07:49.05N 98:21.65E

Will returned to Langkawi on 7 Feb and we set off early the next morning having checked out of Malaysia the previous afternoon.  We were able to hoist some sail as soon as we were out of the marina and in the end sailed all the way to the entrance of Ao Chalong Bay. Covering 150 miles in 23 hours.  The wind stayed between 20 and 30 knots all the way and just forward of the beam, even when we turned 25 degrees away from the coast to cross to the island of Phuket.  A boisterous sail to put it mildly but relatively comfortable following the coast line north which greatly reduced the wave height.  A long night with little sleep for either of us due to the hundreds of fishing boats, nets and isolated floats.  It was good fun having Will for company and as a qualified skipper himself, excellent crew.  Due to the wind being both strong and constant we ended up having to slow the boat down to arrive off Ao Chalong just after first light.  The entrance to the bay has a rather shallow bar, but we followed the charted contours and had no problem.

The check in procedure at the Ao Chalong yacht centre was relatively straight forward as we had had much advice from Tom on Adina well ahead of our arrival.  We did hit a problem with Will’s departure the next day as the “small print” Thai immigration rules state that the master and crew must leave on the ship! On the advice of the immigration officials we re-did the paper work to show Will as a passenger not as crew. As a passenger he was allowed to leave the ship and pay a small landing fee.  This rule is going to have implications for Mike if he is to leave the yacht in Thailand and fly back to UK.  We are assured there is a way around it but it will most likely not be simple!!

From Ao Chalong we motored west 9 miles round the bottom corner of Phuket island to join Tom and Susie on Adina in Kata Bay.  The wind remained very strong and in fact as we rounded the first bay after the headland we recorded 41 knots across the deck!  An excellent night ashore with Tom and Susie in a Thai restaurant, but Will was still able to leave at 0645 to meet his taxi to the airport and flight back to Singapore the next morning.  Tashi Delek will now remain in Kata Bay until Carol arrives with friends Charles and Sue Parry on 13 Feb.