Blog 9. 14 March 2020. Yacht Haven. 08.10.27N 98.20.36E
Alcedo
David Batten
Sun 15 Mar 2020 14:45
The middle beach at Ko Naka Yai, deserted in the early evening except for one tripper boat full.
Possible consequence of Coronavirus, a deserted resort at the more northern end, with evidence of no customers for some time....
....and some nice birds enjoying the absence of usual occupants. This one an Oriental Magpie Robin
Next day, back to the Yacht Haven for a good tidy up, some minor repair to the canvas on the kayak and some re-caulking on the starboard deck, where nearly all the caulking put in by MB Yachts has degraded to a fine black powder that can be washed out. We would have been preparing to entertain more visitors but instead, had 2 Garmin engineers from Boat Lagoon to study the videos we have taken of the sonar when it goes crazy. Having behaved perfectly yesterday and for the first hour or so today, it then gave another display of complete rubbish on the way in today. Alas, the engineers, having inspected the installation and the transducer head, had no explanation for its behaviour, which did not surprise us. They promised to pass the videos on the Garmin factory in Taiwan and hope they could help.
As we had to hire a car to pick up the Suzuki outboard, we took the opportunity to visit the Phuket Elephant Sanctuary, one of the very few truly ethical such places in Thailand. An expensive outing, but the work they do in rescuing injured or old elephants that have been worked to near death and/or are not considered safe for tourist entertainment, is excellent and worth supporting.
The Skipper feeding one of the first elephants to be adopted, now a very gentle 70 year old female
Every elephant has its own keeper who walks wherever it wants to go in the sanctuary. In the water is a younger elephant, 40 years old, that had only been in the sanctuary for 3 months.
All the elephants are female and they all have to be purchased from their owners, regardless of age, injury or worth. We very much enjoyed the visit and the it was an education for us to learn just how cruel the training of elephants in the logging stations and for the tourist trade is. The chains and hooks and nails involved and the very long hours the elephants work, sometimes as much as 20 hours a day, made the money we were paying totally worth it.
From elephants to outboard motors to shopping to a very brief visit to the old part of Phuket, not much of it in evidence and then a brisk, hot climb up the Ton Sai waterfall, actually well worth a visit.
Skipper well ahead on the upward climb
Tomorrow we will start making our way back to Chalong Bay and checking out of Thailand as the North Easterly Monsoons may change to the South Westerlies, which would not be good for getting South to Malaysia.
Alcedo
Sent from my iPad