the anchor entangled with the remnants of an old fish trap.

 

10. Koh Lipe : December 18th-22nd, 2014 – Koh Lipe was a touristy little island that we ended up staying in a little longer than we had planned, due to some trouble with the boat (which I will elaborate on in a future post) and some unfortunate weather. Once on the island, it was a pretty mellow and relaxing place. The boys enjoyed wandering around, getting smoothies and snorkeling. But the anchorage was crawling with tourist ferries and longtail boats, making our stay here, at times, a bit more tense than we would have liked.

 

11. Koh Adang : December 23rd, 2014 – This was a beautiful little spot where we beached the boat in order to finish up some repairs. The boys had great fun running around here, and building a dam where a small river was emptying into the sea.

 

12. Koh Petra (Christmas morning!) : December 24th, 2014 – As it turns out, Santa does indeed slide down the mast of a sailboat, if that is where you find yourself on Christmas morning. We had a small and sweet little Christmas morning, anchored off of deserted Koh Petra, before heading back to Koh Muk.  At this point, we were trying to make good time heading north again, so that we would have a while to explore Phang Nga Bay before the end of our charter.

 

13. Koh Muk : December 25th, 2014 – We stopped for a day in Koh Muk again, and got caught in big down pour. A perfect opportunity for Alex to use his new waterproof camera!

 

14. Koh Lanta Yai : December 26th, 2014 – This time on Koh Lanta, we were able to stop at the correct end of the island to get provisions. We filled up our water tanks, and loaded up on food. This store was better stocked than any other that we had been to so far on the trip, and the kids spent the whole time running around the store calling out all the things that we hadn’t seen in a store for a while. “Look! Cheese! Salsa! Tortillas!” etc, etc.

 

15. Koh Dam Khwan (Chicken Island) : December 27th, 2014 – Just past the strange rock formation that looks like a chicken, we found a great place for the kids to swim. There were two small islands, connected with a sandbar that you could walk across during low tide. There were quite a few people there, because it was a stopover as part of some organized tours, but it sure was pretty.

Find part 1/3 of this post here. 3/3 coming soon.